Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-actions-marie-curie-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet DevoSignGammaDelta (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

T cells are key constituents of our immune system. Two types of T cells are conserved evolutionary and across species: αβ and γδ T cells. While αβ T cells have been intensively studied during the last decades, our knowledge on the development and activation of γδ T cells is still limited. Recently, γδ T cells have become increasingly attractive for immunotherapy of cancer due to efficient killing of tumour cells independently of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) antigen presentation. The proposed project will elucidate how T cell receptor (TCR) signalling is initiated in γδ T cells; and how it contributes to the developmental programming of γδ T cell subsets strongly implicated in cancer immunity. In a pioneer experiment, cellular barcoding and single-cell RNA sequencing will be combined with recent γδ T cell subset markers to gain unprecedented insight into precursor-product and lineage relationships in γδ T cell development; and towards identifying its key molecular determinants. Moreover, TCRγδ signalling will be addressed in thymic subset development at protein and mRNA level by cutting-edge flow-cytometry based techniques. Results of both experimental lines will be integrated to elucidate TCRγδ signalling characteristics and their impact on subset development and functional programming of γδ T cells. The acquired knowledge will enhance our understanding of γδ T cells and allow for their manipulation and fine-tuning in clinical applications. The supervisor’s outstanding expertise in γδ T cells and their role in cancer, in synergy with the researcher’s deep experience in antigen receptor signalling, form the optimal basis for this challenging project. Moreover, the researcher strongly benefits by increasing her research technology and transferable skills in a new, stimulating scientific environment within a privileged EU network. This will enable her to move to the next career stage and to further contribute to the innovative research landscape in Europe.

Mots clés : t cells, development, tcr signalling, proximal receptor signaling

Participants :
- University of Lisbon (Portugal) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 160635.6 €
Projet InterTask (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

TASK-3 is a potassium channel member of the recently discovered two-pore potassium channels family (K2P) responsible for the background current maintaining the membrane resting potential. TASK-3 is involved in several neurological diseases but recent studies pointed out its oncogenic potential. TASK-3 aberrant expression was detected in breast, lung and colorectal cancer cells. This research proposal aims at 1) generate antibodies that can directly reduce TASK-3 function. The potency, the binding mode of the best antibodies will be characterized functionally and structurally to provide an atomic-resolution view of the mechanism of binding, paving the way for antibody engineering. The structural approach will also produce the three-dimensional structure of TASK-3, which will deepen our understanding on the biophysical properties of this channel and its involvement in several other pathologies. 2) Reduce TASK-3 activity by understanding the molecular basis of its trafficking to the membrane. The project aims at providing a structural and functional analysis of the complex between TASK-3 and the cation cotrasporter KCC2, a recently identified partner that affect TASK-3 trafficking to the membrane. Structural information on the complex will uncover regions of the channel involved in binding protein partners, opening the possibility of pursuing these protein-protein interactions surfaces as targets for drug discovery, with the ultimate goal of modulating ion channel activity. I will undertake a multidisciplinary study that spans protein biochemistry, structural biology, electrophysiology and antibody engineering. The project tackles – side by side - basic science questions (ion channel structure and regulation) and translational research (antibody-based therapy). It offers a molecular understanding of the structural and biophysical properties of TASK-3 -currently unavailable- and opens the venue to the therapeutic targeting of this ion channel.

Mots clés : ion channels, antibodies, membrane trafficking, protein protein interaction, electrophysiology

Participants :
- University of Pavia (Italie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 275209.92 €
Projet TEARAID (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

TEARAID will study the effects of emotional tears on providing aid to members of disadvantaged groups, measured by means of research-embedded crowdfunding campaigns. The proposed project will examine the effects of tears on the promotion of actual prosocial behavior (i.e., both autonomy- and dependency-oriented help), providing an innovative tool for its measurement and creating synergies between research in social sciences and crowdfunding industry. Next, TEARAID will respond to why these effects occur, i.e., test the role of underlying mechanisms, such as perceived humanness of the tearful person, and self-transcendent emotions felt in response to tears, such as compassion and elevation. Furthermore, the project will test when these effects occur, i.e., identify factors that strengthen or weaken them, including the situation in which a person is shedding tears (whether being comforted by another person or not), as well as gender. To address above-mentioned challenges, TEARAID will analyze host society members’ responses toTEAR-AID will examine the effects of emotional tears on the promotion of prosocial behavior (e.g., providing humanitarian aid), as well as respond to why (i.e., test the underlying mechanisms) and when these effects occur (i.e., identify factors that strengthen or weaken them). TEAR-AID will use real-life images (photographs and videos) of refugees used in news stories and social campaigns by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as well as laboratory standardized photographs to test people’s reactions including actual prosocial behavior (contribution to real crowdfunding initiatives) in response to tearful and non-tearful refugees. Importantly, TEAR-AID will provide an innovative tool for measuring prosocial behavior, creating joint initiatives with crowdfunding industry. In general, the project will contribute valuable knowledge regarding the effects images of tearful refugees in mass media have on prosocial behavior among host society members.

Mots clés : emotional tears, crying, emotion expression, humanness, dehumanization, self transcendent emotions, compassion, elevation, intergroup helping, images, crowdfunding, donations, intergroup relations

Participants :
- Utrecht University (Pays-Bas) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 175572.48 €
Projet GlobChangeBehav (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The IPCC projects a 0.2-0.3 unit decrease in oceanic pH and a concurrent 1.0-3.7°C increase in sea surface temperature by 2100. These changes will have considerable impacts on marine organisms and are a threat to European and global biodiversity, food security, and socioeconomic productivity. While physiological impacts associated with marine global change have been well documented, behavioural impacts are less well known, even though behaviour has a major influence on the structure and function of marine communities. Furthermore, of the documented behavioural changes associated with global change, social behaviours - which play a key role in the survival and persistence of marine animals – are largely ignored. This project thus aims to advance current knowledge of global change biology by testing hypotheses pertaining to the impacts of ocean acidification and warming on the social behaviour of marine organisms spanning a wide range of taxa – from invertebrates to fish. Herein, it is hypothesized that predicted near-future (i.e., 2100) CO2 and temperature conditions will alter the social behaviour of crustaceans (shrimp shoaling), echinoderms (urchin and sea star aggregations), and fish (stickleback shoaling). This project will also test for physiological mechanisms underpinning global change-induced behavioural changes (GABAA functioning), as well as transgenerational effects (transgenerational acclimation in stickleback shoaling behaviour). The training, mentorship, and practical experience associated with this project will provide the fellow with the skills and competency to become an international leader in global change biology and marine animal behaviour. Furthermore, the knowledge generated by this project will answer critical questions in global change biology, which can be used by scientists, policy makers, stakeholders, and the general public, and will contribute to a much needed unifying theory of how global change will affect marine species.

Mots clés : global change biology, ocean acidification, ocean warming, invertebrates, transgenerational acclimation, gabazine, neurology

Participants :
- Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Norvège) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 196400.4 €
Projet INT-NAT (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The Inter-Nationalist explores the complex nexus between right wing populism in South Asia and the global networks that have contributed to its success, as well as their implications for populism in the Global North. The urgency of this project is evident in the rise of populism in different parts of the world, necessitating an exploration of transnational networks. The uniqueness of this project is its focus on South Asian populist networks in the UK and US. The study focuses on the Indian ruling political party Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in relation to its international affiliates the Overseas Friends of BJP (OFBJP), and the Pakistani ruling political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and its Office of International Chapters-PTI (OIC-PTI), as located in London and New York. The study makes an innovative contribution to major EU policies including ‘crisis management in fragile countries’, ‘combating discrimination’, ‘justice and fundamental rights’, ‘foreign affairs and security’, and ‘gender equality’. The project uses mixed methods with the objective to map horizontal and vertical trajectories of these network thereby creating a multidimensional framework, to examine diversity within these groups in relation to gender, religion, ethnicity, caste, class, sect and sexualities, and to explore intergenerational differences through younger members of these groups and members of Indian and Pakistani university student societies. The study also examines support of such groups for populists in the UK and US. Trained as a qualitative researcher focusing on securitization and education in the UK and Pakistan, the ER will expand her interdisciplinary skills across Sociology, International Relations, Political Science and Human and Political Geography. She will publish three journal articles and a monograph, with the aim of expanding this research through future grants, and securing a tenure-track job.

Mots clés : right wing populism, transnationalism, hindutva, diaspora, islamophobia, critical ethnic studies

Participants :
- Ca' Foscari University of Venice (Italie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 171473.28 €
Projet iMED (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Cofund Doctoral programme
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The International Doctoral Programme in Molecular Mechanisms of Disease (iMED) will recruit 24 international doctoral fellows to Biotech Research and Innovation Centre, University of Copenhagen. iMEDs VISION is that the next generation of researchers should possess the abilities to perform and connect excellent science to exploitation and value for the surrounding society. Our MISSION is to foster a cohort of excellent fellows through a personalized research and training programme, ensuring that they exploit the full potential of their talents. iMEDs procedures and activities will provide a structural and intellectual framework for the fellows to develop strong research and transferable skills and empower diligence, ambition and creativity, as well as competences to build their individual research career. We will implement interdisciplinary research projects, transnational mobility and intersectoral exposure, ensuring improved employability of fellows across fields, borders and sectors. The EU Principles of Innovative Doctoral Training and the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers serve as a platform for iMED and form the ground for the programme aims: ensure transparent merit-based selection of candidates, 2) nurture development of excellent interdisciplinary research competences, 3) ensure inter-sectoral exposure, 4) ensure international networking, 5) provide transferable skills training and a personalised career development programme and 6) provide timely expert supervision and mentoring. Three private Partner Organisations will supply transferable skills training and career activities. An alliance of 13 top life science research institutes will provide secondments, co-supervision and PhD courses. Four international experts will participate in the selection of fellows and form a Training Advisory Board. The programme will be professionally led by Prof. Anders H. Lund, Head of BRICs national PhD programme and coordinator of the FP7 ITN RNAtrain.

Mots clés : molecular mechanisms, cancer, neurobiology, epigenetics, stem cells, signaling, translational research, doctoral training, biotech

Participants :
- University of Copenhagen (Danemark) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 1883520.0 €
Projet PRIMROSE (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The LCDM model has been established as the cosmological reference model thanks to its ability to predict the main cosmological observations. However, it requires the addition of cold dark matter and dark energy as a cosmological constant, whose nature is not yet understood. There exist a large number of theoretical models beyond LCDM, but the majority focus either on the dark matter component or on dark energy, showing there is a clear lack of models analyzing both dark sectors at the same time. And it has been shown that the constraints on either sector are strongly degraded if the assumptions on the other sector are relaxed. The main objective of this action is to make use of the cross-correlations between the different cosmological probes of future galaxy surveys to extract this additional information and constrain theoretical models extending both dark matter and dark energy together. The role of cross-correlations in current photometric galaxy surveys is very relevant. However, the methodology to properly combine photometric and spectroscopic data has not been fully developed yet. This action will combine the expertise of the experienced researcher on modeling and simulating photometric probes with the expertise of the host institution on spectroscopic data and models beyond LCDM. Using the combined expertise, this action plans to compute the theoretical predictions for the cross-correlations between photometric and spectroscopic data, as well as generating cosmological simulations to cross-check these predictions. By providing a coherent framework, based on simulations and theoretical input, to combine photometric and spectroscopic probes of future surveys taking into account all their cross-correlations, this action aims at using this additional information to constrain not only the standard cosmological model, but also both dark sectors of the Universe at the same time.

Mots clés : probe combination

Participants :
- University of Geneva (Suisse) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 203149.44 €
Projet LogiCS_at_TUWien (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Cofund Doctoral programme
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The Logics for Computer Science Program at TU Wien (LogiCS@TUWien) will be a top international graduate program implementing a unique combination of disciplines where logical methods have a decisive impact on practical computer science and society in the coming decades. Leveraging a multitude of existing grants, initiatives, and collaborations, the LogiCS@TUWien program will match research strength with a doctoral program of strong international visibility that is highly attractive to excellent students. The 13 experienced doctoral supervisors are world leading experts in their respective fields, who attracted significant funding achievements in recent years, including 4 ERC grants, 5 Austrian grants of similar endowment and competitiveness, and a grant for a highly successful doctoral college on Logical Methods in Computer Science (funded from 2014 to 2022), which has attracted 78 brilliant doctoral students. The proposed program improves significantly over this predecessor program, in particular by adding a strong focus on intersectoral exposure and collaboration. The research topics in the field of Artificial Intelligence, Databases, Verification, Algorithms, Security, Distributed and Cyber-physical Systems are driven by demand from industry and real-world problems. This is enabled by the supervisors' strong ties to industry, as evidenced by their spinoffs, and by the regular internships of their doctoral students at research labs of major companies at national and international levels. LogiCS@TUWien will achieve long-term impact by institutionalizing a high-quality PhD program following the seven EU Principles to ensure an innovative doctoral training, and will create a hub in Austria and Europe for logic-related education and training. Interdisciplinarity, a holistic view and the ability to address new challenging problems will shape the career development of outstanding postdocs, future faculty members and visionary leaders in industry.

Mots clés : institutionalised structured doctoral program, logic for computer science, interdisciplinary and intersectoral training, algorithms, databases, verification, security, cyber physical systems

Participants :
- TU Wien (Autriche) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 2169600.0 €
Projet METRES (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Economic Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The METRES (Modelling Environmental Tax Reform in Spain) project aims to evaluate the “double dividend hypothesis” for environmental taxation in Spain. To do this, the researcher would develop an Intertemporal General Equilibrium Model (IGEM) to assess the economic and the environmental effects of an Environmental Tax Reform (ETR) and of some of the main environmental taxes in Spain at different administrative levels, as well as various proposed policy reforms. In a first phase of the research project, conducted at Harvard University (United States), the IGEM would be built, and a comprehensive ETR for Spain would be tested through the development of scenarios that consider the reduction of labour taxes in favour of environmental taxes. In a second phase, conducted at the policy-oriented (and research-oriented) consultancy and SME Serveis de Suport a la Gestió, SL (ENT Environment and Management) (Spain), three currently existing environmental taxes in Spain, at three different administrative levels, would be tested in the developed model. After that, one scenario that improves the effects for each tax would be developed. Finally, some policy measures would be proposed, including possible changes to configuration and regulation of the analysed taxes. The three environmental taxes assessed would be: at national level, the tax on electricity; at regional level, the tax on landfill and incineration of waste in Catalonia, and at local level, the vehicle circulation tax. In the first case, taxation on electricity was recently modified and these changes need to be evaluated. In the second case, this municipal solid waste tax at regional level has become a successful case study and has received international attention. Finally, the Spanish Parliament already in 2007 passed a resolution asking for the revision of the local vehicle circulation tax. This methodology is widely used by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and improves previous existing CGE methods.

Mots clés : environmental tax reform, environmental taxation, intertemporal general equilibrium model

Participants :
- Serveis de suport a la gestio sl (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Organismes privés (hors enseignement), subvention : 199158.6 €
- Harvard University (Etats-Unis) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet MOOC_DaSI (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The MOOC_DaSI project aims to develop a comparative study between the United States and Europe investigating patterns of diffusion of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and their contribution to a “smart ad inclusive growth” through: a) broadening access to education and b) providing individuals with better skills. MOOCs have been pointed out as a flexible, customized, cost-effective type of education that may play a key role in the future of higher education. However, the outburst of MOOCs also brought about contrasting arguments and so far empirical research is limited and fragmented. The project will contribute to shed light on this topic investigating two main research questions. The first deals with the organizational aspects of MOOCs diffusion and will explore whether a “European way” to MOOCs can be identified. The second investigates whether MOOCs do contribute in reducing social inequality by a) broadening access to higher education to non-traditional and socio-economically disadvantaged students; b) providing returns on the labour market. Finally, the research project will summarize a series of policy recommendations providing policy-makers with empirical ground for designing effective policies in the context of open educational resources. MOOC_DaSI will adopt an interdisciplinary approach spanning between organizational studies, sociology of education and stratification research. The project will also make use of mixed methods of research, combining qualitative and quantitative data and different methods of analysis. The MOOC_DaSI project will be carried out at the University of Turin (IT) and Stanford University (USA) over a period of 24 months, including a secondment period at the EC-JRC in Seville (ES). The implementation of the project will contribute to enhance the fellow’s expertise and thus the chances to reach her career objectives of establishing an own research group and obtaining future grants for large international projects.

Mots clés : moocs, higher education, social inequality, returns to education, organisational field

Participants :
- University of Turin (Italie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 176203.8 €
- Stanford University (Etats-Unis) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €