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

Predicting the formation and properties of clouds the atmosphere still represents a major challenge today and a main source of uncertainties in weather forecasting, hydrology, and climate prediction. Some fundamental aspects of these processes are still poorly understood, such as the role of the surface-active compounds (or surfactants) and their chemistry in the droplet nuclei, predicted by theory 80 years ago but elusive to observations until recently. The objective of CHEMPUFF is to complete the understanding of these compounds and their role on cloud formation and climate by - simultaneously investigating aerosol surfactants and cloud events in different regions (mid-latitude continental, Coastal, and Boreal), - using the results, together with satellite data, to make the first evaluation of the impact of surfactants on the radiative forcing of clouds on climate, at regional scale, then at global scale in collaboration with global modelers, - using the field results to characterize the links between aerosol surfactants and the biosphere (microorganisms, vegetation), and investigate the existence of a vegetation/biosurfactant/cloud/climate feedback in collaboration with global modelers. The Researcher is a recent PhD graduate from India, who has already demonstrated exceptional talents and scientific excellence. He will be integrated to the Host group at CNRS, France, which has led the main advances on the topic of surfactants and clouds in recent years. In addition to learning unique knowledge and techniques from this group, CHEMPUFF will open the Researcher’s professional network to Europe, thus increase his career prospects.


Participants :
- Centre national de la recherche scientifique (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 185076.0 €
Projet PICS (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Prediction has traditionally been viewed as a hallmark of successful science by scientists and philosophers alike. In recent years however, interest in prediction has declined, as philosophers have shifted their focus to explicating scientific explanation, while scientists have settled on a standard notion of the term. Unfortunately, this displacement is premature, as it obscures conceptual issues that are becoming increasingly important in scientific practice. Perhaps the most important of these issues is why some sciences (e.g. economics, ecology and climate science) face disproportionate difficulties in making predictions that are sufficiently precise and accurate. This issue has important implications within and outside academia, as it affects our expectations and evaluations of scientific practice. The overall aim of this project is to provide a new philosophical framework for understanding prediction, which takes into account the difficulties faced by these sciences. The project’s objectives will be to provide answers for three distinct but related questions: (i) what are the causes of the problem of prediction? (ii) what are some possible solutions to the problem of prediction? (iii) what are the implications for our conception of ‘prediction’? This interdisciplinary Global Fellowship will be pursued at the University of Helsinki and the Australian National University. Training objectives include the creation of a novel conceptual framework, its application to current scientific practice (in economics and ecology) and training in dissemination strategies. The hosting institutions will also provide training in effective publication and collaboration strategies as well as mentoring and supervision. The action will provide networking opportunities for the researcher and host institutions. Special attention will be paid to the extra-academic dissemination of the project’s results.

Mots clés : prediction, complexity, heterogeneity, problem based science

Participants :
- University of Helsinki (Finlande) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 172852.8 €
- Australian National University (Australie) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet VINCI (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Predictions and control about impending action and rewards or punishments require accumulating information about our environment and ultimately choosing the action that will maximize reward. Therefore, contexts containing a large amount of information about the environment and with several available options to gather reward or avoid punishment are generally preferred by agents. Because information intake and choice seeking are so important for survival and well-being, they can be considered as cognitive rewards, i.e. a higher order form of reward not directly related to immediate satisfaction like food or water. This proposal seeks to understand the neural mechanisms involved in the encoding of these cognitive rewards. How cognitive rewards like information and choice availability are encoded and manipulated in the brain remains a major unanswered question. Evidence suggests that cognitive rewards may be encoded by the dopaminergic system in a way similar to basic rewards like food or water. In contexts where the amount of basic reward will be equal, I will train monkeys to perform a task where they will get either more choice or more available information related to the type of upcoming basic reward. I hypothesize that monkeys will prefer conditions where more choice or more information are available compared to condition where these variables are lacking. Using simultaneous high-density electrophysiological recordings, we predict that midbrain dopaminergic neurons will reflect these preferences. By using fiber photometry targeting specifically dopaminergic neurons, we will also investigate how the neural signal related to cognitive reward are transmitted from midbrain dopaminergic neurons to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the striatum, two structures receiving massive dopaminergic inputs and previously linked with different aspects of motivational and learning processes.

Mots clés : cognitive reward, neurophysiology, dopamine, midbrain area, striatum, prefrontal cortex, alert monkey

Participants :
- Institut du cerveau (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 196707.84 €
Projet NeuroPred (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Predictions were recently proposed to be the core mechanism organizing brain functioning at all levels and in all domains. However, in contrast, within language comprehension, evidence for predictions has not been ubiquitous across participants, tasks, and materials. In my earlier research I showed that this discrepancy can be reconciled by positing the existence of at least two different neurocognitive mechanisms of prediction: active prediction that is restricted to highly informative contexts and to speakers who can rapidly exploit that informativity, and passive prediction, which is part-and-parcel of language comprehension. The objective of this project is to better understand the different mechanisms involved at the cognitive and at the neural level. I will be trained in 3 specialized techniques: Event-Related Optical Signal, eye-tracking, and magnetoencephalography, as well as new data-analysis methods. This training will enable me to establish, for both types of prediction, the time-course and associated ERP-components, underlying brain structures, their behavioural markers during free reading of texts, and patterns of connectivity and causal exchange of information between involved brain areas. An important novelty lies in the materials used in the project: fully naturalistic stories parametrized using recurrent neural networks. NeuroPred brings together two excellent laboratories: Prof. Kara Federmeier, a pioneer and one of the leading researchers in studying prediction in language comprehension, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Prof. Peter Hagoort at the Donders Center for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, a renowned expert in the neurocognition of language. The research bridges psycholinguistics, cognitive neuroscience and computer science. Thanks to this interdisciplinary approach, NeuroPred will provide me with excellent 'training through research' and enable me to transfer newly obtained skills back to the EU.

Mots clés : predictions, language comprehension, eros, eye tracking, connectivity, language models, machine learning

Participants :
- Radboud University Nijmegen (Pays-Bas) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 260929.8 €
- University of Illinois System (Etats-Unis) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet HoloPredict (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Predictive coding is an attractive framework to understand sensory processing. However a direct experimental demonstration of this unique capacity of the brain to sensory representations has been lacking, essentially because of the difficulty to separate between external and self-generated representations using correlative or causal paradigms. Similarly, the neural circuits underlying predictive coding in the context of sensory perception have been largely unexplored, primarily because of technological bottlenecks to image and manipulate selected neurons within neural circuits extending multiple areas. In this proposal, I aim to develop a mesoscale two-photon holographic technology that will enable the manipulation of functionally selected neurons in targeted higher visual areas, while simultaneously measuring neural activity throughout the cortical visual hierarchy. This will allow to test primary hypotheses related to the predictive coding framework in the context of visual processing. Importantly, it will provide the possibility for the direct demonstration of predictive coding in the visual cortex by artificially generating an internal sensory representation from scratch in a behaving awake animal. Finally, I use will use this powerful technology to investigate the neural circuits underlying top-down predictive coding with a precision and scope unattainable so far.

Mots clés : multiphoton optogenetics, non linear microscopy, systems neuroscience, sensory processing, visual cortex

Participants :
- Champalimaud Foundation (Portugal) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 257173.44 €
- University of California System (Etats-Unis) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet MECHPREDPRO (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Predictive processing is a leading theory of brain function. However, despite several conjectures it is unknown how predictive processing is implemented at the neural level. We will try to understand the exact role of the computations of the layer 5 pyramidal (L5p) cells within the framework of predictive processing. The experimental paradigm and the computational model used here are designed to answer, whether L5p cells carry predictions, as the theory of predictive processing suggests, or are they responsible for some other computation. To this end we will a) adapt experimental paradigms used with humans to study probabilistic computations in the mouse model, b) measure the dendritic input and somatic output of L5p cells in mice, c) capture this activity with computational models and d) manipulate the apical dendritic input and somatic output of L5p through noradrenaline antagonists. The project allows us to understand the mechanisms underlying predictions and their effect on perception.

Mots clés : predictive processing, layer 5 pyramidal cells, illusory perception

Participants :
- Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 171460.8 €
Projet MOUSIE (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Prenatal diagnosis of congenital abnormalities and intrauterine growth restriction (IGR) has become increasingly important thanks to the recent advancements in obstetrical ultrasound (US) imaging. An accurate and early diagnosis of fetal malformations and growth anomalies can improve fetal prognosis by allowing a treatment plan to be produced, enabling access to specialist units and appropriate treatments from birth. However, the diagnostic accuracy of US is limited due to its subjective assessment and inter-operator variability. On the other hand, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has the potential to offer a more detailed examination of the fetus. Unfortunately, its high cost, limited availability, and the difficulty in acquiring high quality 3D data due to constant fetal motion, hinder the widespread use of fetal MRI. The MOUSIE project aims at improving the accuracy of fetal US examination by creating the first framework for multi-organ quantitative image analysis of the fetus. In particular, the specific goals of the MOUSIE project are: (1) development of new multi-organ MRI slice to volume reconstruction method able to provide comprehensive and relevant 3D inter-organ information of the fetal anatomy, including spine, lungs, liver and kidneys; (2) development of an US-based automated segmentation method, using a detailed MRI-US atlas of the anatomy of the fetus of 18-20 weeks of gestational age, that includes new structural similarity patterns and inter-organ shape models; (3) creation of a new generation of multi-organ fetal biomarkers based on the detailed and comprehensive anatomical information extracted from a unique database with more than 500 MRI-US scans, including healthy and pathological cases. By achieving these goals, MOUSIE will provide an innovative set of methods allowing for the first time quantitative, noninvasive, objective assessment of the fetal anatomy and growth, and thus address a long standing clinical need for such methodology.

Mots clés : prenatal screening, quantitative imaging, ultrasound, multi modal atlas, statistical shape model, multi organ analysis

Participants :
- Imperial College London (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 183454.8 €
Projet P-SPHERE (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Cofund Postdoctoral programme
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Presented by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) as beneficiary, the project is part of a broader initiative named Sphere UAB-Campus of International Excellence (Sphere UAB-CIE) which aims at establishing a future pole for innovation by enhancing the integration of the R&D&I centres settled in the UAB campus and its surrounding. Seven partner institutions, members of Sphere UAB-CIE will be contributing to the co-financing and hiring fellows. Additionally other institutions will participate in the training and secondment activities. The programme P-SPHERE programme will offer 3 years fellowships to a total of 48 fellows which will have the opportunity to develop their researcher’s careers in an exceptional environment. The P-SPHERE programme is articulated around five multidisciplinary research domains, including transversal technologies: Food, Health, Smart and Sustainable Cities, Cultural Heritage and Materials & Energy. This fellowship programme is expected to contribute to realising the full potential of the recruited researchers and to add significantly to the development of their careers in the academic and non-academic sectors.

Mots clés : researchers, postdoctoral, mental health, cultural heritage, food, materials, energy, smart cities

Participants :
- Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology (Espagne) — Partner, organization partner, Recherche, subvention : 0.0 €
- Autonomous University of Barcelona (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 5097600.0 €
- Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia (Espagne) — Partner, organization partner, Recherche, subvention : 0.0 €
- Institute for High Energy Physics (Espagne) — Partner, organization partner, Recherche, subvention : 0.0 €
- CERCA Institution (Espagne) — Partner, organization partner, Recherche, subvention : 0.0 €
- Spanish National Research Council (Espagne) — Partner, organization partner, Recherche, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet InVivo_DDR_ADPR (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Preservation of genome integrity and stability is critical for survival and propagation of individuals and species. Organisms have thus evolved rapid and efficient mechanisms -collectively termed the DNA damage response (DDR)- to combat threats posed by DNA damage. Among these, the post-translational modification (PTM) ADP-ribosylation (ADPR) plays a decisive role in effective DDR. Although much is known about the relevance of ADPR upon DNA injury, the underlying molecular mechanisms are still poorly understood and no systematic, unbiased proteome-wide study to determine ADPR targets in vivo has been conducted to date. The most challenging and innovative goal of this proposal is to profile in vivo ADP-ribosylated peptides during DDR in the well-established model system Caenorhabditis elegans by the combined application of advanced proteomic approaches. I will develop novel enrichment strategies that will allow me to confidently map for the first time all the sites of ADPR throughout the C. elegans proteome. I will take advantage of SILAN technology, which allows stable isotope labelling in C. elegans, to determine the quantitative profiles of thousands of ADPR sites during DDR. By bioinformatic analysis, I will select candidate proteins for further investigation of the biological role of DNA damage-induced ADPR. I will then test the biological impact of ADPR of these candidates through site-specific mutation of their identified modification sites. Finally, I will perform biochemical, molecular and functional experiments to study how ADPR alters the activity of these proteins and thereby characterize the mode of ADPR action. Understanding the regulatory networks that underlie such a complex biological process at the organism level will provide new insights for improved treatment of DNA damage-related diseases including cancer. This is an ambitious, innovative, cross-disciplinary project at the forefront of two exciting fields, biology and proteomics.

Mots clés : adp ribosylation, c  elegans

Participants :
- Max Planck Society (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 159460.8 €
Projet MarmOT (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Primates interact with each other primarily through visual and acoustic communication. However, while primate social vision has been extensively studied, little is known about the neuronal basis of acoustic communication in primates. More specifically, we ignore how oxytocin, a neurohormone that regulates social behavior in mammals and a promising therapeutic target for psychiatric disorders, modulates acoustic communication. Based on preliminary evidence, I hypothesize that oxytocin (1) acts in the auditory cortex to increase signal to noise ratio in response to social auditory stimuli, (2) is required for normal communication behavior and (3) is critical to brain-to-brain coordination between two interacting individuals. This Global Fellowship proposal has been designed to unveil how oxytocin influences primates’ acoustic communication at the neuronal and behavioral levels. To do so, I will combine state of the art techniques, such as chemogenetic manipulation of oxytocin neurons and wireless electrophysiology, in marmoset monkeys. This highly vocal primate is key to this project and a rapidly growing animal model in neuroscience. I will learn to work with them during my Outgoing phase in San Diego (USA) and transfer this knowledge back to Europe during the incoming phase, by participating in the inception of a marmoset laboratory in Lyon (France). This project will greatly enhance my career opportunities in academia as it will give me a unique theoretical and technical background. It will place me in a good spot to explore innovative research pathways, with a great potential scientific impact. All the outcomes from MarmOT will be published strictly following the Open Science objective of H2020. Finally, I propose innovative ways to disseminate the results of my experiments in order to reach all types of audience, by collaborating with a local Zoo or contacting Youtubers.

Mots clés : oxytocin, marmoset, electrophysiology, chemogenetics, vocal communication, auditory cortex, synchrony

Participants :
- Centre national de la recherche scientifique (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 257619.84 €
- University of California System (Etats-Unis) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €