Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-actions-marie-curie-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet BRANDSUS (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

BRANDSUS focuses on the study of inclusive governance arrangements for sustainable place development (SPD) responding to calls for more holistic models of regional development in the European Union (EU) following the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including economic social and environmental sustainability. BRANDSUS will increase scientific knowledge by developing participatory place branding (PPB) as an alternative, inclusive governance framework for SPD. The project develops an innovative mixed-methods comparative case study approach (Spain-Netherlands) for the study of citizen-led governance models: a large-scale survey and a participatory intervention methodology combining participatory action research with the method of sociological intervention. BRANDSUS will also contribute to advancing research methods in public administration and the social sciences at large. The practical application of the proposed methodology will not only support place development and economic growth but also ensure social and environmental sustainability. The project contributes to societal development by providing the governance framework for stakeholders to collectively enact positive change. Inclusive and effective governance models for stakeholder engagement will enhance collaboration towards a common vision. BRANDSUS will be conducted at the Department of Public Administration and Sociology at Erasmus University of Rotterdam, ranked 1st in 2017 and 2018 and 2nd in 2019 for the subject of Public Administration by the Shanghai Ranking. Beyond sharing my expertise and further developing innovative participatory governance methodologies, this fellowship will allow me to restart my career, as well as to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to achieve my medium-term goal to secure a grant as a principal investigator to continue studying citizen-led governance models for SPD and my long-term goal to secure a tenured position in the EU.

Mots clés : sustainable development, place branding, place development, co governance, participatory action research

Participants :
- Erasmus University Rotterdam (Pays-Bas) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 281358.72 €
Projet DNAmod_PROPAGATION (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Background DNA hydroxymethylation and methylation are marks on DNA that help define cell identity and maintain genome stability. DNA hydroxymethylation is recently discovered, and the mechanisms underlying its maintenance are uncharacterised. DNA methylation is crucial for cell function, but large blocks of DNA lose methylation in cancerous and ageing cells. It has been speculated that this is due to aberrant maintenance during cell division, however, technical limitations have prevented this from being directly assessed. By developing a novel technology to study maintenance of these marks, I will test this hypothesis for the first time. Approach This new technology will track how DNA methylation and hydroxymethylation patterns are restored after DNA replication, using both mass-spectrometry and genomics. Using this, I will track restoration of these marks following DNA replication, and test whether DNA methylation loss is caused by cell cycle speed, depleted methionine levels late in replication, or a combination of both. This will be followed up by functional analyses of key maintenance DNA hydroxymethylation and methylation factors. Thus, this work combines my past experience in DNA methylation with the host lab’s expertise in chromatin dynamics during DNA replication. Impact This will be the first quantitative study of how patterns of DNA methylation and DNA hydroxymethylation are propagated between cell divisions, which is essential to their roles in defining and maintaining cell identity. The results will bring seminal and novel understanding of these marks from both basic and biomedical perspectives, by elucidating how epigenome maintenance is linked to both DNA replication and the epigenetic changes seen in disease. By dissecting in unprecedented resolution the mechanisms underlying propagation of DNA methylation and hydroxymethylation, this work will unveil the basis for epigenetic inheritance of these marks between cell generations.

Mots clés : dna methylation, dna hydroxymethylation, mass spectrometry, genomics, dna replication, epigenetic memory

Participants :
- University of Copenhagen (Danemark) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 212194.8 €
Projet MEsHH (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Background: The current screening methods for cervical cancer screening among women living with HIV (WLHIV) have previously shown high sensitivity but poor specificity for the detection of high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN2+), resulting in over-referral for colposcopy and overtreatment of cervical lesions that may have low potential for progression to cancer. Methylation changes of human genes or HPV DNA have been reported early in carcinogenesis but their validation for predicting CIN among WLHIV is lacking. Objectives: Among 1238 WLHIV enrolled in Burkina Faso (BF; n=615) and South Africa (SA; n=623), the MesHH study aims to evaluate the performance of the DNA methylation of human genes (CADM1, MAL, MiR and EPB41L3) and HPV (HPV16/18/31/33) for the detection of prevalent and incident CIN2+ compared to, or in combination with, other screening methods (visual inspection using acetic acid [VIA] or Lugol’s iodine [VILI], cytology and HPV DNA) and to evaluate the capacity of the DNA methylation markers to distinguish cervical lesion progression, persistence or regression at 16 months follow-up. Methods: The study will use endocervical swabs with matching histological data collected as part of a prospective study evaluating cervical cancer screening strategies among WLHIV in BF and SA. The DNA methylation assays for human genes (CADM1, MAL, MiR, EPB41L3) and HPV (HPV16/18/31/33) will be performed using pyrosequencing assays. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values for the detection of CIN2+ will be estimated for the various DNA methylation markers, as stand-alone or multiplex tests. Relevance: Multiplex DNA methylation assays including a combination of human genes and HPV virus may have potential as primary screening for CIN2+ among WLHIV. DNA methylation assays also have the potential to be performed using the same clinician- or self-collected sample used for cytology or HPV testing, thereby increasing screening coverage.

Mots clés : human papillomavirus, cervical intraepithelial lesions, invasive cervical cancer, human immunodeficiency virus, dna methylation, human genes, hpv virus

Participants :
- Institut d'Investigació Biomédica de Bellvitge (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 158121.6 €
Projet COUNTERMAND (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Bacteria which are resistant to antibiotics currently result in 33,000 deaths per annum in Europe alone. Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) will potentially cost the EU an estimated €1.5 billion annually in healthcare expenses and productivity losses. By 2050, 10 million people are expected to die each year as a result of AMR-related infections. New strategies are urgently required to deal with this growing crisis. One such strategy involves the disruption of native bacterial communication systems, also known as quorum sensing. Bacteria typically communicate with one another using a ‘language’ based on small messenger molecules. In this way, a colony of bacteria can co-ordinate their responses to environmental stresses, such as the administration of an antibiotic. These responses come under a variety of forms, but one of the most common is the production of biofilm, which shields the bacteria from the effects of the antibiotic. The aim of this COUNTERMAND project is analyse the messenger molecules utilised by bacteria which controls their resistance mechanisms. We will create new molecules which serve to confuse the bacteria, and prevent them from launching their resistance countermeasures. By blocking the formation of biofilms, the bacteria will again be vulnerable to the effects of antibiotics. We will adopt a multidisciplinary and collaborative approach combining the talents of chemists in Ireland and microbiologists across the EU to find the most effective inhibitor molecules. Importantly, this approach means that a new lease of life can be given to current antibiotics, without the expense and risk involved in the discovery of new antibiotics. This COUNTERMAND project represents a novel and promising solution to tackling AMR, offering significantly improved quality of life for patients and increased life expectancies.

Mots clés : antimicrobials, resistance, quorum sensing, drug discovery, bacteria, bioisosteres

Participants :
- National University of Ireland (Irlande) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 196590.72 €
Projet BactDrugConj (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Bacterial antibiotic resistance has become a massive threat to the public health. The situation with the opportunistic pathogen P.aeruginosa is particularly worrying because this major cause of nosocomial infections in immunocompromised patients becomes resistant to nearly all antibiotics available. Pyocin S2 is a bacteriocin, a natural protein able to kill several P.aeruginosa strains. The pyocin highjacks a nutrient transport system of the bacteria to get across the cell envelop. My project aims to develop chimeric bacteriocin-antibiotic conjugates to overcome the resistance mechanisms of P.aeruginosa by combining the vector potency of the pyocin and the bacteriotoxic activity of known synthetic antibiotics. Using the bacteriocin as a Trojan horse will be beneficial because: i) the active uptake of the drug; ii) reduced susceptibility to the efflux-mediated resistance; iii) specific targeting the pathogenic bacteria in the presence of healthy commensal microbiota. Preliminary results with organic fluorophores have revealed the feasibility of the pyocin S2-mediated vectorization of small molecules. In my work I will combine synthetic chemistry, biochemistry, microbiology and pharmacology approaches to synthesise defined antibiotic-pyocin conjugates and to create a new class of antibacterial molecules urgently needed in the post-antibiotic era.

Mots clés : antibiotics resistance, peptide synthesis, synthetic antibiotics, bioconjugation, protein labelling, bioorthogonal chemistry

Participants :
- Université de Strasbourg (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 184707.84 €
Projet GDA in staphylococci (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Bacterial pathogens possess the ability to adapt rapidly to changing environmental conditions which is especially apparent in the hospital setting where bacteria acquire antibiotic resistances readily. Besides well studied mechanisms such as horizontal gene transfer bacteria can alter the genetic material by acquiring gen duplications and amplifications (GDA). Exemplarily an improved gene dosage of a minor resistance determinant can lead to increased resistance to antibiotics. Due to the difficulties in their detection GDAs are almost exclusively studied in model organisms and neglected in natural populations of clinically relevant species such as Staphylococcus aureus. Accordingly many important questions about the frequency and clinical importance of GDAs remain unanswered. State of the art sequencing technologies enable the identification of GDAs by analysis of the coverage scaffold and groundbreaking experiments using 387 USA300 genome sequences showed promising results regarding putative copy number variation of virulence factors. We will extend the GDA analysis to ca. 1200 already available EMRSA15 sequences. This will enable a comprising analysis of gen copy number variation in clinical isolates and might allow identifying genomic regions under strong evolutionary pressure during infection. We will optimize experimental setups for the rapid validation of GDAs by qPCR and develop techniques to study the effects of GDAs in S. aureus. Furthermore we will sequence a selection ca. 70 S. aureus isolates causing chronic infections in patients suffering from cystic fibrosis (CF). This will enable us to optimize the detection of GDAs by NGS and will allow investigating the role of GDAs during adaption to the complex environment within the CF-lung. This project will show new avenues to extract additional valuable biological information from NGS data and will investigate the importance of GDAs during the adaption of S. aureus to the hospital setting and to the CF-lung.


Participants :
- University of Tübingen (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 171460.8 €
Projet PHYTOPHONUS (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Bacterial symbionts are ubiquitous and influential partners of all metazoan life forms. This is exemplified by the high number of insect species harbouring heritable bacterial symbionts with important impacts on host ecology and evolution. In contrast, several plant pathogenic bacteria causing devastating crop diseases and important economic losses also depend on insect vectors to be transmitted to new host plants. It is thus evident that certain bacteria have evolved adaptations to very different host environments from two kingdoms of life and are able to switch frequently between these contrasting lifestyles. However, a detailed understanding of the functional and/or phenotypic adaptations allowing their cross-kingdom host switches is often lacking. The project PHYTOPHONUS (‘plantkiller’) will investigate how an initially insect-associated bacterial endosymbiont has recently adopted a multi-host lifestyle as an insect-vectored plant pathogen. This will be achieved using the phytopathogen ‘Candidatus Phlomobacter fragariae’ as study system. This bacterium belongs to the widespread Arsenophonus clade of insect endosymbionts and is also the causative agent of Marginal Chlorosis Disease of strawberry. We will combine experimental approaches as well as state-of-the-art genomic and transcriptomic sequencing techniques to investigate (i) the potential genomic adaptations allowing this bacterium to successfully switch between insect and plant hosts, and (ii) the respective interactions of the symbiont with both hosts. The results of the project will allow us to elucidate whether the genetic repertoire within the Arsenophonus clade is sufficiently versatile to allow rapid adaptations to plant host environments should the ecological opportunity arise. In addition, we will provide a holistic view of the multi-partite interactions between the bacterial pathogen, its insect vector and host plant, which may ultimately provide cues to interrupt the disease dynamics in the field.

Mots clés : symbiosis, host symbiont interactions, heritable symbionts

Participants :
- University of Milan (Italie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 168277.2 €
Projet INFLOW (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Based at the Center for Multilingualism in Society across the Lifespan (MultiLing) at the University of Oslo, this project will undertake a critical sociolinguistic ethnography by way of a new innovative approach - rhythmanalysis - to explore the temporal dimensions of migrant adaptation processes. Five Russian-speaking multilingual families will partake in the study, which adopts a participatory research approach. The research starts by framing migration as a time prone to social arrhythmia – a disruption to the familiar, predictable, and secure – and proposes that integration practices such as language learning and acculturation are in fact sites of conflicting rhythms and temporalities. As such, the project incorporates several layers of inquiry to understand rhythmic relations at individual, interactional, and societal levels, and how these interact. Moreover, it aims to comprehend how temporal perception correlates with meaning-making practices. If mobility can lead to new temporal experiences, then narrative and discourse become key symbolic modes for making sense of this experience. Integration – or more inclusively, adaptation – is thus conceived as an embodied, temporal, rhythmic process of habit transformation, with ‘breaks’ in the flow of an event serving as a window into processes of change. The project also explores the prominence of past and future in migrant lives, as decision-making becomes more conscious, and new versions of heritage take shape. The ultimate goals of this research are to produce a novel theoretical framework for exploring issues of integration, identification, and belonging in a sociolinguistics of mobility, or superdiversity. In understanding how adaptation occurs, families and communities can be equipped with practical strategies to deal with the novelties experienced during migration, and to find a renewed sense of eurythmia, or flow. The research aligns with H2020’s goals for ‘inclusive, innovative and reflective societies’.

Mots clés : sociolinguistics of mobility, multilingualism, superdiversity, time and temporality, rhythm, rhythmanalysis

Participants :
- University of Oslo (Norvège) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 214158.72 €
Projet MTBHLAE (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Based on recent work from the Tuberculosis Research group in the Department of Infectious Diseases at LUMC on the discovery of highly in vivo expressed Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) antigens, using genome wide bioinformatics and immunomics approaches, I here propose to identify Mtb derived epitopes presented by HLA-E from the most immunogenic and protective antigens identified thus far during Mtb infection. HLA-E restricted Mtb specific CD8+ T-cells represent a novel human T-cell subset, which has only very recently been identified, and which could be highly relevant during the immune response to Mtb infection. HLA-E expression is enriched in Mtb phagosomes compared to classical HLA class Ia family members, thus facilitating HLA-E loading by Mtb peptides in infected cells (Grotzke et al. 2009). In contrast to most other HLA class I molecules, HLA-E is relatively resistant to down-regulation by HIV, a co-infection that is responsible for most of the TB related mortality [2]. Identification of novel epitopes will be performed in close collaboration with Dr. Thomas Abeel at TU Delft during a 3-month secondment where I will implement an improved prediction algorithm for the selection of the best candidate epitopes. I will subsequently determine the ability of the identified epitopes to induce superior CD8 T cell activation, including their ability to induce Mtb killing in infected human macrophages. I will further dissect the molecular determinants that control Mtb peptide binding to and presentation by the two HLA-E alleles in relation to T cell activation. Furthermore, I will look at specific molecular elements of the T cell receptor (TCR) associated with efficient T cell responses by TCR sequencing. Taken together, I will identify new Mtb HLA-E presented epitopes, dissect their binding to both alleles, determine their superior ability to induce T cells that are capable of Mtb killing and the resulting knowledge will be harnessed for TB vaccine development.

Mots clés : hla e, mycobacterium tuberculosis, t cells, vaccine, epitopes

Participants :
- Leiden University Medical Center (Pays-Bas) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 165598.8 €
Projet FRODO (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Based on the fantastic recent developments of cyclo-para-phenylenes (CPP), the present proposal aims to synthesize and study a new and unique class of cyclic organic semi-conductors based on bridged oligophenylenes building blocks, namely the cyclo-oligo-fluorene and cyclo-oligo-dihydroindenofluorene, for Organic Electronic (OE) applications. After synthesis, the main goal of this proposal is to define a precise structure properties relationship study on cyclo bridged oligophenylenes. Defining these general rules through such structure-properties relationship studies will allow in the future a perfect control of the properties of cyclic bridged oligophenylenes, which is the foundation of the materials design for OE. This is an innovative and multidisciplinary project at the interface of organic chemistry, physical chemistry and electronics. Through this proposal, the applicant will learn many new skills and knowledges in cyclic OSCs, physico-chemistry and in electronic devices fabrication and characterization. This will provide the applicant a rare and multidisciplinary scientific profile, which is a key feature for her future academic career. Indeed, the applicant wish to become a permanent CNRS researcher at the University of Rennes 1 in the host group and this fellowship is a unique chance to reach this objective.

Mots clés : curved pi material, organic synthesis, fluorene, dihydroindenofluorene isomer, cyclic organic semi conductor, organic electronic, organic semi conductors, structure properties relationship study, oled

Participants :
- Centre national de la recherche scientifique (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 185076.0 €