Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-actions-marie-curie-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ETERNAL (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Railway track and rolling stock interact with each other, forming a complex dynamic system which leads to structural degradation of railway assets with time, as such, pose a threat to not only safety, but comfortable rail operations. Modern ICT and sensing technologies could ensure a safe, secure and efficient transport network. However, greater connectivity and sensor coverage along tracks which require no mains power or batteries for energy supply, eliminating the costs for cabling and battery replacement, and minimum gateway installations, are critical for the success of industry adoptions. As such, the ETERNAL fellowship is providing a solution towards to the development of self-powered Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices for railway system by harvesting the vibration energy when the train travels. Through new, insightful laboratory investigations supported by numerical simulations, a vibration-based piezoelectric energy harvesting prototype is developed for the railway system. ETERNAL establishes inner links between the excitation source and the component natural frequency in rail track systems, and develops the piezoelectric ceramics by combining texturing process and multilayered structure together, which take the functionality (large output current, high energy density, low cost, and high mechanical strength) of the piezoelectric vibration energy harvester (PVEH) to the next level. This fellowship advances the underpinning technology for developing an energy harvester with the ultimate goal of developing self-powered IoT devices, which expected to transform rail track monitoring capability and ensure a more sustainable railway development in the 21st century, in the EU and internationally.

Mots clés : piezoelectric ceramics, energy harvester, train mechanical vibration

Participants :
- University of Warwick (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 337400.64 €
Projet Human Plus (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Cofund Postdoctoral programme
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Rapid developments in information technology in the past three decades have opened up new, unfamiliar frontiers in all areas of society: culture and media, politics and security, health and wellbeing. Big data and machine learning are transforming our experience of social interaction, identity, governance, entertainment, journalism, privacy, and, through artificial intelligence (AI), what it means to be human. There are increasing calls for human-centric approaches to critical questions concerning this rapid expansion of adaptive technologies and their impact on the nature and future of humanity. Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, will address this need through HUMAN+, which will connect computer science researchers with arts and humanities researchers and enterprise to forge a human-centric approach to technological development. HUMAN+ will recruit 18 experienced researchers over 2 calls, each for a duration of two years. It will invite research proposals addressing one of two broad strands: (a) questions that consider technological developments from the humanistic perspective (b) proposals to develop technology with insights informed by the arts and humanities. Through multidisciplinary supervision, industry participation by way of workshops and mandatory secondments, HUMAN+ fellows will gain inter-sectoral experience contributing to their capacity to tackle societal challenges relating to the areas outlined above. Non-academic partners involved in the programme include Nokia Bell Labs, Accenture Human Insight Lab, EPIC- the Irish Emigration Museum, Fidelity and Ancestry.com. As part of the fellows’ training, HUMAN+ will participate in a ‘Future Lab’ which will bring the fellows together to test, learn, invent and build solutions in response to problems set by our industry leader partners. HUMAN+ is jointly developed by the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts & Humanities Research Institute and ADAPT, Science Foundation Ireland Centre for Digital Content Innovation.,

Mots clés : arts and humanities, computer science, steam, ethical and societal values, human centric approaches to technology developmen, career development for early career researchers, intersectoral secondment

Participants :
- Trinity College Dublin (Irlande) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 1324080.0 €
Projet MODIRen (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Rare inherited kidney diseases (RIKDs) encompass over 150 different conditions. They often lead to patients requiring renal replacement therapy being a major cause of end stage renal disease, severely compromising the patients’ quality of life and posing a high financial burden in healthcare. They are characterised by a high degree of phenotypic heterogeneity and by the absence of biomarkers for disease diagnosis, prognosis and inadequate therapeutic management. The main aim of the proposed work is to develop new disease ontology for three RIKDs (Thin Basement Membrane nephropathy, CFHR5 nephropathy and MUC1 kidney disease) using a deep-phenotyping approach. Phenotypic and genetic data will be integrated for biomarker discovery and to provide new knowledge for the development of a novel theranostic tool. Whole exome sequencing (WES) of cases and controls is currently underway at the host for the identification of relevant genetic variants. Using a dual biofluid-dual platform approach to maximise metabolome coverage, the metabolic profiles of healthy individuals will be compared to those of RIKD patients to identify disease-specific metabolic markers. Rigorous data analysis methodologies will be employed to integrate WES, metabolomic and clinical data for the identification of robust composite genotype-phenotype signatures of the diseases. These will elucidate molecular disease pathomechanisms, enabling better clinical diagnostics and improved patient stratification. The proposed work will provide a vital genotype-phenotype framework from which future theranostic tools can be more precisely designed and evaluated, towards precision medicine. The proposed research and training program will complement the applicant’s skills in metabolomics and systems biology with the host’s expertise in genomics and molecular diagnostics to enhance her professional maturity and facilitate new international research and innovation initiatives and multidisciplinary collaborations.

Mots clés : kidney diseases, metabolomics, genomics, whole exome sequencing, bioinformatics, nephrogenetics

Participants :
- University of Cyprus (Chypre) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 145941.12 €
Projet IN-3D-CAN (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Rationale: Cardiotoxicity side effects are a recurrent problem for cancer therapies, fatally illustrated by the death of numerous patients treated with anthracycline chemotherapeutics. More recently, cardiac complications have also been found for antibody-based and immunotherapy treatments. Microphysiological systems and organs-on-chips may provide part of the long-term solution to these issues, by introducing improved means for studying human tissue in vitro. Main objective: The overarching objective of IN-3D-CAN is to establish instrumented in vitro 3D models of human cardiac muscle for high-throughput cardiotoxicity screening of cancer drugs and therapies. Methodology: In a recent first-author paper in Nature Materials, we reported the first entirely 3D-printed organ-on-chip with integrated sensors: A heart-on-a-chip with strain sensors for tracking engineered 2D cardiac thin films. In this proposal, I significantly expand on this 3D printing methodology, focusing on thicker 3D tissue models that better recapitulate native cardiac muscle. I will leverage the insights of the supervisor to perform toxicity screening of a range of cancer therapies. Outcomes: The proposal will establish unique tools for long-term and high-throughput studies of drug toxicity on human cardiac muscle in vitro. It will further provide unique insights into the cardiotoxicity of several cancer therapies on human cardiac muscle. Finally, the techniques for 3D printing will be widely applicable for biomedical micro-devices. Career: I am applying for an MSCA-IF-EF-RI, to reintegrate to DTU(DK), after more than 4 years abroad as Postdoc at Harvard Uni. (US) The fellowship will serve as year 1 and 2 of a 4-year assistant professorship. The host DTU Nanotech has committed to provide funding for year 3 and 4. The key career development objective is therefore to train me to become an independent group leader. Thus, In-3D-CAN will serve as immediate and long-term platform for my research.

Mots clés : microphysiological systems, organs on chips, 3d printing

Participants :
- Technical University of Denmark (Danemark) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 212194.8 €
Projet AGG-REST-WEB (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Rationale: Soils are precious for human health and food production but 33 % of the world soils are degraded. Developing ecological engineering strategies to restore them is an urgent need. Soil structure is a key aspect of soil functioning, with soil aggregates being organo-mineral associations, constituting its building bricks. The influence of soil organisms on soil aggregation is commonly acknowledged but supported by little direct mechanistic evidence, which are mainly single group approaches, hence not depicting the role of the complex soil biota. Aim: The aim of this MSC project is to directly link the soil food web properties to the formation of soil aggregates, with subsequent consequences on the restoration of soil functioning. The novelty of this project is that it will provide direct mechanistic evidence of how species interactions – and not only diversity – can influence a key soil process: the formation of aggregates. The resulting knowledge will provide basis for developing soil ecological engineering techniques to restore degraded soil via soil biota manipulation. Methodology: Unravelling such mechanistic understanding will require a multidisciplinary approach merging soil animal ecology and soil physics. The project will be hosted by the University of Göttingen in Germany, providing unique access to soil ecology and physics lab facilities. Two experiments, respectively manipulating targeted trophic interactions (bacteria-amoebe and fungi-collembola) and natural soil food web complexity (tracked by isotope tracing, PLFA, etc.) will be run in microcosms and mesocosms, and resulting changes in soil aggregate properties and soil functioning will be assessed by cutting edge physics techniques, such as neutron radiography and X-rays tomography. A secondment period in the Freie University of Berlin will allow the fellow to reach a functional understanding of the effect of soil biota on aggregation through the measurement of soil organismal traits.

Mots clés : soil ecological engineering, soil ecology, soil biodiversity, soil physics, soil aggregate, soil food web, soil hydraulics, ecosystem functioning, ecological restoration, trait based approach, protist

Participants :
- University of Göttingen (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 171460.8 €
Projet ReCyPot (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

ReCyPot is a large-scale, interdisciplinary study of ancient ceramics from the region of Lapithos on the northern coast of Cyprus that addresses four different themes of cross-cultural and cross-regional significance: 1) ancient technology, 2) ancient Mediterranean history and archaeology, 3) the restudy of older excavated material with new methods of analysis and interpretation and 4) the study of ancient artefacts from areas presently inaccessible to archaeological and historical research. Integrating ceramic petrography and methods of chemical and microstructural analysis (including WD-XRF, NAA and SEM), this will be a thorough analytical study of ancient pottery, dated to the end of the third millennium and the second millennium BC, the comparative analysis of contemporary pottery from the region, as well as ceramics from intervening periods in Lapithos. While the project deals with a specific region on the island of Cyprus, it can be used as an exemplar for addressing broader, cross-cultural and methodological questions regarding the definition and recording of pottery traditions, how these are transformed and how modern archaeologists can perceive and study them. The project will attempt to reconstruct the ancient pottery traditions of Lapithos and define those compositional and technological elements that form the Lapithos ceramic profile. Beyond the definition of regional ceramic traditions and elements of stability and change through time, this project will consider environmental, technological, sociocultural and historical factors that must have had an impact on ceramic production, distribution and consumption. Pottery production will be integrated into its regional and inter-regional socio-economic context, and provide an insight into the ancient society and history of the region, an integral part of the ancient Mediterranean.

Mots clés : prehistoric pottery, ancient technology, interdisciplinary research, ceramic petrography, wd xrf, ceramic traditions, cyprus, mediterranean

Participants :
- University of London (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 195454.8 €
Projet RhoSNATCH (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Recent advances in technologies to measure Rho GTPase signaling with unprecedented spatiotemporal resolution in single living cells have led to novel questions. Important new insights are that Rho GTPase signaling involves the formation of signaling complexes that fluctuate on subminute time and micrometer length scales, and that complex signaling networks involving multiple Rho GTPases fine tune the leading edge dynamics that power fibroblast migration. Novel methodologies are required to dissect this newly discovered signaling complexity. RhoSNATCH aims to characterize these signaling networks by acutely perturbing and recording Rho GTPase signaling at biologically relevant timescales in live-cell imaging experiments of cell migration. I will identify the crosstalk between Rac1/RhoA/Cdc42 that positions and maintains specific Rho GTPase activity zones in time and space and identify dedicated functional signaling modules that fine tune specific cytoskeletal output at the leading edge of motile fibroblasts. Microfluidic technology will be used to induce precise fibroblast leading edge signaling states. Genome editing in combination with a reversible chemical dimerizing system will be used to acutely perturb endogenous RhoA,Cdc42 and Rac1 signaling, as well as a subset of their upstream regulators that regulate leading edge dynamics. Rho GTPase activation patterns and downstream cytoskeletal outputs will be systematically recorded in the different perturbed states. Computer-vision assisted image analysis will allow the multiplexing of multiple data sets to produce one of the first integrated models of the molecular circuitry that fine-tunes Rho GTPase signaling and cytoskeletal dynamics during leading edge extension. This novel, integrated approach will allow for the first time the identification of different spatiotemporally organised Rho GTPase signaling modules, and give relevant insight into the crosstalk between and functions of Rho GTPases in time and space.

Mots clés : rho gtpases, chemical biology, crispr cas9, cellular imaging, cell migration

Participants :
- University of Bern (Suisse) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 187419.6 €
Projet CARBCHRON (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Recent analytical developments are reinvigorating the study of carbonate as a geochronometer in deep time (>1 Ma) using the U-Pb system. Boundstone, a type of carbonate rock made by the trapping and binding of carbonate sediment by microbial mats, is often sampled for use in U-Pb dating of carbonates. It has even been used as a reference material in recent studies. However, we lack a process-based understanding as to why boundstone works so well for geochronology, and which geological processes create the material we date. This work, supervised by Dr. Axel Gerdes at Goethe University Frankfurt, investigates these questions. This project tests a hypothesis, supported by early results, that microbially-induced carbonate precipitation under reducing conditions creates geochronologically viable early cements. This hypothesis will be tested by petrographically, geochemically, and geochronologically characterizing boundstones from Earth’s last 1 Ga. To test the accuracy and robustness of the boundstone chronometer, I then will compare boundstone dates with radiometric ages derived from zircon and black shales in two stratigraphic succesions: the Neoproterozoic of Oman and the Ordovician of Anticosti Island. First, boundstone samples will be characterized petrographically. High-throughput laser ablation inductively coupled mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) will be used to geochemically and geochronologically characterize samples, a subset of which will advance to high-precision dating by isotope dilution (ID).

Mots clés : u pb carbonate geochronology

Participants :
- Goethe University Frankfurt (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 162806.4 €
Projet EAVESTROP (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Recent climate change is a major threat for conservation of amphibian diversity, the most endangered group of vertebrates. Species distribution models derived from functional traits have been proposed to provide more robust predictions of future climate-induced shifts in environmental suitability than commonly used correlative models. The proposed project aims, for the first time, to examine species vulnerability to climate change through a novel integration of two scientific disciplines, bioacoustics and biogeography, thanks to the use of new tools in acoustic monitoring, signal processing and species distribution modelling. We will first explore how a key and environment-dependent behavioural trait in amphibian anurans (i.e., reproductive calling behaviour) responds across climatic gradients and subsequently expand these findings into larger temporal and spatial scales through mechanistic approach at two levels of organisation, species and community. The MSCA is proposed as a 3-year GF. One of the most cited research groups in ecology (UFG) will host the fellow during the outgoing phase in Brazil, where data collection, first analyses, and training in biogeography will be conducted. The third year of return to the host organisation in France, with a leading group in bioacoustics and signal processing (MNHN), will be devoted to training in acoustic diversity indices, software development, and most transfer and dissemination activities. The MSCA will enable the fellow to be one of the first researchers with expertise in both bioacoustics and biogeography and hence will open up the best career possibilities for him and new collaboration opportunities for the host organisations. As the first using this novel approach, the MSCA is expected to provide advances in these two disciplines as well as to promote new scientific pathways. A series of outreach activities will also contribute to public education and awareness of amphibian decline and climate change threats.

Mots clés : global change

Participants :
- Muséum national d'histoire naturelle (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 256410.0 €
- Universidade Federal de Goiás (Brésil) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet COUPC1 (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Recent findings have suggested the plausible involvement of formic acid (HCOOH) as a gaseous molecular shuttle in WGS reaction , which is specifically promoted by oxides (ZnO, CeO2, TiO2) that are known to selectively dehydrate HCOOH (microreverse of HCOOH formation from CO and H2O) and metals (Cu, Pt, Pd, Au) that do dehydrogenation (to CO2 and H2 in WGS) and hydrogenation (to methanol). The intermediate of interest (HCOOH) is formed in situ from CO/H2O mixtures on metals and oxides that catalyze selective HCOOH dehydration, and thus its microscopic reverse. Subsequent HCOOH dehydrogenation would lead to the formation of H2 and CO2, completing a water-gas shift (WGS ) turnover without requiring interfacial contact among functions. A notable promotional effect has been recently detected in catalyst without requiring atomic contact, meaning that the two functions need to be “close” but not in atomic contact but involving a molecular carrier. The mechanistic details of such diffusion-mediated routes would unveil new opportunities for the specific channelling of such intermediates towards H2 and CO2, through precise positioning of a function that forms HCOOH from CO/H2O reactants and another function, present beyond atomic contact but within diffusion distances, that dehydrogenates gaseous HCOOH to H2 and CO2. Summarizing, this research would permit controlling the WGS process in order to increase H2 production worldwide. The proposed research will address the formation and scavenging of reactive and thermodynamically unstable intermediates without a C-C bond, which can be formed from C1 molecules (specifically natural gas or biogenic feedstocks), through the precise positioning for their formation and scavenging functions. The researcher U. De La Torre will be seconded to the LSAC group at UC Berkeley (USA) under the supervision of Prof. Enrique Iglesia, and will return to the University of the Basque Country (Spain) under the supervision of Prof. González-Velasco.

Mots clés : water gas shift, h2 generation, catalysis, c1 intermediates, hcooh

Participants :
- University of the Basque Country (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 204415.68 €
- University of California System (Etats-Unis) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €