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

The unique properties of the carbon-fluorine (C-F) bond explain why organofluorine compounds play a central role in biopharmaceuticals. One current challenge in drug discovery is the selective installation of C-F stereogenicity within the active site of lead candidates, such molecular editing may greatly help in increasing potency and understanding metabolic degradation paths. However, the limited C-F bond formation techniques complicate this approach and providing new versatile catalytic techniques, which can expand the substrate pool amenable to C-F bond formation, would greatly boost the impact of fluorine chemistry in drug discovery. We aim at developing methods that require feedstock materials as substrates, such as alkene and alkane derivatives. The new methods will combine the potential of enantioselective organocatalysis or metal-mediated processes with visible light photocatalysis. The PHOTO-FLUOR project is unique in that it provides training in “enantioselective fluorination” and “catalysis applied to drug discovery”, areas that contribute to European excellence. The resulting techniques may immediately impact the EU Health sector. PHOTO-FLUOR will merge the expertise of the host group in photochemical enantioselective reactions with the background of the applicant in transition metal catalysis, to reach the desired deliverables and milestones. In addition, a secondment at an internationally recognized pharma-company has been included in the work plan for conducting biological study of the fluorine-edited bioactive molecules. The applicant will transfer knowledge to both host groups creating a link between them to forge future collaborations. Finally, an ambitious training program, which includes a number of new scientific and soft skills to be transferred to the applicant, is also envisaged. The multi-cultural nature of this project will greatly broaden the fellow competencies and will place him in an excellent position for the next career move.

Mots clés : organic chemistry, catalysis, enantioselective catalysis, photochemistry, transition metal catalysis, c f bond formation

Participants :
- Institut Català d'Investigació Química (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 170121.6 €
Projet CytoTERRA (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The unlimited replication potential of cancer cells is enabled by their ability to renew their ends of chromosomes, telomeres. A minority of cancers utilizes a recombination pathway, named alternative lenghtening of telomeres (ALT), to maintain their telomeres. ALT cells exhibit increased DNA damage at telomeres and increased levels of TERRA, a lncRNA transcribed from telomeres. TERRA plays important roles in telomere biology, but it also has extranuclear functions. Short TERRA species were found in extracellular vesicles of lymphoblastoid and cancer cells, and they were found to stimulate inflammation. Notably, inflammation can have both anti-tumorigenic and pro-tumorigenic effects. Particularly, in osteosarcoma, a bone cancer with high ALT incidence, affecting predominantly children and adolescents, inflammation is connected to poor prognosis and metastasis development. Our preliminary results suggest that TERRA is present in the cytoplasm of human ALT osteosarcoma cells. We propose that the accumulation of cytoplasmic TERRA (cyTERRA) is induced by telomeric DNA damage, and that cyTERRA, similarly to extracellular TERRA, is capable of initiating an inflammation response. Since the cytoplasmic DNA sensor pathway is defective in these cells, we propose that TERRA plays a role of a DNA damage messenger that triggers the pro-tumorigenic inflammation. We will test our hypothesis by studying the characteristics of cyTERRA, elucidating the factors influencing its localization and studying the effect of cyTERRA depletion on inflammation signalling in these cells. The understanding of the function of cyTERRA in ALT osteosarcoma may introduce it as a marker for inflammation, and expose its export pathway as a therapeutic target. Since the variability of therapeutic outcome in osteosarcoma patients is not completely understood, the understanding of cancer inflammation triggers may be valuable for personalized therapeutic approach in these patients.

Mots clés : telomere, dna damage, long non coding rna, lncrna, alternative lengthening of telomeres, terra, osteosarcoma, u2os, saos2, live cell imagining, nfkb, stat3, pro tumorigenic inflammation

Participants :
- University of Trento (Italie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 171473.28 €
Projet SRec BIPV (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The use of PhotoVoltaic (PV) modules in the built environment has rapidly been growing during the last years, especially in Europe. Building Integrated PhotoVoltaic (BIPV) modules cannot always be placed under ideal circumstances due to restrictions arising from the building profile. Therefore, non-ideal orientation and inhomogeneous irradiation resulting from shadowing from obstacles will often create non-uniform illumination. This, in turn, creates current mismatch among the different PV modules as well as among the different cells each PV module is made of. This mismatch can cause a dramatic reduction of the overall PV module power. Since current PV module technologies, both standard and smart, are not able to efficiently and effectively face the mismatch issue in highly non-uniform applications such as BIPV, innovative PV module technologies are required. The aim of this proposal is to realize a first fully functional demonstrator of Reconfigurable Smart PV (RSPV) module, able to dynamically change the electrical interconnection between the PV cells in real-time as the PV module adapts to its environment, and to develop the integrated intelligence. Both hardware and software will be designed ad hoc in order to balance additional cost and energy harvesting in non-ideal conditions. Such a solution will increase the energy harvesting in BIPV applications, where non-uniform operating conditions often occur.

Mots clés : photovoltaic energy, power converters, reconfigurable architectures, maximum power point tracking

Participants :
- IMEC (Belgique) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 172800.0 €
Projet dsRNAEnvFate (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The use of RNA interference (RNAi) to combat pest insects is anticipated to become an integral component of crop protection technology in the US and Europe by 2020. Protection against pests is conferred via double stranded RNA (dsRNA) as the active ingredient that is either externally applied to the crop or internally expressed in genetically modified crops. Following ingestion by the pest, the dsRNA is cleaved to produce small interfering RNA (siRNA), which interfere with the translation of specific mRNA into proteins. While concern has been raised that the release of dsRNA into agricultural soils and adjacent water bodies may have detrimental ecological effects, risk assessment of RNAi crop protection technology has been impaired due to the lack of information on the fate and stability of dsRNA in the environment. The objective of the proposed project is to advance a detailed understanding of dsRNA fate in agricultural soils and adjacent water bodies. To this end, three environmental processes impacting dsRNA persistence will be studied on a mechanistic level: abiotic and enzymatic dsRNA hydrolysis, adsorption of dsRNA to mineral and organic particle surfaces, and direct and indirect photolysis of dsRNA. These processes will be studied using state-of-the art dsRNA quantification methods, experimental approaches, and analytical techniques employed in the environmental sciences, material sciences, and molecular biology. The project aims at unraveling the mechanisms and main reaction pathways that control dsRNA hydrolysis, adsorption and photolysis. Through the generation of a fundamental understanding of these processes, the proposed project will lay the foundation to predict the fate and stability of dsRNA in agricultural systems. As such, the results of this proposal will allow regulatory agencies to develop dsRNA exposure scenarios in agricultural systems and thus help advance risk assessment of RNAi crop protection technology prior to its implementation.

Mots clés : rnai, dsrna, crop protection, insecticide, exposure, risk assessment, environmental persistence, degradation, product characterization, hydrolysis, adsorption, desorption, photochemical transformation

Participants :
- Board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology (Suisse) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 187419.6 €
Projet NANOCANCER (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The use of high-atomic-number nanoparticles (NP) as tumour radio-sensitizers has been recently proposed as a breakthrough in radiotherapy (RT). Numerous biological studies have shown the enhanced effectiveness in tumor cell killing when NP were associated to photon RT and, more recently, to charged particle therapy. However, the mechanisms of action are not clear yet. In addition to the damage due to a possible local dose enhancement (physical effects), the interaction of NP with essential biological macromolecules could lead to changes in the cells (biochemical effects) leading to an amplified effect of the radiation. Within this framework, the main goal of the NANOCANCER project is to get deeper insights into the mechanisms underlying the amplification of radiation effects of NP. For this purpose, I will use a multidisciplinary strategy to evaluate both the biochemical and physical effects involved in these innovative nano-RT approaches. Vibrational spectroscopy (Fourier transform infrared, FTIR, microspectroscopy) will be employed for the first time to investigate the biochemical features in glioma cells combining two high-Z standard nanoparticles (Au and Gd) and charged particle beams. Physical effects will be also assessed by performing complementary Monte Carlo simulation of radiation transport, which will allow a realistic modelling of early biological damages induced by the radiation at the nanometre scale. This interdisciplinary proposal will be essential to better characterize the radio-sensitization effects of NP in glioma cells and, in addition, will bring light to the present charged particle therapy radiobiology, which seems to lead to substantially different tumour responses with respect to conventional RT at the cellular and molecular level. The knowledge of these biochemical features will help researchers to develop RT by taking full advantage of the underlying biology an enhance the therapeutic index of RT for diseases with poor prognosis.

Mots clés : radiotherapy, charged particle therapy, nanoparticles, dose enhancement, fourier transform infrared  ftir  microspectroscopy, glioma cells

Participants :
- ALBA Synchrotron (Spain) (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Organismes publics (hors enseignement & recherche), subvention : 158121.6 €
Projet FRESLING (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The use of renewable energy has become the key to addressing the existential threats of climate change and environmental degradation to the world. Different from synchronous generators, the renewable resources are typically connected to the electrical grid via power electronic converters without inherent inertia. This transition brings new issues to the frequency security of such low-inertia systems, which are not yet fully understood. This project will investigate these issues with the emphasis on frequency dynamic modelling, its security assessment, and security-enhanced control design. Firstly, voltage-dependent frequency dynamics will be modelled for an electrical network simplified by Kron reduction. Next, the interactions between the resources and the electrical network will be analysed based on the developed frequency dynamic model. A key performance indicator will be developed with data-driven approaches and used to assess frequency security via the Lyapunov synthesis. Then, applicable distributed control strategies will be designed to enhance frequency security. This project will be carried out by me who has expertise in high-performance control designs for microgrids. Through this project, I will collaborate with my supervisor at Aalborg University who has a rich experience in low-inertia power system security analysis. Besides, I will also cooperate with my secondment supervisor at University College Dublin who is the pioneer in developing the frequency dynamic models. These collaborations will ensure both high-quality project outcomes and benefiting my career development. The project results will be disseminated through peer-reviewed journal articles and conference proceedings to expand their impact. Finally, communication activities with the public and academic researchers will be conducted to contribute to the European knowledge-based economy and society by providing invaluable knowledge on frequency security issues of low-inertia electrical grids.

Mots clés : frequency security, low inertia systems, frequency dynamic modelling, security assessment and enhancement, constrained control, distributed control

Participants :
- Aalborg University (Danemark) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 207312.0 €
Projet ReCiModel (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The ventral occipito-temporal (vOT) association cortex contributes significantly to recognize different types of visual patterns. It is widely accepted that a subset of this circuitry, including the visual word form area (VWFA), becomes trained to identify word forms. Nevertheless, due to heterogeneous experimental procedures across studies and intrinsic limitations of functional and structural MRI tools, the exact cortical location of what it is referred as the VWFA typically differs between studies. Additionally, it should be expected that different adjacent brain tissue within the vOT to perform different specific computations. In fact, previous functional, structural, and cytoarchitectonic evidence has highlighted the possibility that distinct VWFAs are involved in different aspects of the visual word recognition process. Here, I propose to conduct the first systematic investigation combining functional and structural MRI data to further characterize spatially segregated VWFAs. Analogously, the functional and structural connectivity between these VWFAs and other relevant visual and language brain regions will be examined as well. These data will be incorporated into a detailed statistical model intended to predict reading behaviour, as the ultimate goal of the project is to create a highly detailed characterization of the early stages of reading and to establish a baseline model and parameter range that will serve to clarify differences between typical and atypical readers.

Mots clés : neuroscience, reading, dyslexia, vwfa, neurocomputational model

Participants :
- Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 257191.2 €
- Stanford University (Etats-Unis) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet ssmscaifa (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The vibrant diversity of an increasingly global modernity owes much to the cross-cultural exchanges between British and Indian modernists during their collaborations in civil rights, anti-colonial, and anti-fascist activism from the 1880s to the 1950s. The proposed project examines the shifting nature of literary and political contributions to activist movements made by four such networks of British and Indian modernists to illuminate their integral role in creating what I contend is a distinctively modernist resistance. As early as the 1880s, theosophists from Britain partnered with renowned Indian spiritualists to bridge cultural gaps between colonizer and colonized through shared mystical experiences to emphasize an innate unity among human beings. By 1919, however, the disillusionment following World War I coupled with India’s outrage about the Amritsar Massacre in which General Dyer and his troops opened fire killing hundreds of innocent Indians, supplanted such yearnings for unity with efforts to protect democratic freedoms from threats by right-wing extremists through a secular socialist resistance. Mulk Raj Anand, initially drawn to the liberal humanism of the Bloomsbury Group eventually joined the radical socialists of India’s Progressive Writers Association in 1936. Women like Sarojini Naidu and Virginia Woolf fought for women’s equality and opportunities to join in anti-right-wing resistance. Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, influenced by the socialist ideologies of the Fabian Society, incorporated them into Indian nationalism and governance. This study explores the relationship between the ideologies of these networks to establish what the shift from spiritualism to secular socialist nationalism reveals about the nature of modernist resistance and the conditions of modernity that inspired it. The world view underpinning this resistance was integral in defining the post-war identities of Britain and India as secular socialist-leaning democracies.

Mots clés : indian nationalism, empire, literature, india, britain, resistance, fascism, twentieth century, socialism, modernism, modernity

Participants :
- University of London (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 183454.8 €
Projet PregMal (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The vision of the World Health Organisation (WHO) for 2030 is a world free of malaria. For this, agile and robust malaria surveillance systems are required to efficiently guide actions towards interruption of transmission. Estimating malaria trends from passive detection of clinical malaria cases at health facilities or from cross-sectional surveys remains difficult and expensive. Pregnant women represent a promising convenience group for malaria surveillance, providing a representative section of the overall population in a cost-efficient and sustainable manner. Serological and molecular surveillance has also become a potential key approach to guide elimination efforts, providing information about the history of exposure, the geographic origin (malaria importation) and the intensity of malaria transmission. Here we propose to develop and apply novel statistical tools (adapted from the field of cosmology) to test an innovative and cost-efficient surveillance approach based on the strategic use of parasitological, serological and genomic data from easy-access pregnant women at antenatal care (ANC) clinics. The application of these new tools on data obtained from pregnant women can suppose an enormous breakthrough for sustainable and actionable surveillance systems that can accelerate efforts towards malaria elimination. With these new developed tools I will a) assess the potential of parasitological and serological data from pregnant women at first ANC visit as a source of reliable data to reflect temporal and spatial malaria trends in the community and b) compare genetic metrics in the parasite population of pregnant women and the overall community that can inform about changes of malaria transmission, clustering of infections and parasite importation.

Mots clés : malaria surveillance, pregnant women, clustering, parasitology, plasmodium falciparum, asymptomatic infections, genomics, mozambique

Participants :
- CERCA Institution (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 172932.48 €
Projet METABONE (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Osteolytic bone metastases are responsible for long bone fracture leading to restricted mobility, surgery, or medullar compression that severely alter quality of life and have a huge socio-economic impact. Current fragility scores to estimate the fracture risk in patients with metastatic femur are based on qualitative evaluation from Quantitative Computed Tomography (QCT) scans and lack sensitivity and specificity. Efforts are now made towards the development of patient-specific finite element models to assess the strength of tumoral bone segments, but their accuracy is hampered by several limitations, including limited knowledge of metastatic bone mechanical properties, simulations performed only for single stance loading condition, and simulations providing a global failure criteria. The aim of METABONE is, therefore, to use a novel approach to better predict the fracture risk of metastatic femur. A patient-specific finite element model will be developed based on QCT scans, which will include the real material properties of ex vivo human metastatic bone determined experimentally in the first part of the project. The composition and mechanical behaviour of diseased bone tissue are hypothesised to be rather different from healthy tissue and influential of femoral strength. This model will be used clinically on patients with osteolytic lesions located in proximal femur to assess the fracture risk during daily life activities, using a local failure criteria and a range of different loading conditions. This novel methodology, combining experimental and numerical approaches, is expected to significantly improve the accuracy of fracture risk prediction. Successful completion of METABONE will have the potential to guide clinical decision making, by providing clinicians with a more accurate tool to optimize locomotor strategy and oncology program, in order to prevent bone fracture, improve survival and quality of life of the patients.

Mots clés : biomechanics, metastatic femur, indentation, raman spectroscopy, computed tomography, finite element simulations, daily life loading conditions, local failure criteria

Participants :
- Université Claude Bernard - Lyon 1 (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 184707.84 €