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

Recent space missions such as CoRoT and Kepler have revolutionized exoplanetary science. Today, we know of thousands of systems with awide diversity of architectures, proving that our Solar System is not typical. Understanding how these systems form and evolve is currently one of the most active area of astrophysics. The processes that dictate the dynamics of planets play a fundamental role in shaping the architecture of the systems we observe. In the present paradigm, as planets accrete mass from the primordial disk, they are subject to interactions with it and with other planets. These interactions exert torques, and make the planets migrate. Disk-planet interactions depend strongly on the physical processes governing the dynamics of the disk. I demonstrated a clear example of this in a recent paper in Nature, showing that the disk heating by an accreting embryo have a strong impact on the torques. This proposal has two objectives with the potential to produce a leap forward in our understanding of the long-term evolution of planetary systems. (i) I will produce the most advanced framework to date for investigating planetary migration in magnetohydrodynamic disk simulations, including ohmic, ambipolar and Hall effects. I will do this self-consistently by considering the chemical evolution of the dusty gas. Calculating its ionization state and opacity, will moreover allow me to incorporate radiation more realistically. (ii) I will build on a new technique that I have developed, the use of 3D radially moving meshes. This groundbreaking technique enables to follow the migration of multiple planets allowing studying their long-range migration. I want to carry out this research program at The Niels Bohr Institute. The combined expertise of the groups in Copenhagen, together with their impressive computational resources, provide an unparalleled environment to achieve my research goals and develop myself as a leading international figure in this rapidly evolving field.

Mots clés : planet disk interactions, protoplanetary disks, computational astrophysics, extra solar planets, planetary formation, planetary evolution, magneto hydrodynamic, radiative transfer

Participants :
- University of Copenhagen (Danemark) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 212194.8 €
Projet BORCOM (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Recent work at the University of Manchester has developed an efficient synthetic method for transition metal free electrophilic borylation of aromatics and heteroaromatics. This approach has recently been extended to the fusion of conjugated materials containing the acceptor moiety benzothiadiazole – a group that is ubiquitous in materials for organic electronics. This functionalization leads to a significant increase in the electron affinity of the materials and a considerable reduction in the band gap, consistent with near-IR emission in organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), ambipolar organic field effect transistor (OFET) mobility, improved n-type stability and effective light harvesting in organic photovoltaic cells (OPVs). The BORCOM project will use this methodology to deliver novel molecules and polymers that exhibit high electron affinities and small band gaps by functionalization of azole or azine containing acceptors in the conjugated backbone. The performance of the new materials as n-type semiconductors in OFETs, light harvesting and electron acceptors in OPVs and dopants/emitters in OLEDs will be evaluated.

Mots clés : organic semiconductors, organic electronics

Participants :
- University of Manchester (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 195454.8 €
Projet TcCFT (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Recently a number of research efforts have been dedicated to the conformal bootstrap. The basic principle is that conformal symmetry and quantum mechanics should suffice to fix uniquely the dynamics of Conformal Field Theories (CFTs), which lie at the fixed points of the renormalisation group flow. This has led to ground-breaking results, such as the unprecedented determination of scaling dimensions in non-trivial CFTs including the celebrated Ising model in 3d. Thus far these endeavours have focused only on the simplest examples of correlation functions with low-spin operators or to supersymmetric CFTs. The project aims at advancing the goals of the CFT bootstrap further, by developing a combination of theoretical and numerical tools to systematically apply the bootstrap to correlation functions of higher-spin operators. The long term goal of TcCFT is to apply these tools to carve out the space of non-supersymmetric CFTs. Its short term objectives of developing effective techniques to manage higher-spin operators are of interest also in a broader context, for such operators are ubiquitous in any CFT. This proposal combines my expertise on higher-spin methods with world leading experts in the bootstrap program, and a secondment which will allow me to refine my programming skills needed for the computational parts of the project. The outcomes of the project will be critical in achieving a greater understanding of the landscape of quantum field theories, and with it allow me to proceed to the next step of my career and obtain a tenure track position in Italy.

Mots clés : conformal field theory, holography, string theory

Participants :
- Princeton University (Etats-Unis) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgique) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 240530.4 €
Projet MEMORIS (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Recently, it has emerged that early life exposure to commensal microbes is crucial to instruct our immune system and prevent later life autoimmune and metabolic diseases. The host lab now showed that this education begins even earlier – during gestation by signals from the maternal intestinal microbiota. Using the E. coli strain HA 107, genetically engineered to grow in vitro without the ability to persist in vivo, they demonstrated that transient intestinal colonisation of pregnant germ-free mouse dams drives neonatal innate immune maturation. However, the long-term consequences of maternal microbiota cues especially for the adaptive immune system of the adult offspring remain elusive. The MEMORIS project (Maternal Enteric Microbiota for Offspring's Repertoire development & Illness Susceptibility) shall elucidate the long-term consequences of maternal microbial signals for the offspring’s adaptive immune system and disease susceptibility. My specific aims are to reveal the consequences of gestational colonisation for the offspring’s (1) own intestinal microbiota composition and metabolism; (2) adaptive immune repertoire development; and (3) susceptibility to autoimmune and metabolic diseases. For this, I will colonise offspring of gestationally colonised versus germ-free mouse dams at birth and by (1) metagenomic, metatranscriptomic and metabolomic read-outs assess its dynamic microbiota development. (2) Flow cytometric and transcriptional profiling, immunglobulin gene sequencing and bacterial FACS will reveal adaptive immune repertoire maturation. Based on these results I will (3) elucidate the role of maternal microbiota signals for disease susceptibility using NOD mice modeling type 1 diabetes and high fat diet-induced non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. I would like to establish the concept that our susceptibility to autoimmune and metabolic diseases is influenced during a “window of opportunity” that opens – not just at birth – but already during pregnancy.

Mots clés : maternal and infant intestinal microbiota, education of immune system, mucosal immunology, autoimmunity, metabolomics and metabolic disorders

Participants :
- University of Bern (Suisse) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 187419.6 €
Projet SIOMICS (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Recently, multi-omics approaches have led to a plethora of publications describing in detail the ‘omics landscapes of common cancer types. However, at the bulk tissue level, integrating different ‘omics layers remains an uncompleted challenge. Soft tissue sarcomas are rare and often aggressive cancers of mesenchymal origin representing ~1% of all cancers but encompassing at least 50 subtypes. Hence, collecting enough of these rare samples for significant findings in a timely fashion is the biggest hurdle. This issue can be addressed by repeating observations within individual patients to generate new hypotheses. Our long-term collaboration aims to obtain the genome, transcriptome and methylome of each of 1,000 single-cells from 10 individual subtypes of soft tissue sarcomas. This design is possible thanks to DNA & RNA single-cell sequencing (SCS) of the same cell in Dr. Voet’s lab, and bespoke computational analyses in Dr. Van Loo’s lab, and access to this rare material of Prof. Flanagan, lead for the sarcoma component of the Genomics England 100,000 Genomes Project. This proposal is the pilot project, where we focus on one malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumour, a rare aggressive cancer originating from the connective tissues surrounding nerves. We will also sequence multiple regions of the primary tumour, the blood, and cell-free tumour DNA (ctDNA) before surgery and subsequently every three months. Prof. Flanagan’s group will process the samples, and Dr. Voet will oversee the sequencing. In Dr. Van Loo’s lab, I will develop the computational tools to uncover the 3 ‘omics signals at the single-cell level that are averaged out in bulk tissues. SCS will shed light on the fundamental links between cancer genomic subclones and the transcriptional and epigenetic diversity of cancer cell types; and we will answer whether ctDNA reflects the diversity of cancer cells and how it evolves in the course of treatment.

Mots clés : sarcoma, single cell sequencing, tumour evolution, intra tumour heterogeneity

Participants :
- The Francis Crick Institute (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 195454.8 €
Projet FUNCrystals (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Recently, organic room-temperature phosphorescence materials (ORTPs) have gathered tremendous interest due to their high brightness and ultra-long lifetime (ULL) features, and ORTPs are useful in many advanced applications, including optoelectronics, bioimaging(BI), and photomedicine. However, at this early stage of development, processing of nanoform ORTPs and scalable synthesis lag behind other forms of ORTPs, leaving the chances for many applications nearly uncharted. Thus, the FUNCrystals project aims to develop functional ORTP nanocrystals (NCs) for two-photon phosphorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (2P-PLIM) BI applications. In particular, the project proposes 3 main activities that capitalize on the strength of the proposed experienced researcher and the host research group (Prof. Clemens Kaminski), in ORTP-NCs synthesis and 2P-PLIM usage. 1.Develop a synthesis process to control the size and shape of ORTP-NCs with high emission quantum yield (QY) and ULL. 2.Investigate the nonlinear optical (NLO) properties and biocompatibility analysis of ORTP-NCs. 3.Use the ORTP-NCs as nanoprobes in the 2P-PLIM to capture the high spatiotemporal and high contrast image in the primary Epithelial cell lines. The expected results will exploit the size and shape-dependent properties of the ORTP-NCs, aiming to demonstrate property performances that can elicit commercial interest in potential nanoprobes for 2P-PLIM bioimaging applications. This project's success will make a substantial contribution to one of the European Union's main concerns on developing nanotechnologies and advanced materials. Overall, this proposed multidisciplinary project brings benefits to both the applicant and the host institution(University of Cambridge) in terms of mutual knowledge transfer, joint publications, new collaborations, networking actions, and personal career development of the researcher as well as increased public awareness about research resulting from the ambitious outreach actions.

Mots clés : laser ablation, two photon absorption cross section, organic nanocrystals, room temperature organic phosphorescence materials, nanobiophotonics

Participants :
- University of Cambridge (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 224933.76 €
Projet SEMA3C (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Regardless of the initial insult, human Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is characterised by progressive destruction of the renal parenchyma and the loss of functional nephrons. Renal fibrosis is the common end point of CKDs, the hallmark of which is the deposition of pathological matrix by myofibroblasts. The worldwide incidence of CKD has reached epidemic proportions with an estimated 10-14% of the adult population known to have CKD. A key challenge for medical planning is to better understand the mechanisms of CKD progression in order to target pharmaceutical interventions at the early stages of the disease. Semaphorins are guidance proteins which influence cellular morphology and function, and play important roles in organogenesis and disease. We found that the secreted glycoprotein SEMA3C was upregulated in two mouse models of kidney injury and in prealbuminuric stages of paediatric CKD patients. We also found that its receptor NRP1 was expressed in proliferating extracellular matrix-producing cells during CKD progression. We propose to use genetically engineered mice to investigate the function of the SEMA3C/NRP1 signalling pathway in CKD progression with three major objectives: 1. Investigate whether SEMA3C and its receptor NRP1 promote CKD progression by analysing the levels of surgically-induced renal injury in mice deficient for Sema3C and Nrp1. 2. Provide an improved mechanistic understanding of the disease by using cutting-edge technologies to unravel new signalling events promoting myofibroblast production and microvasculature rearrangement during kidney injury. 3. Assay the use of SEMA3C as a potential biomarker in the diagnosis of CKD and its progression. This work will substantially contribute to our current understanding of the pathophysiology of CKD and open up new directions for the development of novel treatments targeting this disease spectrum.

Mots clés : chronic kidney disease, fibrosis, pericyte, semaphorin, neuropilin, conditional mutagenesis, kidney injury models, biomarker, microvasculature

Participants :
- Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 185076.0 €
Projet CIRCautophAGING (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Regeneration of skeletal muscle relies on its stem cells, also called satellite cells (SCs). These cells remain quiescent throughout their life, and only activate in response to injury to form new muscle fibers. The regenerative capacity of these cells declines with aging. In the past years, Pura Muñoz Cánoves’ lab showed that, with aging, quiescent SCs 1) lose basal autophagy and 2) reprogram their circadian transcriptome (including the autophagic transcriptome). The molecular bases of these processes, their potential interrelation and the consequences of their failure with aging, are unknown. Our integrating hypothesis is that active autophagy and circadian regulation are interconnected and required to preserve stem cell regenerative fitness throughout life. We aim to answer the following questions: Which is the relative contribution of the stem-cell-intrinsic versus the organismal clock to muscle regeneration during aging? Are circadian and autophagy processes interconnected? This is, does circadian clock disruption alter autophagy in SCs? Conversely, does autophagy disruption affect their circadian regulation? If so, does autophagy re-induction by nutritional regimes restore circadian and regenerative functions in aged SCs? Mice genetically-modified for depletion of 1) selected circadian clocks or 2) autophagy will allow us to assess the relative contribution and interrelation of autophagic and circadian machineries to muscle regeneration during aging. We expect that completion of this project will provide new fundamental knowledge on stem cell biology, regeneration and aging, which will open opportunities for stem cell rejuvenation.

Mots clés : circadian clock, stem cells, muscle regeneration, autophagy

Participants :
- Pompeu Fabra University (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 160932.48 €
Projet uTSSreg (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Regulation and fidelity of gene expression is fundamental to the differentiation and maintenance of living organisms. Moreover, understanding how genes are regulated is an essential research question of importance for biomedical application. Although our knowledge about key factors influencing gene expression has increased substantially over the past years, the complexity of gene expression regulation remains elusive. In this project, I intend to discover novel gene expression regulatory circuits operating in mammalian genomes facilitated by pervasive transcription. Although some scattered examples of how pervasive transcription may regulate gene promoter activity exist, no systematic study has been conducted. Here, I will address this question by using a new protein depletion strategy, developed in the host laboratory, to inactivate the nuclear exosome, a major 3’-to-5’ ribonuclease complex, and its co-factors in HeLa and mouse embryonic stem (mES) cells, thus, to create an ideal situation to observe ‘hidden’ cellular transcription events, which would not normally be visible. I intend to assess whether and how this ‘hidden’ transcription contributes to the regulation of promoter activity in HeLa and mES cells, further expanding our knowledge of the regulation of protein-coding genes and ultimately revealing the extent of regulation instigated by pervasive transcription. This study will lay a foundation for future research in the field and at the same time provide novel conceptual information, which might be exploited in prevention or treatment of human diseases.

Mots clés : rna degradation, exosome, unstable tss

Participants :
- Aarhus University (Danemark) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 219312.0 €
Projet REGTRUST (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Regulation and trust are at the heart of our society. In setting regulations to govern the behavior of citizens, firms and states, policymakers make regulatory design choices that are partly grounded in trust/distrust between them and key actors in the field at hand. Yet we know surprisingly little about the iterative processes whereby the nature of regulation and trust affect each other over time. A truly interdisciplinary project bringing theoretical, methodological and empirical innovations, REGTRUST studies the bidirectional relation between the nature of regulation and levels of trust through a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. Focusing on the case of EU financial regulation during 2011-20, REGTRUST 1) maps the nature of EU financial regulation along two key dimensions (specificity-broadness; stability-revisability), 2) assesses statistically significant relations between such a nature and current and past levels of trust/distrust among key EU and national actors (policymakers, regulators, regulatees, consumers), and 3) traces causal mechanisms underpinning these statistically significant relations. Expertise and facilities offered by the host (UA; Prof. Verhoest) and the secondment (FBF; Prof. Carletti), together with my existing experience and talent, mutually reinforce my development as independent researcher during the fellowship. In addition, advanced training (e.g. statistics, grant writing, science communication), two-way knowledge transfer and international and intersectoral mobility allow me realizing my long-term career goals after the fellowship. A customized dissemination and communication plan ensures that the project and its results are known well beyond the academic community, while also seeking active engagement with a wider audience (e.g. workshops, class experiments). Altogether, REGTRUST at once bridges a major scientific gap, enhances my future career prospects, and makes a timely contribution to pressing societal debates.

Mots clés : regulation, trust, european union, governance, financial regulation, securities, banking

Participants :
- University of Antwerp (Belgique) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 166320.0 €