Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-actions-marie-curie-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet OvCaPreMed (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

OvCa for Precision Medicine: Personalized Ovarian Cancer Treatment using High-Throughput and Microfluidic Drug Screening. The main issue with current Ovarian Cancer (OvCa) treatments is the eventual resistance to standard platinum-based chemotherapy, which ultimately leads patients to relapse. Identifying drugs and drug combinations that overcome platinum resistance by new treatment strategies is an unmet medical need in OvCa patients that I plan to address with our technology pipeline as a Proof-of-Concept. I, Deepak Balaji Thimiri Govinda Raj, under the supervision and mentorship of Dr. Dalu Mancama (Precision Medicine) and Dr. Janine Scholefield (Synthetic Biology) at CSIR South Africa along with Prof. Nicholas Dunne and Dr. David Kinahan at Dublin City University (DCU), propose developing a cutting-edge technology pipeline with which I will identify and screen drugs and drug combinations for relapsed OvCa patients who have exhausted all other treatment options. I will use OvCa patient samples to validate the drug screening pipeline as a Proof-of-Concept. Our technology pipeline includes strategies where I will combine tissue engineering (Prof. Nicholas Dunne’s team) with microfluidic technology (Dr. David Kinahan, DCU), Chemstress platform (Dr. Jerry Clifford, ValitaCell) and my expertise in chemical biology accumulated during my PhD and three post-doctoral placements. Using this pipeline, we aim to identify drug combinations that can overcome platinum resistance and ultimately provide tailored-specific therapy options for OvCa patients. We intend our technologies to provide clinically relevant drug combinations information to oncologists.


Participants :
- Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (Afrique du Sud) — Partner, organization partner, Recherche, subvention : 0.0 €
- Dublin City University (Irlande) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 200992.32 €
Projet KLKs4OvCa (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Ovarian cancer (OvCa) is one of the most fatal female gynaecological malignancies, resulting in 180,000 deaths annually. The majority of patients have metastatic disease at time of diagnosis, thus, early diagnosis of OvCa remains a challenge to our society. In addition, the low survival rates over the past decades have remained largely unchanged, evidencing the need of new therapies for OvCa. Kallikrein-related peptidases (KLKs) are a family of 14 serine proteases which form a cross activation network known as the KLK activome. KLKs show diverse tissue expression and physiological function, and aberrant KLK expression and activity has been related to several pathological conditions including skin diseases, neurodegenerative disorders and cancer. In OvCa, KLKs4,5,6 & 7 levels are upregulated and associated with its unfavourable prognosis, therefore, KLKs4,5,6 & 7 are considered potential drug targets and biomarkers for OvCa. However, KLK activity is decoupled from simple abundance, and the contribution of each KLK activity in OvCa progression remain poorly understood. In this project, I will develop selective (quenched)-Activity Based Probes ((q)-ABPs) for KLKs4,5,6 & 7 and quantify the active enzyme fraction of each KLK to determine their contribution to OvCa. Additionally, I will develop proteolysis targeting chimeras (PROTACs) which can be selectively activated by specific KLKs to unlock their potential as therapeutic targets for OvCa. This proposal aims to deliver a versatile platform to interrogate the application of KLKs4,5,6 & 7 as biomarkers and therapeutic targets for OvCa, with potential application to other KLK- and serine protease-related disorders. My participation in this proposal will allow to bring key knowledge to face the challenging objectives and receive high-quality training that will provide me with a solid and diversified groundwork to become and independent researcher in the drug discovery field.

Mots clés : quenched activity based probes, protacs, cell based assays, secreted proteases, ovarian cancer

Participants :
- Imperial College London (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 212933.76 €
Projet MEPHISTO (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Over the last decade induced seismicity became an important topic of discussion both at scientific and societal level. Industrial activities altering the state of stress or the pore pressure of the shallow crust may, in fact, generate seismicity which can be felt by the population, reducing the public acceptance of such activities. The physical connection between operational parameters such as injected (or extracted) volume and the induced seismicity is complex and not yet fully understood. A better understanding of the influence of fluid injection/extraction parameters on the potential failure of pre-existing faults nearby the reservoir is furthermore a fundamental step towards the management of the hazard posed by induced earthquakes. The project MEPHISTO aims to a get insights into the physical processes governing induced seismicity, strengthening the link between seismological observations and geomechanical models. To pursue this scope the project is organized in two complementary work packages (WPs): in the WP1 we plan to develop/improve innovative full-waveform seismological methods for microseimicity characterization, allowing to obtain larger and more reliable seismic catalogues. WP1 aims to retrieve, using innovative full-waveform based methods, a detailed knowledge of the geometry of active faults and stress state within the reservoir. These informations are fundamental for the setup of the geomechanical model. In the WP2 we will use a geomechanical modeling based on fluid flow modeling in poroelastic media and coulomb stress changes to simulate induced seismicity in relation to different geomechanical scenarios. The comparison of the obeserved seismicity with the simulated one will be then used to calibrate geomechanical model and to investigate the influence of underground industrial activities on the generation of induced seismicity. To accomplish the project goals a high datasets related to different case studies will be assembled.

Mots clés : induced seismicity, microseismic monitoring, geomechanical modeling

Participants :
- Board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology (Suisse) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 187419.6 €
Projet MetaBil (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Over the last decades a great deal of studies have been done to explore the cognitive benefits of bilingualism, or to challenge the bilingual advantage in cognitive control. But almost nothing is known about the effect of bilingualism on metacognition, namely, the ability to monitor one’s own cognitive performance and the outcome of the cognitive processes across different task domains (linguistic and non-linguistic). Metacognitive processing may be influenced by the experience of a given individual in a specific domain. Consequently, bilinguals might display improved metacognitive awareness in tasks that are linguistic in nature. As they have more experience in linguistic tasks, error-detection and monitoring mechanism may be enhanced in bilinguals compared to monolinguals in these sort of tasks. Yet we still lack empirical evidence whether individual experience in language processing can also lead to enhanced metacognitive processing in linguistic domain, and whether it can be transferred to non-linguistic tasks. Building upon preliminary evidence presented in this proposal, this project will address for the first time how the bilingual experience and environment interact with metacognitive processing at both behavioral and neural levels. Within the framework of the proposed project, I plan to address the following questions: 1. How does bilingualism influence metacognitive sensitivity, efficiency and bias in performing linguistic and non-linguistic tasks in visual and auditory modalities? 2. Which brain circuits are involved in metacognitive processing in linguistic (as opposed to non-linguistic tasks), and how they are affected by bilingualism and environment? To address these issues, I propose a series of behavioral experiments followed by an fMRI study to define the brain networks and substrates involved into metacognitive processing, and to explore how individual differences in long-term experience affect these networks and modulate metacognitive processing.

Mots clés : metacognition, confidence, decision making, bilingualism, bilingual environment

Participants :
- Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 170121.6 €
Projet PIQUANT (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Over the last decades, application of photonic technologies to quantum information science has been very successful, which establishes light as a promising quantum system to carry quantum information. The next stage for advancing photonic technology along with quantum information science is to scale-up the capacity of a quantum system to encode quantum information. In this action, we will develop photonic quantum network, which consists of highly correlated large-scale quantum network involving both aspects of non-classical light: squeezed light and single photon, for scalable quantum information processing. By exploiting the intrinsic multimode structure of an ultrafast frequency comb, a quantum network supporting multiple quantum systems will be generated, and quantum correlations in the network will be optimized to readily conduct a given quantum information task. To benefit from genuine speedup of quantum information processing, single-photon control will be incorporated: single-photon subtraction and single-photon addition is applied on the quantum network. Importantly, the single photon control will be engineered to affect only specific modes of interest out of multiple frequency modes in the quantum network. The resultant light field becomes PhotonIc QUAtum NeTwork with an ultrafast frequency comb (PIQUANT), and its distinctive features will be characterized and exploited for quantum computing.

Mots clés : quantum optics, quantum information, ultrafast optics

Participants :
- Sorbonne Université (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 185076.0 €
Projet ARENAVIRUS (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Over the last decades, multiple arenaviruses have emerged as zoonotic human pathogens. They cross the species barrier from their natural rodent hosts to humans and cause severe human disease. A key determinant of viral zoonotic transmission is the ability to bind the receptor molecules displayed on the surface of the host cell. Despite the threat these viruses cause to public health, little is known of how they infect the host and how they are targeted by the immune response. Furthermore, the treatment and prevention options are currently extremely limited. Using techniques in structural biology, virology, immunology and cell biology, the proposed work aims at demonstrating the molecular mechanisms by which arenaviruses attach to human cells and are neutralized by the humoral immune response. First, crystallographic analysis of viral attachment glycoproteins alone and in complex with functional cellular receptors will be performed. Second, recombinantly derived viral glycoproteins will be used as immunogens for generation of specific monoclonal antibody libraries. The co-crystal structures of viral glycoproteins with cross-reactive, neutralizing antibodies, carefully selected using cell-based assays, will reveal the structural basis of antibody-mediated arenavirus neutralization. Therefore, by analogy to the development of antibody-based therapy against Ebola virus, the outlined multidisciplinary investigation will enable the rational design of antiviral reagents and vaccines. The cross-disciplinary expertise, training and infrastructure available in the host and partner organizations will allow the Researcher to establish herself as a highly-skilled expert in molecular and structural virology. As an independent, multifaceted scientist, she will be able to make a tangible contribution to the development of novel antiviral therapies, thus improving the public health and economy and adding to science base both in Europe and worldwide.

Mots clés : arenaviruses, emerging zoonotic viruses, viral hemorrhagic fevers, virus host cell interaction, molecular basis of antibody mediated virus neutralization

Participants :
- University of Oxford (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 183454.8 €
Projet Emu Cam (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Over the past years, industrial interest in carbon particles such as carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene has resulted in low cost mass production of these materials at low cost. For commercialization purposes it was essential to integrate these new materials with existing high-throughput manufacturing methods such as injection moulding. Unfortunately, these processes result in un-organized CNT arrangements whose figures of merit typically drop by an order of magnitude compared to what is measured in individual nanoparticles. Some of the most promising future applications of CNTs and graphene, such as high density energy storage and water filtration however require engineering of order, morphology, and porosity at several length scales to create highly ordered 3D structures. In this project, we propose a new process which assembles CNTs and/or graphene into microstructures using microfluidic emulsification followed by large area self-assembly into colloidal crystals. This approach provides a novel scalable route to sequentially engineer nano-, micro-, and macroscale material architecture. The ability to engineer multi-scale material structure will be harnessed to fabricate new high performance water filtration devices. Further, this project will impact other diffusion limited processes such as energy storage, catalysis, and photovoltaics.

Mots clés : carbon nanotubes, graphene, hierarchical materials

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

Over the past years, the economic and financial systems have become increasingly globalized and vulnerable with important implications for risk management by commercial banks and other institutions. However, despite the fact that sophisticated models for quantifying credit risk have been developed, everyday practice has shown that risk, due to its inherent role in the economic system, is affected by both: (i) macroeconomic factors and (ii) financial factors. Hence, it would be extremely beneficial to generate scenario analyses, real-time simulations and forecasts based on a core set of variables. For instance, a question of great importance is the following: “what is the impact of a sudden change, e.g. collapse of the Greek banking sector, on the financial services sector of another country, e.g. Austria?” Currently, standard models are not capable of addressing such questions, because such questions involve interdependence at the sectoral and country level, simultaneously. It would be helpful to measure how vulnerable specific entities are, to shocks in other related entities of the system. This process would help in redesigning the system so as to be able to absorb shocks. Here, we make the assumption that most phenomena in the global economy are interdependent on each other. In this context, we will estimate - for the first time in the literature - the impact that a shock in a specific entity in a specific country can have on any other entity in any other country. The proposed approach will be based on the GVAR model and on Input-Output Tables for constructing the weight matrix, which is crucial in expressing the aforementioned relationships. To do so, we will make use of network theory to select the dominant entities in the system. Our findings will help develop relevant policies, public or private, designed to reduce the risk, which is inherent to the system.

Mots clés : finance, banking, gvar

Participants :
- University of London (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 183454.8 €
Projet CoordinGrowthDev (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Over the recent years, research in developmental biology has stumbled upon the problem of how development ensures that organisms achieve appropriate body and organ size. The coordination of organ growth with the developmental program is essential for the emergence of adults with proper body size and proportions. These species-specific features condition many traits of adult life such as fitness and survival. Studies on fruit flies have allowed setting up the conceptual frame for this research. Our current understanding is that tissue growth and the developmental program are synchronized by feedback control mechanisms that block the transition to the next developmental period until all tissues have completed growth. Recent work in Drosophila has started unraveling the nature of the signals that couple tissue growth with developmental progression. A newly discovered Drosophila insulin-like peptide called Dilp8 is key in this coupling, raising the possibility that peptides with similar roles may exist in vertebrates. The current project aims at characterizing the molecular mechanisms by which Dilp8 coordinates development of the different body parts. First, I will conduct a biased genetic screen to identify the receptor for Dilp8. This will allow a better characterization of the biological functions of Dilp8. On one hand, I will unravel the target tissues of Dilp8 mediating regulation of steroid hormone and developmental transitions. On the other hand, I will investigate the role of Dilp8 signaling in coordinating growth among developing organs. The project will shed light on the mechanisms of inter-organ communication that ensure the coordination of growth between tissues and with the developmental timing. The expertise of the host laboratory, combined the conceptual frame and experimental approaches of the project, will allow me to gain new skills and scientific knowledge, and to develop a successful research career in the field of growth control.

Mots clés : growth control, coordination, inter organ communication, developmental timing, dilp8, insulin, steroid hormone, drosophila

Participants :
- Centre national de la recherche scientifique (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 173076.0 €
Projet CASMOX (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Oxidative damage is a major problem for dairy industry as it can occur to a significant extent during the processing and/or storage of milk, and results in significant wastage. Due the high abundance of proteins, ~30% of the dry mass of whole milk, these represent one of the most abundant targets of damage. Protein oxidation can have a direct impact on the nutritional value of milk and the consumption of highly oxidised proteins may have deleterious consequences for human health. This project will provide an improved understanding of the degradation pathways of the most abundant milk proteins (caseins), the micelle structures that these proteins form, and the key drivers of these reactions. To address these aims, this project will: (1) investigate the oxidation of casein micelle (CM) mediated by the most relevant oxidative sources generated during milk processing and storage, and (2) determine the consequences of CM oxidation on their nutritional value (i.e. loss of parent amino acids) and the biological effects (i.e. decreased digestibility, toxicity to human cells). The approaches to be used in this project include analytical, biochemical and biological techniques (i.e. liquid chromatography, SDS-PAGE, western blotting, mass spectrometry, electron microscopy, cell culture models). The project is of interest to the European community as milk and dairy products represent one of the most consumed food materials, with health and nutrition claims for these products based on the presence of specific materials, such as proteins. It is therefore critically important that these claims are justified and correct. This project will provide important new knowledge, as there are currently no data available as to the pathways responsible for CM oxidative modifications. Such data is a pre-requisite to the development of lessharmful industrial milk processing methods. The project will also validate new methods to examine the nutritional quality of milk and dairy products.

Mots clés : casein micelle, protein oxidation, aggregation, peroxyl radicals, riboflavin, hydroperoxides, health, nutrition

Participants :
- University of Copenhagen (Danemark) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 207312.0 €