Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-actions-marie-curie-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet CliRSnow (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The cryosphere in the European Alps is expected to change substantially with global warming. Snow in the Alps impacts the local communities but also affects the quantity and seasonality of water downstream, and thus has a wide range of effects on agriculture, ecosystems, hydropower, and tourism. Projections of future snow are required in society and economy. Targeted actions require information at the local community scale, which is not yet consistently available for the whole Alpine region. This is because the existing approaches to infer future snow conditions rely on physical models, either regional climate models (RCMs) or snow-hydrological models, which are both computationally very intensive, making it yet impossible to have a high resolution output for such a large area as the Alps. Here, I shall employ empirical models derived from remote sensing (RS) to provide an innovative and fast solution to increase the precision in future projections of snow cover from RCMs for the whole Alpine area. This will be achieved by correcting the bias in snow cover from RCMs and increasing the spatial resolution with RS snow cover data. Such an approach has now become feasible, because the data that forms its basis is on the verge of being sufficient in time (RS: MODIS time series since 2000) and space (RCM: EURO-CORDEX horizonzal resolution at approx. 12.5km). The host has the necessary data (daily MODIS snow cover at 250m and output from 15 different RCMs with snow cover), the technological environment for the computational demand, and the relevant expertise in each discipline (remote sensing, climate, hydrology) inside the institute and with international partners. I shall bring the statistical background, data handling skills, and interdisciplinary experience to combine these fields. This fellowship shall pave the way for my future career as independent researcher, but also produce output ready for re-use and exploitation by stakeholders in the Alpine countries.

Mots clés : regional climate models, modis, remote sensing, snow cover, statistics, european alps, cryosphere, alpine hydrology

Participants :
- European Academy of Bolzano (Italie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 180277.2 €
Projet EXORep (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The current embryo in vitro culture conditions used in most laboratories of assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) allow the embryo to develop to the blastocyst stage and to achieve pregnancy. However, the quality of those embryos is suboptimal compared to the in vivo ones and the obtained pregnancy rates are low. The lack of maternal signals, during the in vitro period has been postulated as a main reason for these suboptimal results. There is increasing evidence of the role of the oviduct exosomes (oEXs) as mediators of the early maternal-cross talk. Recent data revealed the first oviduct-derived EXs protein signature and their important roles in embryo-oviduct interactions. In the present proposal, using bovine model, we aimed to: (i) Evaluate whether the presence of the early embryo in the oviduct could modulate the oEXs proteins, mRNA and miRNA content depending on its stage of development. (ii) Assess whether the embryo quality (good or poor embryo) affect the content of EXs secreted in vitro by the oviduct epithelial cells. (ii) Assess the effect of in vitro culture with oEXs on the embryo development and quality. To accomplish these tasks, an ambitious, realistic, work plan has been designed based on the excellent background of the Fellow, and the training she will receive, the expertise of the supervisor in female reproductive physiology and the infrastructure within the host lab for conducing all the experiments with most appropriate tools. This will ensure that the Fellow completes the scientific objectives of the proposal, communicate and disseminate the results to the scientific and public, while acquiring new set of skills that will have an important impact in her career development. If the beneficial effect of oEXs on embryo development is recapitulated in cattle, it could improve in vitro embryo production largely used in ART in dairy cattle industries. Moreover, the obtained results may be transferred in human species

Mots clés : oviduct embryo crosstalk, exosomes, cattle fertility

Participants :
- University of Zurich (Suisse) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 191149.44 €
Projet GeneLifeCard (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The current obesity pandemic is a major threat to public health systems worldwide. The majority of obesity-related health care costs are due to cardiometabolic impairments such as insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, and hypertension, which increase the risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. However, many obese individuals seem resistant to cardiometabolic complications, the “metabolically healthy obese (MHO)”, while some normal weight individuals suffer from comorbidities similar to the obese. Genetic mechanisms may partly explain this paradox. Recent genome-wide studies have identified multiple genetic loci associated with increased overall body fat and subcutaneous fat deposition but lower cardiometabolic risk. Vice versa, the fat-decreasing alleles at these loci are associated with higher cardiometabolic risk. Some lifestyle factors, such as higher physical activity and smoking, are associated with lower body fat but show directionally opposite effects on cardiometabolic risk. At present, it remains unclear whether genetic predisposition to higher subcutaneous fat storage or healthy lifestyle behaviors may uncouple long-term weight gain from cardiometabolic risk during adulthood. Thus, the primary aim of the present project is to examine whether genetic and lifestyle factors abolish the impact of long-term weight gain on cardiometabolic risk by meta-analyses of five prospective cohorts with repeated measures of body weight and cardiometabolic traits. I will also examine whether these factors predict a MHO status in middle-age and the maintenance of such status over time. My results will provide new biological insights and may enable targeted lifestyle interventions against obesity-related cardiometabolic impairments. Moreover, the project will greatly advance my career by allowing me to learn highly valuable research skills in the area of genetic epidemiology, complementing my previous expertise in the field of cardiovascular epidemiology.

Mots clés : genetic epidemiology, obesity, adiposity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, public health, weight gain, epidemiology, genetic association study, body fat distribution, lifestyle, risk factor

Participants :
- University of Copenhagen (Danemark) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 207312.0 €
Projet ReaDy-NMR (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The current proposal aims to established a computational protocol for the rational calculation of NMR parameters in transition-metal complexes by accurately taking into consideration relativistic effects and conformational dynamics. Despite the advances attained in theoretical chemistry methods, the calculation of NMR parameters is not always an easy task. The accuracy with which the shift constants can be obtained depends on several factors and a protocol for these calculations is not always well established and understood. This applies particularly to systems containing heavy element(s) or molecules of open-shell nature. To successfully determine the NMR parameters, the proposed protocol involves the use of all-electron two- and four-component relativistic quantum methods and ab-initio molecular dynamic simulations for the inclusion of the relativistic and solvent effects, respectively. The transition-metal complexes chosen for this project are of high importance in biomedicine, biotechnology, and industrial processes. As the target complexes need to be tested experimentally, this project is multidisciplinary and involves major international collaborations. This project would have a great positive impact on the applicant’s early stage researcher career, identifying her as one of the key players in the opening of a new pathway into computational NMR spectroscopy for systems involving transition-metals.

Mots clés : computational nmr, nuclear magnetic resonance calculations

Participants :
- University of Oslo (Norvège) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 196400.4 €
Projet NANOSPHERE (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The current research proposal aims utilise the unique macrocyclic host guest chemistry of cucurbiturils in conjunction with metal nanoparticles to demonstrate a novel and malleable approach to nanoparticle self-assembly, resulting in structures that will be used in light driven chemical reactions and advanced molecular sensing. This represents an important area of research, for whilst nanoparticles and assembled nanostructures show promise in a wide variety of applications, their uptake into current technologies has stalled due to the difficulty of their production, post-assembly manipulation and chemical loading. This project will demonstrate a new paradigm of functionality and versatility in nanoarchitectures. This will be achieved by assembling nanoparticle structures with a unique group of rigid macrocycle assembly agents, cucurbiturils. Cucurbiturils, with their versatile host-guest complexation chemistry, will allow for post assembly control of nanostructures via multiple external stimuli, while also giving flexibility in terms of application, with many kinds of molecules able to be loaded into the inner cavity of the cucurbiturils, yielding chemical sensing and reactor constructs on the nanoscale. Fundamental insights will be gained into the assembly and manipulation of nanoparticle superstructures, with an eye for application. To this end, Dr. Steven Barrow, the applicant, will work with Dr. Oren Scherman, in collaboration with Prof. Jeremy Baumberg. This linkage represents a unique opportunity to explore nanoscale systems at the University of Cambridge. This project will be highly supported in both the Chemistry department with Dr. Scherman, as well as the Physics department with Prof. Baumberg, at the University of Cambridge. The University of Cambridge is world renowned for its high impact research in the fields of chemistry and physics and this project represents a unique opportunity for collaboration between the two departments.


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

The cyclopropane ring is an important structural motif present in many pharmaceutical compounds and widely used as reactive building blocks in the synthesis of chemicals. Many synthetic strategies to access cyclopropanes have been developed to date, most of which typically require the use of potentially explosive diazo-carbene compounds as substrates. Even recently proposed enzymatic transformations, exploiting cytochromes P450 and myoglobin, require the use of stoichiometric carbene co-substrates, thus narrowing their industrial applications. The CycloproBio project aims to explore cyclopropane synthase (CS) enzymes as a potentially mild method for biocatalytic cyclopropanation. Cyclopropane synthases are SAM dependent transferase enzymes able to catalyse cyclopropanation of unsaturated phospholipids in bacterial membranes. Even if CS are common to most bacteria, many questions on factors affecting their substrate selectivity remain unanswered. Moreover, despite their potential, CS enzymes have not been explored yet as potential biocatalysts. This project will initially characterize the cyclopropane fatty acid synthase (CFAS) from E. coli which has been cloned, expressed and purified in preliminary work. The catalytic properties of the E. coli CFAS will be studied through the development of an appropriate activity assay, the investigation of its substrate specificity and the study of its physio-chemical properties. To broaden the study, genome mining for other CS enzymes from different bacterial species will be carried out to gain insight into the factors which affect the selectivity of these enzymes. Finally, new CS enzyme variants will be generated through rational mutagenesis of putative substrate binding residues. The data generated will provide fundamental information on the CS family. The primary aim of this project is to use this data to develop cyclopropanation biocatalysts for the sustainable synthesis of chemicals and pharmaceuticals.

Mots clés : biocatalysis, cyclopropane, chemical engineering

Participants :
- University of London (Royaume-Uni) — Partner, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- University of London (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 224933.76 €
Projet NOSTRADAMUS (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The decarbonisation of transport requires the design of lighter components for electric vehicles. To ensure that new components meet safety requirements in terms of their susceptibility to vibration fatigue (VF) and to facilitate shorter development times, a new VF identification tool is required. Nostradamus aims to deliver tool that will enable fast and non-contact damage identification caused by VF using the High-speed (HS) camera. Optimisation of digital replicas of the actual products (digital twins) will become easier, to deliver of Safer, Lightweight, Green and Quiet (SLGQ) products. The primary objective is to develop a new method called the Optical vibration fatigue damage identification (OptiViFa). It will enable close to real-time identification of fatigue damage with high spatial density. This will be possible with a ground-breaking extension of the recent scientific progress in HS camera measurements and modal-domain VF. The research objectives are to: 1) identify material strain with a HS camera; this will be achieved through developing a new method for identification of strain mode-shapes using HS camera measurements. 2) Develop OptiViFa for VF identification; this will be achieved through experimental verification in the laboratory and industry via a secondment with a research and development SME within the car industry. 3) Implement OptiViFa as an open-source Python package, enabling other researchers to use and further develop the new methods from the on-line repository. The training and development component of this fellowship will position the fellow at the forefront of research in HS image processing, and vibration fatigue. The inter-sectorial secondment will provide understanding of the crucial relationship between academic research and industry. The results will be open-science and open-source. Finally, the proposal results will help EU industry in developing SLGQ products and citizens of the EU to have a safer, greener and quieter lifestyle.

Mots clés : high speed camera, image based damage identification, full field strain measurement, multiaxial vibration fatigue, spectral methods, open source

Participants :
- University of Ljubljana (Slovénie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 162040.32 €
Projet BIONA4ART (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The degradation of our rich stone cultural heritage (CH) represents an irreversible loss; an issue that has become urgent due to the increase of natural decay caused by climate change and the impact of atmospheric pollution and/or the current use of inappropriate treatments against stone weathering. The main challenge of BIONA4ART project will be to address this issue within an innovative framework in the conservation science: i) the development of a new generation of bioinspired nacre-like composites with self- healing and antimicrobial properties; and ii) its validation as stone conservation treatments with the aid of advanced characterization techniques. Thereby this research is marked by an interdisciplinary approach involving material science, biomaterials, physics, chemistry, petrophysics and CH conservation. In order to develop the proposed research the applicant will acquire new research skills by partnering her with the three specialized institutions involved: the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) (supervisor Prof. R. Fort, world-renowned expert in the stone CH conservation), the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) (supervisor: Prof. H. Fairbrother, expert in nanocomposites, environmental implications and applications of nanomaterials), and the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research (MPI-P), (supervisor Dr. S. Weber, internationally recognized expert in the use and development of SFM methods to study the underlying physics of nanoscale systems). The new knowledge and transferable skills gained during the project coupled with the opening of an innovative and exciting research line in the stone-CH field, will be an ideal springboard for the applicant´s subsequent career, which is to become a fully independent academic researcher in a top european university.

Mots clés : products and processes engineering  product design, process design and control, construction methods, civil engineering, energy processes, material engineering

Participants :
- Johns Hopkins University (Etats-Unis) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Spanish National Research Council (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 245732.16 €
Projet PORT-BICPD (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The demand for electrical energy increases at a steady pace worldwide due to the growing and emerging applications such as server/telecom farms, 5G base station, more-electric aircrafts, consumer electronics, robotics, and electric vehicles. The volume and efficiency of the power converters utilized in these systems play a critical role for the fulfillment of this growth. Higher efficiency translates into more capacity utilization and less cooling efforts, whereas low volume and weight usually reduces the cost of the electronic components. Both of these aspects heavily depend on the innovations on the power topologies, control algorithms, magnetics, thermal substrates, and particularly power semiconductor switches. The power converter topologies in the literature have been invented to overcome or mitigate the large reverse recovery and output charge of Si power devices, while magnetics are optimized for switching frequencies that are achievable with Si power devices. However, the maximum efficiency and power density of Si based converters have already reached to its theoretical limit through innovations on the control and converter topologies. Recently, the adoption of the wide band-gap semiconductors has escalated the expectations from power electronics significantly, and initiated the transformation of the power architecture through new topologies and control innovations, while bringing new challenges in the high frequency domain. This research proposal is intended to innovate, design, and implement a new front-end PFC converter switched at >400 kHz to achieve best in-class efficiency and power density with targets of more than 98.5% peak efficiency and 85W/in3 enclosed power density at 3.7kW output power. The know-how and framework will then be engineered to meet certain industrial specs of various applications including the pre-regulator stage of server/telecom supplies, on-board chargers, industrial drives.

Mots clés : power electronics, power factor correction, power density, soft switching, gallium nitride, dc power converter, high frequency magnetics

Participants :
- Arçelik (Turkey) (Turquie) — Partner, beneficiary, Organismes privés (hors enseignement), subvention : 73869.9 €
- Wat motor sanayi ve ticaret anonim sirketi (Turquie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Organismes privés (hors enseignement), subvention : 83485.62 €
Projet BNE (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : TERMINATED

The demise of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 2019 has rendered it impossible for Europeans to know whether the missiles that may fly over their territories carry a nuclear payload or not. This development has brought the question of the entanglement between the nuclear and the non-nuclear world to the forefront of international security. Existing scholarship, however, has operated under an assumption of nuclear exceptionalism, treating nuclear weapons as special and different. In response, nuclear and conventional scholars have each crafted their own fields of study, with their own theories and without much interaction between them. The assumption of nuclear exceptionalism has thus blinded scholars to the question of entanglement. In BNE, I will offer a diagnostic of the problem and formulate proposals to move scholarship beyond this blind spot. To that end, I ask the following question: How do the practices of nuclear exceptionalism shape nuclear weapons policy options? To address it, I first identify scholarly practices of nuclear exceptionalism. I then examine the effects of the assumption of nuclear exceptionalism on international policy through two novel case studies: (1) the development of tactical nuclear weapons in the United States and France in the 1980s and (2) the successes and limits of disarmament movements as compared to other large social movements from the 1980s to the present. Lastly, I propose avenues for re-embedding nuclear scholarship within the broader study of international politics. By bridging the gap between the nuclear and non-nuclear realm, this project allows us to understand how and why countries make certain choices in constructing their military arsenals and reflect upon ways to disrupt the new arms race. Beyond producing the first-ever systemic analysis of nuclear exceptionalism, I aim to publish academic articles on each of the case studies and translate my findings to a broader audience through public engagement.

Mots clés : nuclear weapons, conventional capabilities, intellectual history, tactical nuclear weapons, social movements, arms control

Participants :
- Fondation nationale des sciences politiques (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 184707.84 €