Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-actions-marie-curie-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet LINK2CNS (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Metabolic diseases such as obesity and diabetes rank among the primary causes of mortality worldwide. While new incretin-based drugs have made major inroads into the treatment of these diseases, issues with tolerance (including nausea, vomiting, diarrhea; and gastroparesis leading to delayed gastric emptying) threaten to limit the potential long-term compliance and impact of these medications. Thus, it is highly relevant to identify therapeutic targets that reduce appetite without activating aversive circuits or promoting gastroparesis. Recently, we discovered Neurokinin 2 Receptor (NK2R) as a new pharmacological target for treating obesity. When activated, NK2R improves energy homeostasis by reducing feeding and increasing energy expenditure, resulting in a decrease in body weight via diminished adiposity. Importantly, NK2R agonism controls appetite without activating CNS circuits that induce aversive effects and, unlike incretin-based therapies, can compensate for leptin-controlled feeding in leptin-deficient hyperphagic mice. This suggests that NK2R agonism mimics leptin for the control of feeding and likely engages leptin-regulated neural circuits. During this fellowship, I will define unique and overlapping functions and CNS sites of action for NK2R and Leptin Receptor signaling using proprietary pharmacological NK2R agonists, molecular genetic neuroscience techniques, metabolic phenotyping, and transcriptomics. This will not only expand our understanding of the promising mode-of-action of NK2R agonists but also has the potential to reveal new mechanisms of central homeostatic control that can be exploited pharmacologically for the treatment of cardiometabolic diseases. The combination of the expertise of my host labs and my experience will ensure the successful completion of the fellowship and uniquely positions me as an expert in both peripheral and central control of energy homeostasis and strengthens my transferable skills to start my independent career.

Mots clés : obesity treatment, non aversive appetite control

Participants :
- Université du Michigan (Etats-Unis) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Université de Copenhague (Danemark) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 423946.08 €
Projet HYDROBAT (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2022)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The world energy demand is expected to grow by more than 25% by 2040, according to the world energy outlook by the International Energy Agency. To tackle this significant and urgent challenge new materials with engineered properties for energy applications are required. Hydrogen (H2) production by water electrolysis (Green H2) has received great interest as an alternative sustainable and clean energy technology. For instance, the green H2 is very crucial for the European Commission’s net zero emissions scenarios for 2050. To achieve green H2, this technology should be coupled with intermittent and renewable energy sources. And thus, the energy storage devices are involved in the green H2 production system. Due to its high energy density, and environmental-friendly, the Zinc-air battery is regarded as important energy storage device in the near future. But, the lack of satisfactory cheaper bifunctional electrocatalysts (ECs) for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) for water electrolysis and the lack of bifunctional air ECs for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and OER are the main challenges for both these technologies. The state-of-the-art ECs are based on noble metals, whose application at a large scale is limited due to their high cost and scarcity. Consequently, the development of highly efficient ECs without precious metals is urgent. Current strategies for the development of desirable earth-abundant materials are often limited because of the poor electron transfer, low conductivity, poor stability, and small surface area of the active materials. To tackle this challenge, we aim (1) to develop hybrid materials based on earth-abundant metals derived from boride and highly conductive carbon by chemical reduction and pyrolysis methods, (2) to study their structure-property relationship, and finally, (3) to understand the degradation mechanism which is crucial for designing the materials with outstanding stability.

Mots clés : earth abundant metal materials, metal borides, electrocatalysis, water electrolysis, water splitting, oxygen evolution reaction, hydrogen evolution reaction, oxygen reduction reaction, zn air battery

Participants :
- Université de Padoue (Italie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 188590.08 €
Projet ACCURACY (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2021)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Lamin A/C cardiomyopathy (LMNA-CM) is a rare genetic disorder caused by mutations in the nuclear lamin gene LMNA. Affected patients typically exhibit dilated cardiomyopathy and reduced life expectancy, due to sudden cardiac death or accelerated functional decay requiring the heart transplant. Intriguingly, carriers of the same LMNA mutation show a wide spectrum of genotype-phenotype discrepancy, however a clear mechanistical understanding remains elusive. Recently, the host laboratory has developed an innovative multicellular three-dimensional (3D) human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC)-cardiac microtissue (MT) model where hiPSC-derived cardiomyocytes display post-natal maturation allowing more faithful investigation of normal and pathological cardiac physiology. I will leverage this model and combine it with my strong background in molecular and cellular cardiology to advance the understanding of LMNA-related pathologies. Specifically, I will use patient-derived hiPSC from two family members with a severe and less severe form of LMNA-CM and their isogenic controls to generate 3D MT models. Next, I plan to 1) characterize structural and functional properties and the transcriptome profile of multicellular LMNA MT models and their controls, 2) investigate cell-cell (cardiomyocytes, endothelial cells, cardiac fibroblasts and macrophages) interactions relevant to the disease development and progression, and 3) correct the identified molecular targets by pharmacological treatment or by CRISPR-mediated gene editing. The scientific, industrial and economic community will profit from this project twofold. First, I will establish a cost-effective model that provides better understanding of LMNA-CM pathogenesis, avoids cross-species variability and reduces the need for animal research and second, I will test the implementation of potential treatment options with the ambition to achieve a step forward in developing personalized therapeutic approach for the end users.

Mots clés : human induced pluripotent stem cells hipsc , cardiac microtissue, cardiac organoid, lmna, lamin a c cardiomyopathy, familial dilated cardiomyopathy, crispr cas9 gene editing

Participants :
- Université de Padoue (Italie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 172750.08 €
Projet SH-CNS-AM (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Neurological disorders affect over 540 million individuals in Europe alone, yet effective treatments are limited, primarily due to the challenge of delivering therapeutic compounds across the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and the blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier (BCSFB). This project aims to develop a novel, virus-inspired technology that utilizes small hydrophobic (SH) proteins, derived from the neurotropic mumps virus to shuttle CNS-active molecules across the BCSFB via the GPR125 receptor. This innovative approach will allow for the effective delivery of therapeutic agents and avoid issues surrounding chemical modification and viral vector packaging of drugs. Building on promising preliminary data, where an SH protein conjugated to Exendin-4 significantly reduced appetite in mice, this project will focus on understanding transport mechanisms of SH-conjugated molecules into the brain. The research will be divided into three work packages (WPs). WP1 will investigate the mechanism of SH-GPR125 transport in vitro using choroid plexus cells and advanced imaging techniques. WP2 will examine the pharmacokinetics and bioavailability of SH-Silicon Rhodamine (SiR) in vivo, determining its uptake in GPR125 knockout and wild-type mice. WP3 will assess the efficacy of SH-enkephalin, a therapeutic peptide targeting the mu-opioid receptor, in an acute pain model, testing its ability to reduce pain perception in mice.  This project offers a transformative approach to CNS drug delivery, with the potential to revolutionize treatment for a range of neurological disorders, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and ALS. By leveraging the natural ability of neurotropic viruses to cross the BCSFB, we propose a method that bypasses current limitations in CNS drug delivery. The outcomes of this research will provide a foundation for future clinical applications, potentially leading to new therapies that address the urgent unmet medical needs posed by neurological disorders.

Mots clés : blood cerebrospinal fluid barrier bcsfb , g protein coupled receptors gpcrs

Participants :
- Université de Copenhague (Danemark) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 263393.28 €
Projet KCONN (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Mathematics
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Graphs are structures consisting of vertices (points) and edges (lines connecting pairs of points). Graphs can model systems such as road networks (intersections connected by roads), social networks (people connected by friendships), and the internet (computers connected by data links). The design of efficient algorithms for processing graphs is a classic area in computer science. However, there are still fundamental graph problems for which optimal algorithms remain undiscovered.  This project aims to design optimal algorithms and data structures for solving graph problems related to finding small cuts or separators and decomposing graphs accordingly. A basic example of a graph problem where I aim to advance the state-of-the-art is: Given a graph, determine whether it can be disconnected by removing at most 10 edges. The best-known algorithm runs in near-linear O(n log n + m) time, while the goal of this project is to obtain a linear-time O(n+m) algorithm, which is optimal. The specific number 10 is not important; rather, the goal is to develop a linear-time algorithm for any fixed value, in the spirit of parameterized algorithms.  The research objectives are (1) to develop a linear-time algorithm for computing the k-edge-connected components of a graph, (2) to create an improved dynamic data structure for treewidth, and (3) to design a linear-time preprocessing algorithm for computing treewidth. Objective (1) addresses a long-standing open problem in graph algorithms, while objectives (2) and (3) will significantly advance the state-of-the-art in key problems within parameterized algorithms. I believe I have identified a feasible approach to tackling these problems, introducing new techniques from structural graph theory into algorithm design.  Solving a key open problem in graph algorithms using tools from parameterized algorithms and structural graph theory will unify these fields and expand my professional network, significantly enhancing my career prospects.

Mots clés : graph algorithms, parameterized algorithms, dynamic algorithms, graph theory, k edge connected components, treewidth, unbreakable tree decompositions, tangles

Participants :
- Université de Copenhague (Danemark) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 247553.28 €
Projet IN-PLANTe (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Several approaches are available to reconstruct past and present climate conditions from plant material. Stable Carbon Isotope Analysis (SCIA) measures the concentration of carbon-13 (δ13C) in archaeological seeds and charcoal to determine plant water availability and allows the reconstruction of past precipitation oscillations and irrigation practices. SCIA is typically performed on the same type of plant material (wood or seeds) and species to create consistent isotope datasets. Comparing δ13C datasets from different species and plant material (wood vs. seeds) is complex due to the role played by the different species' physiology on δ13C concentrations. Nevertheless, previous studies combining δ13C datasets from multiple plant species have resulted in high-resolution paleoclimatic records. Changes in precipitation can be determined from δ13C in tree rings and by measuring tree ring features (dendromeasurements). A recent approach combines the two measurements to improve the resolution of paleoclimatic records, though their dynamics are still poorly understood. The current research aims to achieve high-resolution paleoclimate proxies from archeological plant remains retrieved in diverse South-West Asia precipitation zones, integrating classic archaeobotanical analysis, SCIA on seeds and charcoal, and tree ring analysis. In addition to providing insights into past climate changes and their effects on ancient human societies and plant-based economies, this research will significantly contribute to the methodologies employed to reconstruct paleoclimatic oscillations from plant species retrieved from archeological sequences. Similar reference measurements on modern plants will contribute to the knowledge of the dynamics between plant and precipitation oscillations. The potential of this research to advance the field of archaeobotany and paleoclimate reconstruction is substantial, making it a crucial and relevant study for the scientific community.

Mots clés : upper palaeolithic, epipalaeolithic, southwest asia, archaeobotany, stable carbon isotope analysis, dendroclimatology

Participants :
- Université Eberhard Karl de Tübingen (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 217965.12 €
- Université de Padoue (Italie) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet REWATERING (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2021)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Protected agriculture makes use of technology to create an optimal environment for crops growth. In particular, protected agriculture makes use of covers to shield crops from adverse meteorological events including storms, droughts, temperature extremes and strong winds. However, these controls inherently disrupt the water budget terms currently accounted for in hydrological modelling (runoff, evapotranspiration, soil moisture storage, infiltration, etc…). For the first time, the project REalistic WATER budgetING in protected agriculture (REWATERING) will deliver and validate a methodology for catchment-scale models (i.e., CATHY) to explicitly account for the role of protected agriculture on water quantity and quality. REWATERING will also unprecedently monitor water quality in a stream draining a small catchment mainly used for protected agriculture by means of high-resolution mass spectrometry. I will carry out REWATERING in a globally recognised research group for hydrological modelling. Overall, the host university will be the perfect interdisciplinary hub to accomplish the proposed research because it will provide internal collaborations with excellent academics in hydrology, agriculture and environmental chemistry. Protected agriculture is a growing reality worldwide, currently covering 15% of the agricultural lands, and often occupying entire hydrological catchments. The socially relevant and scientifically innovative interdisciplinary activities proposed in this research are urged to expand catchment-scale hydrological models to predict short- and long-term water quantity and quality resulting from water management characteristic of protected agriculture.

Mots clés : agricultural catchment hydrological modelling, water resources, protected agriculture, high resolution mass spectrometry

Participants :
- Université de Padoue (Italie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 188590.08 €
Projet atm blocking (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2022)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Cold spells, heatwaves and droughts have severe socio-economic impacts and are related to a peculiar phenomenon known as ‘atmospheric blocking’. Accurate and timely prediction of blocking frequency and strength is therefore of enormous importance. However, despite decades of research, climate models still exhibit substantial errors in blocking, leading to large uncertainties in seasonal-to-decadal predictions and future projections of blocking trends. At the root of this is the lack of a fundamental theory for blocking and an appropriate metric to identify blocks. A recent theoretical breakthrough offers an exciting path forward by drawing an analogy between blocking in the atmosphere to traffic jams on a highway. The traffic jam – blocking theory, which is based on the conservation properties of large-amplitude nonlinear waves, has led to a conceptual simplification of why blocks occur. Leveraging the promise shown by this new theory, ATM BLOCKING will provide the first-ever assessment of the key dynamical drivers of blocking errors and trends in the state-of-the-art global climate models. The success of ATM BLOCKING will offer a new theoretical basis for evaluating the performance of climate models in simulating blocks, with an unprecedented ability to pinpoint the responsible atmospheric processes across timescales. Down the road, these results will help policy makers and stakeholders to prepare for risks associated with climate change and weather extremes. The project proposes to address the problem using a combination of theory, numerical modeling and statistical analysis at University of Bergen, Norway in close collaboration with the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research under the supervision of leading experts in climate dynamics, climate modeling and weather extremes. In addition, the researcher’s own expertise in the theory of blocking will ensure the success of the project while facilitating two-way knowledge transfer between the researcher and the host.

Mots clés : jet stream, storm track, extreme event, atmosphere blocking, 

Participants :
- Université de Bergen (Norvège) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 226751.04 €
- Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft (Allemagne) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet MIDAS GOLD (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Understanding the light-matter interaction at the quantum level is crucial for numerous applications ranging from quantum metrology to quantum computing and quantum communication. While the interaction of light with a single quantum emitter is well understood, an ensemble of many emitters coupled by a resonant probe is a complex open quantum many-body system. The collective spontaneous emission can be substantially enhanced (superradiance) or suppressed (subradiance), compared to the single emitter case. Subradiant states are particularly intriguing because they constitute an effective storage medium for light, hence for quantum information, and have been indeed proposed as useful tools for quantum communication protocols. Nevertheless, the experimental study of subradiance has been restricted to a few works, in which at most a few percent of the excitations were stored in subradiant modes, resulting in small amplitude signals.  The MIDAS GOLD project aims to address the generation of subradiant states in ordered arrays of atoms, with a control at the single-atom level. The action will take place in a running, state-of-the-art experimental system producing ordered arrays of dysprosium atoms in optical tweezers. First, we will implement an original and innovative protocol to controllably generate subradiant states with 2 atoms confined in the same optical tweezer, a first proof of principle demonstration of a bottom-up approach to subradiance. Then, we will prepare arrays of many atoms with subwavelength separations by building an accordion optical lattice, and we will explore protocols to control the storage and release of excitations in subradiant modes of the array. The accomplishment of MIDAS GOLD's objectives and the key upgrades to the existing apparatus will deepen the knowledge of subradiance, paving the way for future applications, and will build up a cutting-edge experimental system for the more general problem of collective light scattering.

Mots clés : collective light matter interactions subradiance optical tweezers

Participants :
- Institut d'optique Graduate School (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 226420.56 €