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

Because of their reduced dimensionality and symmetry, two-dimensional (2D) materials withstand physical phenomena that are very different from their 3D bulk counterparts. Beside graphene, other members of the same family of materials include metal dichalcogenides (MX2) and hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN). Remarkably, while single-layer graphene is a semimetal, 2D h-BN is an insulator and 2D MoS2 is a direct bandgap semiconductor. A new paradigm in materials science consists in piling up into vertical stacks single sheets of 2D materials with complementary electro-optical characteristics, thereby paving the way to the fabrication of ultrathin and flexible multilayer heterostructure devices. DEMONH aims at designing multilayer architectures based on 2D material building blocks with tunable electronic structure and optical properties that can be prepared by solution processing techniques. Among many others, this approach offers the unique advantage that the electrical and optical characteristics of the elementary 2D units can be tuned over a broad range by functionalization of their surface with properly designed conjugated organic molecules, which: (i) assist in the exfoliation process and stabilize single or multiple layers as suspensions in the liquid phase; and (ii) convey to the resulting hybrid organic-2D materials new or improved functionalities. In particular, the use of light-responsive molecules opens up the possibility to remotely switch on and off charge injection and extraction at interfaces. In DEMONH, we will combine state of the art modeling tools to design multifunctional electro-active conjugated molecules yielding optimized (light-triggered) energy level alignment at interfaces and charge transport properties in stacked 2D layer architectures. Such design strategies require the development of appropriate theoretical models and their coding in efficient software programs, which will be implemented in a multiscale modeling platform.

Mots clés : 2d crystals, graphene, theoretical modeling, heterojunctions, charge transport, electronic structure calculations, quantum chemistry, effective hamiltonians, chemical doping, exfoliation

Participants :
- University of Mons (Belgique) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 172800.0 €
Projet HHAT (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : TERMINATED

Being the first or second most common cause of premature death in over 100 countries, cancer imposes a major burden on modern societies worldwide. Inhibition of the Hedgehog pathway has had success, both in vitro and in the clinic, but resistance is a commonly encountered problem, making alternative Hedgehog modulators in high demand. Hhat is a membrane associated O-acyl transferase (MBOAT) whose only known function is the palmitoylation of Hedgehog, a posttranslational modification crucial for Hedgehog signalling. Targeting Hhat thus represents a uniquely specific way to target the hedgehog pathway that could be less prone to gaining resistance, but research in this area is hampered by a lack of good tool compounds. Here I propose to use cutting edge chemical biology tools to develop selective high potency Hhat inhibitors with thoroughly validated cellular activity. Such inhibitors are crucially needed to validate Hhat as a target in cancer therapy and the methodologies developed could be transferred to target other clinically relevant MBOATs in for example the Wnt pathway.

Mots clés : hedgehog, organic synthesis, parallel synthesis, chemical proteomics, photo affinity ligation, cancer, biology, cellular target engagement

Participants :
- Imperial College London (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 212933.76 €
Projet BigTime (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Economic Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Big time series data are commonplace in economics. Their variety and sheer size provide nearly endless opportunities to improve economic decision making at European governments, companies and universities: amongst others, internet search data could shed light on consumer sentiment, social media provide opportunities for improving economic policy analysis, and high-frequency volatility data could be informative for financial risk analysis. While the expansion of these Big Data sources bring possibilities, it also raises ever-increasing statistical challenges since novel methods (for instance, 'penalized' methods) are needed to estimate high-dimensional models containing many parameters. The development of such methods has flourished in the statistical learning community, but they are not geared towards the specificities of economic time series. Econometric time series models typically differ from traditional statistical models in that they require (i) an accurate assessment of the certainty of the economic findings and predictions, (ii) a description of how the economy responds, over time, to exogenous shocks, and (iii) an identification strategy that maps the observed data to the relevant economic parameters of interest. The proposal builds a partnership between econometrics, statistics and machine learning with the aim of addressing these three econometric objectives. It develops statistical learning methods for (i) honest uncertainty quantification (inference), (ii) interpretable economic impulse response functions analysis and (iii) identification of high-dimensional time series models. The suitability of the developed Big Time Series methods is demonstrated for economic applications including financial risk analysis and macro-economic policy analysis. As such, the proposal provides a Big Time Series Analytics toolbox to modern empirical economists that aims to support and improve economic decision making in big, dynamic and complex time series problems.

Mots clés : econometric time series, identification, high dimensional statistics, penalized estimation, post selection inference

Participants :
- Maastricht University (Pays-Bas) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 175572.48 €
Projet BLINK (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Bilingual Literacy and Input Negotiates Knowledge Outcomes: Tracing Heritage Language Bilingual Development This project significantly adds to a burgeoning—roughly 2 and half decades long—sub-field of bilingualism studies, namely Heritage Language Bilingualism (HLB). We propose a novel approach that combines offline and online methods and focuses on a severely understudied, yet crucially important age group of heritage speaker (HS) bilinguals in an effort to fill crucial gaps in the available literature. We will examine the role and weight of key variables that (potentially) contribute to ubiquitous differences between these populations and matched monolingual counterparts. To this end, we capitalize on the relatively unique opportunity Turkish provides as a heritage language acquired in its diaspora in the EU (the snapshot will be Norway and Germany). Having access to balanced populations in both Norway and Germany and their respective multiple subgroups that differ in key variables (e.g. access or not to literacy education in Turkish) we will for the first time have a fairer chance to converge on an understanding of how and why HLB presents so differently from monolingualism and even other cases of bilingualism. Because HLB, deals with the development and maintenance of minority languages spoken in the home and small ethnic communities in a larger national context, it fits very well with the imperatives of the EU and its commitment to fostering cross-cultural integration while guaranteeing the rights of all to maintain their heritage languages and cultures. Understanding how to best fulfill language related EU imperatives and commitments is inherently related to understanding the cognitive, social and linguistic sciences behind HLB.

Mots clés : bilingualism, heritage language speakers, predictive processing, input, literacy

Participants :
- UiT The Arctic University of Norway (Norvège) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 208400.4 €
Projet STOCHELEC (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Bio-electrochemical sciences are essential for the development of biosensor and biofuels cells. The precise nano-structuration of conductive materials with electro-active enzymes allows the reversible transduction of electrical energy to chemical energy via direct electron transfer (DET). The operational stability of bio-electrocatalytic systems is limited by the constant and strong electrical field building-up at the interface. The electrode polarisation generates a strong and static electrical field rigidifying the interfacial electronic double layer, often preventing free enzymes’ dynamics and leading to an enzymes’ loss of activity due to the destruction of their active 3D structure. Customized electrical polarisation patterns have the potential to enhance both electro-enzyme stability and efficiency. Biological electronic transfers processes being non-linear, it is expected that electrical stochastic signal excitation can greatly influence the electron transfer process at a bio-electrode. This proposal focusses on gaining new knowledge about the electronic stochastic and unambiguous stimulation of bio-electrodes for catalytic and analytical purposes. The first objective is to synthesize nanostructured carbon nano-dots (C-dots) electrodes for the immobilisation of redox enzymes. C-dots possess a so-called trap-state; an energetic level that can be engineered to match biological redox cofactor potentials and thus enhance electronic coupling between the electrode and redox active enzymes. The second aim is to investigate pulsed and alternative current polarisation for enhancing bio-electrocatalysts efficiency and electro enzymes’ stability with non-ambiguous electrical waveform. The third aim of this proposal is to develop a novel electro-analytical technique relying on the Fourier transform analysis of chronoamperometry signals stimulated by a stochastic signal polarisation of bio-electrodes (FTSC).

Mots clés : stochastic stimulation of natural processes, glucose oxidase, iron protoporphyrin ix

Participants :
- Bordeaux INP (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 184707.84 €
Projet CyBioSys (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Bio-inspiration is a main driving force for the development of innovative and adapted artificial systems. Going one step further, the fundamental goal of this proposal is to design a cyber biological system (CBS) that interfaces a swarm of animals with a distributed artificial system. Our objective is to demonstrate that such CBS can benefit from advantages of both artificial and natural systems and outperform their constituents. Here, the goal of the CBS is to explore the environment searching for resources and to exploit them as soon as discovered. For this purpose, we integrate a model organism of biological societies, the ants, with an artificial system based on mobile robots, the Thymio. More specifically, the CBS will be composed by an ant nest coupled to static sensors that communicate with mobile robots. The ants will explore the environment and evaluate potential food sources. Once a source is discovered, static sensors placed at the nest exits will detect the increasing flow of ants recruited toward the resource and transmit this information to the mobile robots. Once alerted, the mobile robots will navigate in the environment and follow the ants until the food source to convey it to the nest. Thus, the CBS will benefit from the efficient exploration pattern of the ants to discover and evaluate potential resources and the ability of the robots to rapidly convey these resources to the nest. This synergy will save the energy that should be consumed by the robots for constantly exploring the environment and quicken the collect of the food, making the ants more rapidly available for further exploration. This project is the first to consider an insect swarm as a biosensor and to embed in a robot the ability to extract data from such swarm. In addition, this interdisciplinary project at the crossroads of biology and robotics ensures the development of skills and transfer of knowledge for the ER as well as the host organisation.

Mots clés : cyber biological systems, bio sensors, bio hybrid systems, bio inspiration, mixed societies, distributed robotics, swarm

Participants :
- Board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology (Suisse) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 175419.6 €
Projet BioFrost (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

BioFrost will offer the unique opportunity to descend to the frozen depths of Earth, into permafrost, and study the microbial life as it carries on in an unhospitable, (almost-)inhabitable, environment where temperatures are far below zero and no oxygen is available. Supported by a highly sensitive experimental approach based on the use of stable isotope probing combined with Next Generation Sequencing, Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry and nanoSIMS, this research will trace active microorganisms in deep permafrost and will reveal their abundances and taxonomic identities together with the biologically-induced chemical processes that modify the surrounding environment and make it ´more habitable´. This study will also address one of the most significant new concepts of modern microbiology, the heterogeneity of single microbial cells, and will assess the role of it in the context of the ecosystem´s overall functioning. This project is for microbiologists and environmental scientists, who want to expand their knowledge on microbial biodiversity and activity in the coldest regions of Earth. It is also for space and planetary scientists, who are preparing for upcoming missions to Mars´ permafrost in search of signatures of life. It is for environmental policy makers to promote consciousness of a hidden subsurface ecosystem that can impact critically on us at the surface. Most of all, I hope this Marie Skłodowska-Curie (MSC) project will meet anyone curious about life at its extremes.

Mots clés : biodiversity, permafrost, psychrophilic, psychrotolerant microorganisms, anaerobes, stable isotope probing  sip

Participants :
- Helmholtz Centre Potsdam - GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 171460.8 €
Projet DRYSTORE (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Biobanking under liquid nitrogen (LN) has satisfactory efficiency but it comes with many drawbacks (e.g. expensive, high carbon footprint, need dedicated facilities, trained personnel, and continuous monitoring and LN supply). Searching Nature for alternatives, long-term preservation there is done by drying rather than freezing. To date, however, mammalian cells do not survive the drying process. Even so, if somatic cells genetic and epigenetic load is maintained, drying can find an important role in biobanking, a fast growing global industry. We aim to elucidate the effects of drying on DNA structure and function, crucial aspects of long-term biobanking not investigated yet, using fibroblast as a model cell, and combining advanced freezing and drying techniques with state-of-the-art Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT) and latest genomic technologies. The expected outcomes are definitive data on effects of drying on genomic stability/function, and possible discovery of a protocol to protect the epi/genetic load during cell drying. The crossing between the Researcher’s scientific interest and experience in sperm biology, andrology, cryobiology and drying and the Supervisor’s expertise in embryology and SCNT creates an attractive and very solid background for this proposal, with mutual benefit to both Host and Researcher. While strengthening the Supervisor’s laboratory with his expertise, the Researcher will enhance his creative potential and further develop his interdisciplinary and communication skills by learning SCNT and whole genome analysis as well as mentoring students, participating in conferences, and communicating research results to targeted audiences (scientists, general public, students, stakeholders, policymakers), thus enhancing his scientific profile. This proposal is the perfect stepping stone for the Researcher to become an independent scientist and an expert in desiccation for biobanking, while contributing a competitive advantage to the Host.

Mots clés : biobanking, conservation, desiccation, dna repair

Participants :
- University of Teramo (Italie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 180277.2 €
Projet MICROBIOCLIM (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Biocrusts are topsoil microbial communities that live in close association with soil particles and constitute the living skin of drylands. They intercede in numerous key ecosystem processes that are essential to desert ecosystems and play a relevant role in the global carbon cycle. Despite their inherent tolerance to aridity, a growing body of literature suggests that forecasted alterations in precipitation patterns, a global imprint of climate change, has the potential to dramatically affect these communities. However, little is known about how this will alter biocrust microbiome functioning and how these changes will be echoed to the soil properties and carbon budget in global drylands. This lack of knowledge arises from the difficulty to reliably link culture independent traditional genomic data to soil function. Thus, there is an urgent need to implement techniques that allow the identification of active organisms driving soil processes. The main objective of MICROBIOCLIM is to gain a deeper insight into the effect of altered precipitation patterns driven by climate change on biocrust microbiome functioning in drylands. To tackle this objective, MICROBIOCLIM will implement Biorthogonal Non-Canonical Amino Acid Tagging (BONCAT) coupled to omics methods to probe active cells in situ in biocrust while tracking the evolution of the soil carbon budget under climate change scenarios. The research outlined here includes multiple spatial and temporal scales, which will allow us to gain critical knowledge to design strategies to preserve biocrusts and the ecosystem services they render. This project will also help fill a major gap in our understanding of the underlying mechanisms controlling soil respiration and their implications for carbon cycling in global drylands, both priorities of the H2020 and the EU Green Deal.

Mots clés : biocrusts, microbiome, climate change, molecular ecology, soil functionality, respiration, drylands

Participants :
- University of Alicante (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 245732.16 €
- Pennsylvania State University (Etats-Unis) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet BIKE (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Bioelectronics is limited by the materials that transducer signals across the interface between biology and electronics. For example, in cutaneous recording, the interface between the electrode and skin is the key parameter to get a good recording. For these applications, there is a great deal of interest in developing soft conducting coatings that decrease the impedance between the electrode and the skin. Hence, the interface between the skin and the electrode is improved allowing an easier flow of the ionic and electronic current. Although hydrogel based electrolytes are in use, the continuous evaporation of water does not allow the long-term cutaneous recording. The current proposal is aiming at exploring innovative materials such as iongels that can enhance the ionic conductivity and decrease the impedance with the human skin without suffering evaporation during the recording due to the negligible vapour pressure of ionic liquids. These cutaneous electrodes will be used to monitor the electrical activity of specific organs for a better understanding of the physiology and the pathology of different organs. The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship will open the best career possibilities for Dr. Ana Sanchez. After a successful PhD and 2 year post-doc in polymer chemistry in the University of the Basque Country in Spain, she decided to move to a different environment where she can exploit all her materials science expertise. The Department of Bioelectronics in EMSE directed by Prof. Malliaras in Aix-en-Provence (France) is one of the top-class groups in the emerging area of bioelectronics, where the electronics and biology converge. This multidisciplinary environment not only will broaden the scientific knowledge of Dr. Ana Sanchez in a hot topic such as bioelectronics, but also will help her to grow and to expand her network in her way to reach a future group leader position.

Mots clés : ionic liquids, iongel, poly  ionic liquids, bioelectronics, organic electronics, conducting polymers, electrophysiology

Participants :
- Institut Mines-Télécom (France) — Partner, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- University of Cambridge (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 173076.0 €