Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-actions-marie-curie-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet Als-on-a-chip (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease, which affects approximately 2 per 100000 people. Currently, there is no ALS treatment. The main tool for preclinical ALS studies is the hSOD1G93A mouse. However, despite promising results in this model, all candidate drugs failed in clinical trials. These failures have been partly attributed to differences in the physiology of human and mice nerve cells, and the inability of the established drug design approach to block ALS pathology. There is urgent need for new tools that will complement this mouse model, improve understanding of ALS pathology, and suggest better leads for clinical trials. The objective of the proposed study is to develop a tissue-on-a-chip platform for systems-level studies of ALS pathology and drug screening. The system is built around a novel thin porous scaffold, where systems of normal or ALS-type mouse and human motor neurons will be cultured inside an appropriate 3D ECM analog, and their response (intracellular signaling, cell processes, cell-cell communication) to stimuli panels in the presence of drugs will be quantified via high-throughput proteomics and fluorescent imaging. Acquired data will be interpreted by modifications of state-of-the-art system biology tools. The outcomes of the proposed research can lead to new ALS treatments by identifying new drug targets (via mechanistic description of ALS pathology), and by developing better ways to evaluate candidate drugs before clinical trials (via comparing drug response in human and mouse cells). Results can be translated to other neurodegenerative diseases. Finally, the proposal offers an opportunity to a promising researcher to relocate from MIT to Greece, collaborate with a leading neurobiology lab in a world-class environment and a systems pharmacology SME, and translate his research via two startup companies. The host envisions the opportunity for a tenure-track faculty position for the experienced researcher.

Mots clés : neurodegeneration, organs on a chip, systems pharmacology, systems biology

Participants :
- Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas (Grèce) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 164653.2 €
Projet MTD4ALS (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis is a severe neurodegenerative disease characterized by the degeneration of the upper and lower motor neurons (MN), ultimately leading to patient death by respiratory failure. Despite being the most common adult-onset motor neuron disease, the drugs available till now are symptomatic and only extend patients life expectancy a few months without changing the onset of the disease. Recent studies revealed that NF-κB transcription factor is the major regulator of neuroinflammation in ALS. Therefore, inhibitors of NF-κB signalling pathway can be considered key tools for the development of novel therapies for ALS. Additionally, the use of iron chelators have also shown potential to increase ALS survival through the regulation of iron redox activity and by triggering MN cell survival mechanisms through the mild activation of HIF transcriptional factor. In this project we propose an innovative therapeutic solution for ALS based on the design and syntheses of multitarget small-molecules capable to modulate NF-κB activity through inhibition of IKKβ protein and prevent/minimize the iron induced oxidative damage and/or stabilize HIF. The project encompasses the rational design and synthesis of a library of small molecules that will be submitted to an initial cascade of biophysical and chemical assays to evaluate their binding affinity and iron chelation properties. Subsequently ALS cellular models will be used in order to validate target engagement inside cells, as well as, to identify the small-molecules that could protect MN from oxidative-stress and inflation driven apoptosis. At the end of the project it is expected to propose a novel lead compound that will be optimized and its performance evaluated in ALS animal models. This project combines the expertise available in academia and industry to validate a new therapeutic approach for ALS and, provides an exceptional training opportunity to prepare a young researcher for his future career.

Mots clés : multi target drugs, nf kb, drug dyscovery

Participants :
- University of Porto (Portugal) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 159815.04 €
Projet EmorphProject (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

An animal´s habitat and mobility patterns hypothetically affect bone density and limb bone morphometry. The goals of this project are two: 1) test this ecomorphological hypothesis for a given taxon (Rangifer tarandus), and; 2) establish a reference sample for this taxon that will enable a reconstruction of its habitat type and degree of mobility using bone samples recovered from archaeological sites. This project quantifies the link between habitat type and mobility and bone density and morphology using X-rays and Computer Tomography (CT) and geometric morphometry (GMM). The study will focus on reindeer because it is a key prey species in many prehistoric contexts in both Europe and North America. Modern reference samples will be collected in North America, where Rangifer tarandus (caribou, aka reindeer) herds still exist in woodland (non-migratory) and tundra (migratory) habitats, making the creation of a referential framework possible. Once the relationship between habitat, mobility and bone structure has been quantified, the information collected will be applied to faunal assemblages from Upper Palaeolithic archaeological sites in Southwestern France and used to reconstruct prey mobility. Prey mobility is thought to influence the seasonal mobility of human predators and their hunting strategies. There is also a long-standing debate as to the migratory behaviour of reindeer in Western Europe during the Late Pleistocene and its influence on human systems. This project will develop an effective methodology to apply to archaeological faunas that will enable us to test whether human beings were hunting animals which migrated long or short distances, which will allow us to gain a better knowledge of their hunting strategies, the mobility of human systems and potentially their technological choices.

Mots clés : rangifer tarandus, ecomorphology, statistics, migration patterns, prehistory, upper palaeolithic, magdalenian, southwestern france

Participants :
- Centre national de la recherche scientifique (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 210754.8 €
- Université de Montréal (Canada) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet MaP (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

An electromagnetic mode without photonic excitations still has a non-zero energy - called zero-point energy. The resulting vacuum fluctuations give rise to long known physical effects such as the spontaneous emission. By engineering electromagnetic modes in cavities, vacuum can be made to interact with matter in the extensively studied weak, strong and ultrastrong light-matter coupling regimes. The term `light-matter coupling', as well as the optical experimental means by which the regime is usually studied, hides this important fact: vacuum alone gives rise to the coupling and to the mixed light-matter excitations (polaritons) of the system. In physics, still only few experimental platforms have allowed to observe `vacuum-matter coupling' without photonic excitations. Properties of materials dressed by a cavity were successfully observed by measuring their conductivity [Orgiu et al. Nat. Mater. 14, 1123 (2015); Paravicini-B. et al. Nat. Phys. 15, 186 (2019)]. In recent years, the new field of polaritonic chemistry has identified other material properties altered by vacuum coupling, including chemical reaction rates and thermodynamic properties. In this project, we intend to expand the new experimental access to the matter part via conductivity measurements to an entirely new system. So far, only highly disordered organic semiconductors [Orgiu] and very high mobility GaAs based electron gases were used [Paravicini-B.]. Here, we suggest a new platform using transition metal dichalcogenides inside a plasmonic cavity. This should work at room temperature and shed more light on the mechanism responsible for vacuum field assisted charge transport. In a second project, we attempt to alter phase transition properties by dressing a chemical to a cavity. Both projects aim to explore the potential of engineering properties of materials with a cavities vacuum field mode. They both mostly rely on optical, electronic and chemical experimental tools available in the host group.

Mots clés : strong light matter coupling, vacuum field fluctuations, cavity quantum electrodynamics

Participants :
- Université de Strasbourg (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 184707.84 €
Projet MASTER (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Staff Exchanges
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : SIGNED

An ever-increasing number of diverse, real-life applications, ranging from mobile phone calls to social media and land, sea, and air surveillance systems, produce massive amounts of spatio-temporal data representing trajectories of moving objects. Trajectories, commonly represented by sequences of timestamps and position coordinates, thanks to the high availability of contextual and semantic-rich data can be enriched and are evolving to more comprehensive and semantically significant objects. In the MASTER project we envision holistic trajectories, meaning trajectories characterized by the fact that the spatio-temporal and semantic aspects are intimately correlated and should be considered as a whole. However current state of art does not provide management and analysis methods “ready for use” for these multiple aspects trajectories. The overarching objective of this project is to form an international and inter-sectoral network of partners working on a joint research programme by developing methods to build, manage and analyse multiple aspects trajectories. These methods are driven by application scenarios from three different domains: tourism, sea monitoring and public transportation.

Mots clés : mobility data analysis, trajectory data, social media, machine learning, big data, tourism, transportation, sea monitoring

Participants :
- Universidade Federal do Ceará (Brésil) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Ca' Foscari University of Venice (Italie) — Partner, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 85500.0 €
- Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (France) — Partner, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 81000.0 €
- National Research Council (Italie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 166500.0 €
- Dimos thiras (Grèce) — Partner, beneficiary, Organismes publics (hors enseignement & recherche), subvention : 0.0 €
- Harokopio University of Athens (Grèce) — Partner, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 99000.0 €
- University of Piraeus (Grèce) — Partner, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 72000.0 €
- Dalhousie University (Canada) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (Brésil) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (Brésil) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet CHENGEN (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

An important scientific challenge this century is to understand how biodiversity responds and adapts to global environmental change so we can predict and prepare for the effects of major conservation threats. Future climate change will produce a range of new selection pressures on populations due to increased temperatures, droughts and extreme events, while continuing anthropogenic habitat loss is likely to exacerbate pressures and limit future range shifts. The ‘CHENGEN’ project aims to establish a novel multidisciplinary framework for understanding and predicting the responses of biodiversity to environmental change by integrating genomic tools with ecological, spatial, demographic and mathematical modelling. Societal impacts are at the heart of this project, and its main aim is to provide the evidence base for protecting and sustainably managing biodiversity. The project focuses on threatened European forest bats as indicators of biodiversity responses to environmental change. Project objectives are to initiate cross-European collaborations to evaluate the effect of environmental changes on species’ ranges, generate genomic resources to study evolutionary adaptations, develop novel modelling tools to assess survival prospects and landscape barriers to range shifts, and provide conservation management solutions. Objectives will be achieved through predictive distribution modelling for all European forest bats (WP1) and a population genomics study of an endemic Iberian forest bat, Myotis escalerai (WP2-3). Beyond enabling European research mobility, the project will provide training in state-of-the-art research skills by world leading experts within the host institution’s multidisciplinary research environment. Knowledge transfer will strengthen genomic research in the host institution and bring a new evolutionary perspective to the study of environmental change, paving the way towards future collaborations and the applicant’s independent research career.

Mots clés : global change, genetic adaptations, landscape genomics, ecological modelling, geographic information systems, land use changes, range shifts, population viability analysis

Participants :
- Centre national de la recherche scientifique (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 185076.0 €
Projet ACENTSPINTUB (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

An increase in the age of onset of child-bearing increases in developed countries is leading to an increased incidence of chromosome abnormalities arising in defective meiosis. Accurate chromosome segregation requires a correctly assembled meiotic spindle and so it is essential to understand this process. Here we propose to examine how the spindle forms in the oocytes and early embryos of the mouse that, like human oocytes, lack centrioles. Nevertheless, spindle formation in these cells requires the function of Polo-like kinase 4, a protein that in somatic cells regulates centriole duplication. Plk4 localises to the acentriolar microtubule organising centres (MTOCs) where it particptates in regulating the nucleation of microtubules. We now wish to determine how Plk4 functions in these acentriolar cells to participate in spindle formation. This requires identifying the molecular partners of Plk4; the mechanisms that regulate its sub-cellular localisation to be in the vicinity of its substrates; and to identify its molecular substrates. We will also determine how it interacts with the Ran-GTP pathway, the other major pathway that regulates spindle formation in the absence of centrosomes. In the second part of the proposal we will address the behaviour of MTOCs in the oocyte and early embryo. There appear to be two distinct populations of MTOCs in the oocyte, one of which, the cytoplasmic MTOCs, appear to be essential for spindle bipolarity during metaphase by anchoring polar MTOCs. We wish to characterise these MTOCs to determine how they might differ from those at the spindle poles. The acentriolar MTOCs can also show differential behaviour at the spindle poles. This is most evident in the asymmetrical fate determining divisions at the 8-16 and 16-32 cell stage of the embryo. We wish to understand how this differential behaviour relates to cell polarity at these stages.

Mots clés : meiotic spindle, acentriolar cell division, plk4, mouse oocyte, early embryo

Participants :
- University of Cambridge (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 195454.8 €
Projet BrainGutAnalytics (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

An intimate yet less known relation between human brain and gut is rapidly emerging as several recent studies have identified various alterations within brain as a result of gastrointestinal disorders and reported comparable variations in gastrointestinal system due to altered brain outputs. These relationships are collectively termed as brain-gut axis and a deeper understanding of its exact nature and operation can lead to development of novel diagnosis, drugs and precision treatment for both neurological and gastrointestinal disorders. The first step towards establishing a comprehensive understanding of brain-gut axis is to identify suitable phenotypes that can be used to describe certain disease state and serve as basis for further investigations into operation of brain-gut axis. In this study, a multiomics based data analysis approach is proposed to search for exclusive and generalizable phenotypes of a certain gastrointestinal disorder. Our multiomics data consist of multimodal imagery of brain and gut, clinical diagnostics, microbial profiling, questionnaire based disease evaluations, genetic and molecular representations taken from carefully designed cohorts of patients and healthy controls. Our data analyses will employ a variety of techniques including digital image processing, computer vision, machine learning and statistical methods to determine covariate factors in omics, which will be then used to identify representative biomarkers for gastrointestinal disorders. We also aim to develop a novel diagnosis system for gastrointestinal disease based on novel biomarkers through a combination of neuroimaging and digital image processing pipeline . Our research is expected to excel the existing knowledge on brain-gut axis by exposing critical phenotypes, employing them for early diagnostic and paving way towards deeper understanding of brain-gut axis.

Mots clés : multiomics, brain gut axis, biomedical image processing, data analysis

Participants :
- Haukeland University Hospital (Norvège) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 214158.72 €
Projet UnrAD (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Anaerobic digestion, a technology able to use waste residuals to produce clean renewable energy in form of methane, is a powerful tool to revert the unequivocal environmental deterioration and represent one of the clearest examples of how research and innovation can turn undesirable residual like waste into an ecological and economical asset. Recent advances made feasible the process at ambient temperature, feasibility that might increase the net production since does not need heat supplementation. Among the different trace metals involved in the anaerobic degradation processes, cobalt has been shown one of the most important since it acts as a cofactor for enzymes involved in the metabolic pathways of the methanogenesis from acetate. Therefore an adequate balance of cobalt could improve the anaerobic biological response, enhancing the rate and yield of methane. High throughput single-cell transcriptomic and third generation sequencing provide an unprecedented opportunity to understand the mechanisms inducing this enhanced yield. The first allows trancriptome analysis at the level of individual cells giving the possibility to understand the interplay of transcripts within single organisms, the specialization of different members from the community or the heterogeneity in term of transcriptomic status of every species while the second enable the possibility recover full length transcripts increasing resolution. The overall objective of UnrAD is to employ these two cutting-edge technologies combined to study the role of temperature and cobalt supplementation in anaerobic digestion and identify specializations and interactions among the different bacterial community members. The findings from this project would lead to a more efficient anaerobic digestion and will be beneficial for the to the industries in the field and the whole society.

Mots clés : cobalt, single cell sequencing, 3rd generation sequencing

Participants :
- Spanish National Research Council (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 172932.48 €
Projet ClumpLab (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Analysis of the geologic record shows that Earth’s climate changed often, suddenly, and jumped swiftly, sometimes into extreme states, many times in its history. What is the exact nature of these climate changes? What can we learn from past changes about modern climate change? Such questions are investigated in the field of paleoclimatology. The backbone of paleoclimatology is the reconstruction and accurate quantification of key climate parameters in the past. In this context, the goal of ClumpLab is to better constrain past temperatures through the application of a new and powerful paleo-thermometer: clumped isotopes in carbonates. Currently, Europe as a whole is underrepresented in the clumped isotope research community. ClumpLab will bring the first clumped isotope facility in in the Netherlands. The method will be established at the Utrecht University, in one of the world’s best labs in the field of paleoclimate research. State of the art techniques and latest developments in the field will be implemented to refine the clumped isotope method in order to reduce necessary sample volumes and improve accuracy. The technique will then be applied on climate archives to produce novel temperature records for the Early Eocene greenhouse climate period. The results will help to improve our understanding of the climate’s sensitivity to greenhouse gas forcing.

Mots clés : clumped isotope geochemistry

Participants :
- Utrecht University (Pays-Bas) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 177598.8 €