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

Collective decisions are pervasive in every aspect of our society. As shown by Brexit and other recent episodes in European national politics, the way we shape our collective decisions can have far-reaching implications. However, even though there is a vast literature on the aggregation and revision of preferences in and by groups, there are no exact mathematical models of the way groups construct and revise a given decision problem – a process I call constructive deliberation. Getting grip on this political “logic of discovery” is a necessary step towards a suitable combination of information technology with various forms of direct democracy. In this project, I will develop a formal theory of constructive deliberation. Relying on my background in defeasible reasoning and the expertise at the host and secondment institution, I will create mathematical models of individual agents that reason and share information about the decision problem at hand, and show how and when this interaction results in group consensus. This way, the project will complement existing work on collective decision-making, which is in turn necessary for the improvement of democratic processes. In combination with specific training, dissemination, and communication actions, the project will also contribute to my personal development, serving my long-term aim to obtain a permanent position as a researcher (cf. §1.2-1.4).

Mots clés : collective deliberation, aggregation, belief and preference change, non monotonic logic, epistemic logic, practical reasoning, agent based modeling

Participants :
- University of Bayreuth (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 171460.8 €
Projet PaCDoC (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Colloidal capsules are interesting from the point of view of both physics and application. They can be used for controlled material transport and targeted release, and they have shown tremendous potential for fabricating advanced materials through self-assembly. Recently, such capsules have also been able to propel in carrier fluid by methods including magnetic fields, thermal gradients and bubble propulsion mechanisms. Building on former research by the Experienced Researcher and the main supervisor, as well as new areas of expertise, this project will develop novel fabrication routes for microcapsules with and without functionalised shells (patchy capsules) and propel them over milimeter distances using external fields. The main objective of this action is to experimentally demonstrate propulsion of microcapsules via novel methods involving anisotropic electrodeformation and electrorotation. The experimental research will fill the missing gap in the field of propelling capsules, now mostly presented by computational and theoretical work. There are many examples of collective phenomena in nature, ranging from swarming bacteria colonies to flocking animals, and much attention has been devoted to understanding and imitating their collective properties and behaviour. The research project will give the first experimental realisation of collective capsule dynamics by propelling hundreds of electrorotating capsules at boundaries. Such a system has enormous potential for future technology and will be helpful in many aspects, for example, to lower human infertility, design microrobots for drug delivery, biodegradation of environmental pollutants and control of material properties. This proposal includes both the training of the candidate and a two-way transfer of knowledge with the host institution and partner organisations. The interdisciplinary aspect of the action is strong, involving a combination of soft-matter physics, medicine, engineering and applied sciences.

Mots clés : electric fields, particle laden droplets, microfluidics, collective dynamics, propulsion, patchy capsules, electrodeformation, electrorotation, swimmers

Participants :
- Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań (Pologne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 134462.4 €
Projet TETCOLON (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Colorectal cancer (CRC) results from the accumulation of genetic and epigenetic changes in colonic epithelial cells. Epigenome studies revealed that virtually all CRCs contain aberrantly methylated genes and perturbed methylation patterns. Ten-Eleven Translocation (TET) protein family dioxygenases oxidize 5-methylcytosine (5mC) to 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) and further to other oxidized 5mCs, supporting active DNA demethylation and helping maintain epigenomic stability. Loss of TET1 is an oncogenic driver in some CRCs. My preliminary analysis indicates that human CRCs have low TET2 mRNA levels compared to normal colorectal tissue, and suggests that low TET2 expression predicts increased mutational load and reduced overall survival. However, whether TET2 deficiency contributes to CRC pathogenesis, or represents a bystander event, remains to be established. In this proposal, I will elucidate the role of TET2 in CRC pathogenesis by testing whether TET2 knockdown induces methylome and transcriptome reprogramming, ultimately promoting (epi)genomic instability and tumor growth. I will also investigate correlations between TET2 defects and molecular/clinico-pathological parameters, and probe TET2 expression as predictive biomarker of response to CRC therapies. With these aims, I will use a multi-disciplinary approach, combining cell biology, cancer epigenetics, bioinformatics, human and mouse studies with cutting-edge techniques such as 3D cell culture and RNA-seq. This study should establish a clear causal link between TET2 loss and CRC pathogenesis, providing new insight into the mechanism of TET2-mediated tumor suppression and leading to the development of innovative therapies that exploit vulnerabilities of TET2-deficient CRC cells. Overall, this project has both basic and translational significance, and the potential to advance our understanding of CRC carcinogenesis and therapeutic response.

Mots clés : colorectal cancer, active dna demethylation, tet2, cellular models, xenografts

Participants :
- University of Pavia (Italie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 183473.28 €
Projet EVOMET (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Colorectal cancer is the second most common cancer in Europe, and although screening has drastically increased survival, a fraction of patients still develops metastatic disease. These patients have a 5-year survival rate of 14% compared to 70% for those non-metastatic (SEER 18). For the majority of cases, the primary tumour is successfully resected, but disease relapse arises due to undetectable metastases. How metastatic clones arise within the primary tumor and adapt to their microenvironment acquiring the capacity of colonize new niches remain unknown. In this project, we aim to use evolutionary analysis combined with state of the art high-throughput technologies to analyse the relationship between the immune system and the progression to metastatic disease. Recently, Zapata and colleagues analysed the relationship between natural selection and the immune system using more than 20 publicly available cancer datasets. The results demonstrated that the presence of neoantigens in the course of tumour development is constrained by the strength of immune activity (immunoediting). In metastasis, malignant clones must escape immune surveillance to colonise new environments. Therefore, we hypothesize that the presence of neoantigens under negative selection in primary tumours will inform us of the cancer cells' ability to disseminate, and ultimately, settle in distant niches. To test our hypothesis, we will develop a patient- specific method to quantify immunoediting across three different cohorts of primary-metastasis matched samples. Ultimately, the extent of immunoediting can be used to explain the underlying causes of metastatic progression allowing, in the future, the development of better treatment strategies.

Mots clés : genetic and genomic variation of metastasis, cancer evolution

Participants :
- University of London (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 224933.76 €
Projet ComBIOsites (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

ComBIOsites aims at developing recyclable composite materials for packaging, using (i) raw materials issued from bio-based industrial by-products, according to the principles of circular economy, (ii) environmentally friendly processes, such as photopolymerization. This project is fully aligned with the European primary goals for the promotion of a “green” society, with a sustainable and resource efficient economy, by key actions such as the development of new and improved materials with reduced environmental impact, from sourcing and processing to end of life. Cellulose is an abundant, renewable and sustainable biopolymer, plus it is biodegradable. Microfibrillated cellulose (MFC), obtained with top-down approaches from cellulose sources, forms excellent gas barrier films ; however, their high hydrophilicity prevents their use in highly humid environments. It is therefore convenient to combine MFC with polymers in the form of composites. Crosslinked matrices guarantee high mechanical performances and water and solvent resistance. The uncured prepolymers can have very low viscosity, which allows for solvent-free mixing at room temperature. However curing often hinders recyclability. Reversible photocrosslinking of bio-based prepolymers, combined with MFC to obtain recyclable composites is innovative. To fulfil the final goal of the project, I will use MFC obtained from hemp hurd, a low cost by-product of industrial hemp decortication process, and a bio-based prepolymer, functionalized with a reversibly photocrosslinkable group, able to ensure the curing of the polymeric matrix upon irradiation at a given wavelength, and to allow its dismantling upon irradiation at a different wavelength. Thus, through appropriate matrix-filler combination and processing, I plan to obtain a reversibly photocrosslinked composite material having the performances requested for packaging, the recyclability of thermoplastics and potentially the biodegradability of natural polymers.

Mots clés : bio composites, photopolymerization, reversible photocrosslinking, cellulose fibers, permeability

Participants :
- Polytechnic University of Turin (Italie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 180277.2 €
Projet ARMISTICE (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Combining together carbon capture and storage (CCS) and exploitation of supercritical geothermal systems (SCGS) in volcanic areas, potentially a very large clean energy resource, could open the door to a whole new cutting-edge technology and contribute to the fight against global climate change. CCS-SCGS systems are widely unexplored and constitute a very challenging problem that involves complex coupled processes of multi-phase and multi-component flow in porous media, geomechanics and seismicity. Subsurface fluid injection technologies bear an intrinsic risk of inducing earthquakes by fault re-activation. Predicting injection-induced seismicity is complicated and challenging from a numerical perspective due to the discontinuous nature of faults. ARMISTICE explores for the first time the possibility of safely combining CCS and SCGS technologies by coupling CO2 flow models, developed by the host, to the high-temperature rheology of rock and faults, developed by the ER. Current models of subsurface flow of CO2 and H2O systems are limited to water’s subcritical temperature: in WP1 we address the problem by incorporating the full-range of fluids’ equation of state to determine the optimal conditions for employing CO2 as a geothermal fluid in volcanic areas. We will achieve the objective thanks to the complementary experience of the ER on SCGS and of the host on CCS. Based on the results of flow behavior, in WP2 we will determine the potential for induced seismicity in CCS-SCGS systems and the conditions for safe exploitation. Once again, the decisive advantage to a successful implementation will rely on the complementary nature of the ER past work on fractures and discontinuity modelling, and the one of the host on fluid injection-induced seismicity. ARMISTICE will be strongly based on a career development plan backed by training on multi-phase and multi-component fluid flow, CCS and transferable skills that will make the ER a global leader in geoenergies research.

Mots clés : supercritical geothermal systems, injection induced seismicity, carbon capture and storage, coupled thermo hydro mechanical processes, fault stability and reactivation, multi phase subsurface flow

Participants :
- Spanish National Research Council (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 160932.48 €
Projet RNAdeg-Virus (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Commandeering the cellular gene expression machinery is essential for viruses in order to replicate their genome and ensure the production of their progeny. One of the major events occurring during viral infection is the virus-induced host mRNA degradation, process orchestrated by the exonuclease XRN1. However, the exact role of this enzyme remains controversial and largely elusive. An exciting stepping stone for studying XRN1 involvement in virus infection is the observation that human cells depleted of this protein are refractory to the infection of sindbis (SINV), a mosquito-borne virus. This suggests that this exonuclease is essential for SINV infection. It has been shown that the cellular RNA is massively degraded upon infection and that RNA degradation is the main force shaping the host transcriptome. Thus, I propose to identify the cellular and viral RNAs directly bound to and regulated by XRN1, using cutting-edge system-wide approaches, which will shed light on the targetome of this protein. Moreover, I plan to study how XRN1 is triggered, for instance by virus-induced posttranslational modifications or by differential protein complex assembly using mass-spectrometry analysis. Discovering the molecular events that activate XRN1 will be fundamental for determining its precise molecular mechanism of action and why it is important for viral infection. Additionally, the outcomes of this multidisciplinary approach will be beneficial for studying gene expression and RNA degradation-related processes, such as cancer. This innovative project will generate a vast amount of valuable data, which will allow to dissect the infection mechanisms of a mosquito-borne virus, leading to the identification of potential targets for antiviral drugs, with a consequent strong medical and socio-economic impact.


Participants :
- University of Oxford (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 212933.76 €
Projet CAWEB (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Community assembly, how they change in space and time, and how they will be affected by global threats, is one of the most pressing issues in ecology and conservation biology. To fully understand assembly rules and community change, one has to delve into multiple interrelated factors, such as the history of environmental and habitat changes in the past, current biotic and abiotic factors, spatial constraints and future scenarios for all these. Yet, two factors have prevented us from obtaining a complete picture for any organism. First, communities are extremely complex, typically encompassing thousands of species and millions of interspecific interactions. Second, future scenarios are overwhelming to model without the challenge of dealing with chaotic systems, where even small changes can lead to large, unpredictable, consequences. Here, I propose to use cave communities as the simplest and easiest setting to model assembly rules and future change across space and time. Caves offer unique opportunities for eco-evolutionary studies because they are characterized by a low abundance and diversity of organisms and interactions, they receive limited external inputs and are easily modelled. By combining a range of state-of-art algorithms and computer simulations, I will investigate the eco-evolutionary processes that shape functional and taxonomic diversity in subterranean spider communities at a continental scale, as well as the sensitivity of specialised species to climate alterations. I will rely on extensive datasets already collected and try to answer the question: what drives community assembly across space and time, and how can we predict the consequences of climate change on current biomes?. The project will be implemented at the Finnish Natural History Museum, and will be supervised by Dr Pedro Cardoso. An intersectoral secondment in mechanistic modelling at Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, supervised by Prof Volker Grimm, is also anticipated.

Mots clés : functional diversity, taxonomic diversity, macroecology, agent based modelling, climate change biology, cave ecology, collaborative databasing

Participants :
- University of Helsinki (Finlande) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 190680.96 €
Projet Snake-eyes (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Comparative analysis of the structure and functioning of sensory systems provides key information about natural history and evolution. During their origins from lizard ancestors, snakes lost many eye structures and genes, possibly as adaptation to life in low light conditions. Remarkably, living snakes have an extraordinary diversity of retinal and photoreceptor types, but they remain very understudied compared with other vertebrate groups. A lack of studies on the detailed anatomy of snake retinas and the patterns of expression of key visual genes, especially in ‘lower’ snakes, precludes accurate and precise interpretations of the origins, early evolution, diversity and function of snake visual systems. SNAKE-EYES will substantially populate this knowledge gap by generating the biggest dataset to date on the ultrastructure and spatial patterns of gene expression of snakes, using cutting-edge electron microscopy and immunohistochemistry imaging techniques to achieve three main research goals. 1) By sampling ‘lower’ snakes, SNAKE-EYES will use groundbreaking new information about the structure of the retina, ultrastructure of photoreceptors and expression of opsin genes, to newly infer the retina of the ancestral snake to test hypotheses of snake origins. 2) This action will generate new data on retinal structure and gene expression in fossorial lizards and snakes, to assess the extent of determinism in visual system evolution during multiple independent adaptations to fossoriality. 3) This project will provide, for the first time, data on the circuitry of snake retinas, by analyzing connectivity patterns of photoreceptors and bipolar cells in retinas with only rods and with rods and cones. In addition to advancing knowledge of vertebrate vision, this action will improve the fellow professional skills, and help her establishment as an innovative leader in evolutionary neuroscience, promoting important future collaborations among institutes in Brazil and Europe.

Mots clés : vision, neuroscience, sensory biology, photoreceptors, retinal circuitry, opsins, immunohistochemistry, reptiles, evolution

Participants :
- Natural History Museum (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Organismes publics (hors enseignement & recherche), subvention : 224933.76 €
Projet OCHRE (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Comparative genetic analysis of grasses, one of the most widely distributed plant families and including the three most important human foods, has demonstrated that different groups differ in the evolutionary presence of intergenomic chromosome translocations in polyploid species, including the important crops. The overall goal of our research group is to define the nature and mechanism of terminal intergenomic translocations in oats (Avena) where these are frequent, allowing us to model their contribution to cereal genome evolution. We hypothesize that terminal translocations between oat genomes are related to transposable element activity, a decrease in DNA methylation, and histone modifications that are differential between the genomes. We propose a focused series of complementary molecular cytogenetic, bioinformatic, and epigenetic studies on oat and wheat genomes to characterize this physical genome rearrangement process. A comprehensive model illustrating the potential mechanisms involved in terminal intergenomic translocations will be elucidated by the simultaneous hybridization with the use of genome-specific probes and retrotransposon sequences, and immunostaining of histones and 5-methylcytosine in mitotic cells. The research will reveal why genomes of oats show frequent intergenomic translocations, playing a significant role in their evolution, in contrast to wheats where the translocations are rare. The fundamental research has implications for breeding oats to exploit biodiversity through introgression from wild species, and perhaps enabling additional introgressions in wheat breeding.

Mots clés : evolution, translocations, repetitive dna, retrotransposons

Participants :
- University of Leicester (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 212933.76 €