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

Only 150 years ago, one in five Europeans died in infancy, life expectancy was 40 years, and the leading causes of death were infectious diseases: tuberculosis, smallpox, measles, pertussis, diphtheria, cholera, typhoid fever, scarlet fever. But in just a few decades beginning about 1880, life expectancy rose dramatically as infectious disease mortality plummeted. This “2nd epidemiologic transition”, in which chronic diseases began replacing infections as leading causes of death, occurred well in advance of antibiotics and most vaccines. Many factors have been proposed to explain it, including improved nutrition, sanitation, clean drinking water, better housing and the emergence of social support systems. Little has been done, however, to systematically rescue and quantitatively study historic health data and rigorously investigate the epidemiologic transition. I lay out here an ambitious, novel, interdisciplinary and feasible proposal to do just that. In the process, I will broaden my research scope from statistical modeling of historic pandemic influenza to all historic infections, understand the historical context in which the transition occurred, and master new concepts in dynamic disease modeling. Danish historic medical data are uniquely detailed and reach far back in time, and are uniquely suited for quantitative studies of long time series of morbidity and mortality, with the promise to further illuminate the epidemiology of important diseases including smallpox, cholera, and measles. After 25 years abroad as a senior researcher at the National Institutes of Health and Professor of Global Health in the U.S., I now wish to return to my native Denmark. I had the honor this year to be elected to the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, and receive funding to be a visiting professor at the University of Copenhagen, and trust this signals the beginning of my successful re-integration to European academia.

Mots clés : epidemic disease, mathematical modeling, historic medical research

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

Opening new sound horizons goes hand in hand with retracing the history of the spiritual traditions in which monasteries have played a decisive role in the medieval functioning of Europe. The Dominican order, whose origins lie in the Iberian Peninsula, is a particularly pertinent example of a pan-European monastic community. The project RESALVE focusses on the musical universe of the Dominican female convent of Aveiro as reflected in the earliest surviving collection of Dominican chant books in Portugal, produced by the sisters themselves between 1461 and 1525. Despite its written transmission, the Dominican repertoire, with its particularly beautiful Marian chants, can be considered ‘intangible cultural heritage’, mirroring local practices being transmitted from generation to generation through constant recreation. The antiphon Salve regina with its specific Dominican melody will be used as an example to examine the multiple use of Marian chants as liturgical, votive, intercessional or processional chants. Salve from late medieval Aveiro will be the starting point of an innovative and multidisciplinary approach illustrating the variability of sources and melodies and providing unique insight into a specific female chant repertoire through the application of musicological and historical methods. Aveiro’s sources will be explored as carriers of material and immaterial cultural heritage from two different perspectives: that of the music historian and that of the artist-performer. As this chant tradition has nearly disappeared today in Dominican communities, artistic performances and recordings are vital for its preservation. That is the reason why the candidate and the professional performers of her vocal ensemble Kantika want to launch a revival of Salve Regina and other chants from Aveiro as living history of sacred chants, for anyone who is interested in early music and how it is being interpreted today – uniting practical performance with excellent scholarship.

Mots clés : plainchant, source studies, musical notation, dominican liturgy, historical performance, gender studies, salve regina, aveiro, revival, marian chants, dominican female convents, portugal

Participants :
- Universidade Nova de Lisboa (Portugal) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 147815.04 €
Projet HaLO (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Oppressive speech is speech that harms and disempowers its targets. It also seeks to influence third parties, changing their behaviour and attitudes towards targets, legitimating discrimination, creating implicit bias, and inciting to hatred and violence. The purpose is ultimately to change society: it’s not just doing unjust things with words, but it’s creating and maintaining unjust structures of social power. Oppressive speech is thus one of the most urgent social and political issues of our time. There is currently no simple, unifying framework that models oppressive speech or explains its many effects. The proposed research project seeks to address this gap through a multidisciplinary approach that combines the complementary strengths of game theory, and theories of social norms and social injustice. The core idea is that conversational games are embedded within a larger social game such that oppressive conversational games focus on the acquisition of power in the larger social game to achieve later payoffs. I hypothesise that game theory can be used to explain fundamental phenomena of interest in the context of oppressive speech: (i) the effects of oppressive speech within a conversation; (ii) the shifting of conversational and social norms that govern the conversational and social games; (iii) the motivation of some people to oppress others through speech and the role that speech plays in maintaining social injustice. The research objectives are three interlinked parts of a new model of oppressive speech: RO1 Deliver an initial model of oppressive speech as a conversational game that alters power. RO2 Deliver an extension of the model from RO1 that explains the harmful social effects on targets, by explaining how oppressive speech sets up unjust social norms. RO3 Deliver a model extending RO1 and RO2 that explains how unjust social structures affect speech, what motivates agents in a group to oppressive acts, and what is needed to change harmful norms.

Mots clés : oppressive speech, game theory, conversational and social games, shifting social norms, structural oppression, social change, social and discourse roles, role assignment, accommodation, systemic injustice

Participants :
- Geisteswissenschaftliche Zentren Berlin (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 174806.4 €
Projet NICOS (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Optical interference coatings have become a key enabling technology for many laser systems. Modern oscillators and amplifiers are capable of generating ultrashort pulses with energies of several tens of µJ at repetition rates of more than 10 MHz, resulting in several hundreds of watts of average output power. Under the illumination of optical coatings by such intense optical fields, the nonlinear effects manifest themselves. These effects can be exploited for development of novel types of nonlinear optical (NLO) laser components: dielectric multilayer coatings with specified nonlinear properties. In order to use the potential of dielectric coatings as NLO devices, the nonlinear behaviour of dielectric multilayers at intensities which are, from one side, high enough to activate nonlinearities and lower, from other side, than laser damage threshold, has to be carefully explored. As structures of films differ from the ones of bulk materials, then characterization of nonlinear effects in dielectric coatings is to be carried out and numerical values of coatings’ nonlinear parameters are be estimated. NICOS project is aimed at accurate and reliable characterization of nonlinear effects in dielectric coatings and development of new types of NLO dielectric multilayers for laser applications. In order to resolve project tasks, a combination of four main elements is required: (1) laser systems to generate high intensity pulses inducing nonlinear effects in multilayers, (2) deposition plants to produce the coatings, (3) measurement tools to characterize the effects and (4) background in modelling and optical technology. Unique research facilities of the Host Institution together with Applicant’s expertise in optical coatings provide a basis for successful implementation of the project. The results of NICOS will be a valuable contribution to nonlinear optics, laser physics and thin film technology. NICOS will assist in pushing frontiers in promising laser components.

Mots clés : optical coatings, nonlinear phenomena, dielectric multilayers

Participants :
- Max Planck Society (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 171460.8 €
Projet SMuPhoS (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Optical quantum technologies are at the forefront of a forthcoming second quantum revolution, where advances in quantum photonics at the single-photon level are enabling new technologies at accelerating pace: from applications for secure quantum communication, to the realization of quantum simulation and quantum computation protocols. The scaling of quantum photonics, however, has long been restrained by low efficiencies in current photon sources, what limits the complexity of the protocols that are being demonstrated. The host team has very recently succeeded in the fabrication of solid-state single-photon sources about 20 times more efficient than current alternatives. These sources have reached the best possible performance in terms of purity and indistinguishability, as required for scalable applications. In this proposal, the high performance of these devices is combined with the expertise in quantum optics of the applicant to advance the state-of-the-art in quantum photonics to the efficient and high-rate manipulation of multiple single-photons. A new era of larger-scale quantum photonics will be attained by enabling the manipulation of multiple photons past the qubyte threshold of 8 photons. The project will include the demonstration of 10-photon sources with sub-Hertz detection rates; the implementation of heralded entangling gates run at unprecedented rates; as well as the demonstration of multi-photon interference with up to 8-photons in a Boson Sampling machine. This project will thus importantly advance upon the complexity of current multi-photon research, opening a new era of solid-state based quantum optics and photonics.

Mots clés : solid state multi photon source, scalable quantum optics, multi photon interference

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

Optical theranostic (diagnostic + therapy) techniques are low-cost, safe, and constitute a next big leap in the betterment of human healthcare. In that regard, luminescent nanoparticles (NPs) are poised to become the multifunctional instruments of personalized medicine. However, present-day theranostic NPs provide no control over their arsenal of capabilities – their competences are often entangled so that diagnostics cannot be done without therapy. In the same way that surgeons do not cut before ascertaining what and where to cut, so do light-responsive nanoparticles must have the flexibility to switch between their imaging/sensing and therapeutic modalities at-will. Rare-earth NPs (RENPs) are endowed with downshifting (Stokes) and upconversion (anti-Stokes) luminescence stimulated by near-infrared light; thus, RENPs are designed for non-invasive deep-tissue optical imaging (to diagnose) and in-situ mediation of photochemical processes (to treat). As such, RENPs are just the right candidates to decouple therapy from diagnostics, while preserving both in a single theranostic NP. With MONOCLE, I propose a tangible and timely development of RENPs with built-in control over their different emission modes. Capitalizing on the modular design of RENPs in unison with temporally modulated laser excitation, I intend to separate downshifting and upconversion processes creating truly-multifunctional theranostic RENPs (TMTs). In essence, TMTs are destined to apply “measure twice and cut once” philosophy – which constitutes benign examination and diagnosis of the target, with in-situ treatment available on-demand. Successful development of TMTs is projected to have far-reaching implications in safe and selective use of light-controlled nanomedicines. Furthermore, the multidisciplinary nature of this project is anticipated to foster new RENP architectures and alternative excitation pathways, decisively advancing not only biomedical but also luminescent materials science research.

Mots clés : rare earth, upconversion, downshifting, theranostics, spectroscopy, near infrared

Participants :
- University of California System (Etats-Unis) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Autonomous University of Madrid (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 245732.16 €
Projet KREDs in GSBs (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Optically pure secondary alcohols are required in the manufacture of many pharmaceutical products. Ketoreductases (KREDs) capable of reduction of ketones to the corresponding secondary alcohol have been improved through classical directed evolution campaigns but a limiting factor has always been the challenge of matching selection conditions to the final scaled-up reaction. Here we propose a solution to that problem. The Host group previously described the formation of gel-shell beads, agarose beads surrounded by a size-selective shell (Nature Chemistry 2014, 6:791). The beads allow screening of individual members of an enzyme library using flow cytometry. As small molecules can be readily exchanged, while enzymes are retained, the process not only affords precise control over selection conditions but also makes it ideal for continuous flow processes. To support this endeavour, sensitive assays for the high throughput detection of ketoreductase activity and enantioselectivity will be developed. Directed evolution will then be performed with selection for the efficient use of macromolecular derivatives of the NAD(P)H cofactor and improved tolerance to high substrate /solvent concentrations. Throughout the project, intensive contact will be maintained with Industrial Partner GlaxoSmithKline, leading up to flow bed reactor trials during a secondment. This project will provide the Beneficiary with an excellent training in biocatalysis, broadening his skill set and opening up new career opportunities in Europe’s growing Green Chemistry Sector. The Host laboratory is at the forefront of directed evolution of enzymes. Through the secondment at GSK, the Beneficiary will be able to transfer this technology to industry. Excellent training courses offered by the University of Cambridge will further aid his professional development. This project seeks to help Europe meet Part 12 of Horizon 2020, which is to be communicated through a well-planned series of Public Engagements.

Mots clés : biocatalysis, green chemistry, ketoreductases, directed evolution, continuous flow processes, industry academia partnership, public engagement

Participants :
- University of Cambridge (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 183454.8 €
Projet MSIOAM (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Optoacoustic imaging is a highly scalable and versatile method that can be used for optical resolution microscopy (OR-OAM) at superficial depth yet can be adapted for tomographic imaging with ultrasonic resolution at centimeter penetration scale. However, the imaging speed of OR-OAM is slow as far as concerned with acquisition of volumetric data, which greatly restricts its usage in applications involving dynamic biological processes. In this MSCA project, we propose to develop a new approach using multifocal structured illumination in conjunction with a spherical ultrasonic array detection to achieve real-time volumetric optoacoustic imaging in both optical and acoustic resolution modes. Several challenges are to be addressed to reach these objectives. Firstly, a multifocal structured illumination system with two identical beamsplitting gratings will be designed and fabricated. Secondly, optoacoustic signal unmixing method for the spherical ultrasonic array detection geometry will be developed and image reconstruction algorithms based on the unmixed signals devised. Thirdly, calibration methods for the proposed system will be investigated. Finally, real-time volumetric optoacoustic imaging will be demonstrated in living animals With the proposed method, real-time volumetric imaging at multiple penetration scales can be accomplished, making it possible to study dynamic functional, kinetic and metabolism parameters at the cellular, organ and whole organism level. By opening new possibilities for visualization of multi-scale dynamics not attainable with existing imaging modalities, the new method will broadly affect both pre-clinical and clinical imaging in the fields of in vivo cell tracking, targeted molecular imaging, studies of tumor dynamics and neovascularization, functional brain imaging.

Mots clés : optoacoustic imaging, photoacoustic imaging, optoacoustic tomography, multifocal structured illumination, optical resolution optoacoustic microscopy

Participants :
- Helmholtz Zentrum München (Allemagne) — Partner, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 100018.8 €
- University of Zurich (Suisse) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 71442.0 €
Projet NeurOLED (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Optogenetics is an emerging new method in biology for the non-invasive control of neuronal behaviour with light. NeurOLED will develop and validate a novel, biocompatible light source that provides unprecedented high-resolution, real-time optogenetic control of neurons. At the heart of the new devices are organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) that are brought into direct contact with neuronal cells. Using microscopic patterning, we will create dense arrays of OLEDs that can stimulate the firing of individual live neurons. Initial proof-of-principle experiments will use the new OLED light source to study neuronal networks in vitro. To fully exploit the potential of OLEDs in optogenetics, neuronal networks will ultimately be investigated in vivo. We will examine the neuronal network that is responsible for locomotion in the model organism Drosophila melanogaster. To maximize spatial resolution in vivo, the light penetration depth in tissue will be optimized by systematic optical design of the spectral and angular emission characteristics of the OLEDs. Furthermore, stacked multi-colour OLEDs will be used to achieve both activation and deactivation of single neurons at very high speed and precision. Atomic layer deposition will be used as an innovative thin-film encapsulation technology to develop OLEDs that can withstand aqueous environments and can thus be brought into direct contact with neurons and biological tissue. Compared to current state-of-the-art optogenetic light sources, OLEDs will significantly advance control of neuronal behaviour thus paving the way to a better understanding of neural networks.

Mots clés : organic light emitting diodes, organic electronics, optogenetics, neurons, encapsulation, biophotonics, neuroscience, drosophila

Participants :
- University of St Andrews (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 195454.8 €
Projet TAURUS (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Ordinary matter is made of atoms and atoms are made of electrons surrounding a very tiny and fascinating object, the atomic nucleus. At the same time, the atomic nucleus is a physical system composed of two types of particles, protons and neutrons, that are interacting through intricate nuclear interactions, and, in the case of protons, through the electromagnetic interaction. Typical energies and sizes of this system require for its study the use of quantum many-body techniques. The main scientific goal of the present action is to provide a microscopic, universal and reliable theoretical description of the atomic nucleus. This ambitious objective will be achieved by developing: 1. Theoretical tools that combine state-of-the-art first- principles (ab-initio) nuclear interactions with the two most widely used quantum many-body techniques in Nuclear Physics, namely, the interacting shell model and the self-consistent mean-field and beyond-mean-field approximations. 2. State-of-the-art software and high performance computing to implement and use these techniques to produce valuable theoretical data that can be useful to nuclear experimentalists and astrophysicists. Pursuing this objective, the experienced researcher (ER) will acquire new scientific, managerial, dissemination, mentoring and cultural skills through advanced training that will boost his career possibilities both in academia and industry. Furthermore, this action is mutually beneficial because it opens a new line of research within the host group devoted to nuclear ab-initio methods. These topics are considered as the most important challenges to Nuclear Theory for the next decade. Therefore, this action will foster the international visibility and attractiveness of both the ER and the host group.

Mots clés : energy density functionals, ab initio, large scale shell model, effective field theory, collective and single particle excitations, gamma and beta decays

Participants :
- Autonomous University of Madrid (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 160932.48 €