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

The environmental pollution by ecotoxic heavy metals is an issue of increasing significance for ecological and human health reasons. Among these elements, cadmium (Cd) is of special concern due to its high mobility in the soil/plant system and its acute toxicity towards most forms of life, which requires monitoring of food products, especially crops. Improving food security represents a major European priority and is one of the societal challenges targeted by Horizon 2020. In this context, SPECADIS overarching objective is to enhance our understanding of Cd bioavailability to crops and bring constraints on the mechanisms that govern the uptake and fate of Cd in the plants that feed the world. Previous studies have demonstrated that Cd bioavailability in the plant/soil system depends ultimately on its chemical speciation, for which in situ determination remained out-of-reach until now. To investigate Cd speciation in crops, SPECADIS will use a novel multidisciplinary framework combining the most recent advances of two cutting-edge technologies: X-Ray absorption spectroscopy and stable isotope mass spectrometry. SPECADIS will (i) use the newly developed High Energy Resolution Fluorescence Detected X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy technique to bring, for the first time, in situ Cd speciation measurements in crops and (ii), combined with Cd isotope geochemistry, unravel the relationships between Cd isotope fractionation and Cd speciation changes in crops to develop a tracer of Cd speciation in dilute samples. SPECADIS will be hosted by the environmental geosciences AMU department CEREGE. The fellow will bring her expertise in heavy metal isotope geochemistry to a team of internationally renowned spectroscopists and soil scientists, who will train her and encourage her to develop her leadership skills. SPECADIS results will be disseminated to the range of specialist and non-specialist audiences, enhancing the visibility of its innovative approach on an international scale.

Mots clés : heavy metal pollution, cadmium, cd biogeochemical cycle, toxicity, bioavailability, soil, plant system, cd isotopes, cd speciation, xas spectroscopy, stable isotope geochemistry, crops contamination

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

The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is a key player in many biological responses and its aberrant function is associated with numerous diseases, including a number of cancers. Despite the significant benefits of anti-EGFR agents in some tumours, many challenges remain in the improvement of EGFR-targeted therapies. This proposal targets cofactors in the EGFR signalling that, so far, were not exploited therapeutically and hence may not only contribute to the global effort in the understanding of this system but may also open new doors to the development of new therapeutic agents. The aim is to use Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) to obtain structural insights into EGFR activation covering three main aspects: i) modulation of activity by the transmembrane and juxtamembrane domains, ii) the role of the cell membrane and iii) the role of cytohesins in EGFR activation. For this, selected protein constructs will be prepared and their structure and interactions will be characterized. In parallel, new NMR methodology to improve the study of challenging biological samples, specifically EGFR, will be developed. The work plan will provide an innovative and multidisciplinary training covering different areas in Life Sciences and allow the researcher to experience work in an industrial environment through a secondment. We anticipate to obtain structural information that contributes to the global knowledge on these systems and to the discovery novel therapeutic agents. Moreover, the innovative methodologies that will be used in terms of the acquisition of multidimensional NMR experiments have the potential to change the way current investigation of challenging biological samples is done by NMR spectroscopy.

Mots clés : nanodiscs, membrane proteins, nuclear magnetic resonance

Participants :
- Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 159460.8 €
Projet IntestineUb (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The epithelium of small intestine has a higher self-renewal rate than any other mammalian tissues. This is fuelled by the intestinal stem cells which reside near the bottom of crypt. Tight regulation of the adult stem cell number is required to sustain an adequately sized population for optimal tissue homeostasis. Mis-regulation of homeostasis results in either hyperplasia or loss of stem cells. Although transcriptional regulation of stem cell homeostasis regarding multipotency and differentiation has been extensively studied, only little is known about post-translational modifications. A key mechanism of post-translational modification is ubiquitination by the ubiquitin system (US). The in vitro primary intestinal organoid culture system recapitulates in vivo epithelium organization, is amenable to essentially all experimental technologies that have been developed for cell lines, and therefore serves as a novel, robust and powerful model system. Taking advantage of the intestinal organoids, this project is aimed to investigate the role of US on the homeostatic control of stem cell maintenance and differentiation in crypt stem cells by: 1. Screening of US required for stem cell number regulation by CRISPR/Cas9 technology; 2. Characterization of the expression pattern and sub-cellular localization of candidate US; 3. Examining the effect of candidate US in signalling pathways involved in the homeostatic control by reporter assay and target gene expression; 4. Identifying target proteins of candidate US using surface proteome analysis, IP-mass, BioID or in vitro ubiquitination of arrayed proteins; 5. Performing biochemical and cell biological analysis of candidate US with its identified target proteins and signalling pathway components in vitro; 6. Generation of conditional knockout mouse models to elucidate the function of candidate US in vivo; 7. Conducting a small molecule screening for inhibitors that attenuate hyperplasia phenotype caused by E3 ligases mutation.

Mots clés : intestine, stem cells, ubiquitination, signalling

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

The equilibrium state of the eye is achieved through a delicate balance of fluid flow, with a continuous cycle of production and drainage. The intraocular dynamics maintains the intraocular pressure (IOP) at a constant level but any condition that adversely affects its stability results in the onset of glaucoma, the leading cause of irreversible blindness. The underlying mechanisms are by no means fully understood but several glaucoma theories rely on the fluid flow-related phenomena. High IOP is the major risk factor and most treatments include IOP-lowering actions. However, gold-standard IOP measurement is just a snapshot with low sensitivity. Thus, many questions remain open that are critical to understand the dynamic factors that control the IOP. The GRAVITEYE project will develop a smart intraocular implant based on novel biomedical sensing technologies to monitor the IOP dynamics, track the pulsatile fluctuations and decipher the intraocular fluid motion. The integrated platform will be encapsulated in a commercial intraocular lens and include (i) bio-fitted flexible sensors, (ii) ultrathin-film stretchable interconnections and (iii) a Radio-Frequency antenna for wireless powering and communication. The completion of the smart platform and its further validation will unveil novel scientific avenues in glaucoma and open up new possibilities to explore potential biomarkers for the microgravity-induced ocular changes in astronauts, one of the highest-priority physiological area in space medicine. GRAVITEYE, is built on the complementary expertise of the host in stretchable electronics and ultrathin chip integration for biomedical applications and of the fellow in Visual Optics, Photonics and Optical Engineering, and will provide a comprehensive training plan, to boost Dr. Pérez-Merino career. The outcome of this project will in addition enhance the EU leading position in flexible electro-optic components for smart medical implantable devices and vision care.

Mots clés : smart ophthalmic devices, stretchable electronics, ultra thin si chips, implantable electro optic devices, hybrid packaging, glaucoma, intraocular pressure sensor, smart intraocular lens

Participants :
- IMEC (Belgique) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 178320.0 €
Projet LEANOR (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The era of Multi-Messenger (MM) astronomy has started with the joint observations of gravitational and electromagnetic waves in August 2017, and the announcement of a common source of high-energy neutrinos and gamma rays in July 2018. The "Low-Energy Astrophysical Neutrinos in ORca" (LEANOR) project aspires to be the next MM observation, coupling low-energy (GeV) neutrinos with electromagnetic and gravitational waves emitted during short gamma-ray bursts (SGRBs). While the signal/background differentiation is more challenging for low energy neutrinos, they have the advantage to be more abundant than their high-energy counterpart. Produced as a consequence of the accelerated proton flux colliding with the matter surrounding the source, they stand as promising messengers to constrain the local environment and would furthermore be of great help to identify new cosmic sources. To reach this goal, we propose to convert the KM3NeT-ORCA detector, initially designed for neutrino oscillation studies, into a telescope able to study astrophysical GeV neutrinos. A detailed study of the environmental noise will be coupled to a specific selection of ORCA data targeting GeV neutrino interactions. The data sample acquired will then be used to search for statistically significant excess of neutrinos during SGRBs. Three different analyses, based on electromagnetic or gravitational wave observations, will be developed. These analyses will allow to constrain the source environment as well as the hadronic acceleration process taking place in SGRBs. The project will lead to either the first joint observation of GeV neutrinos, electromagnetic and gravitational waves, or the first observational limits set in this energy range for the studied source population. Opening a new line of research in ORCA, LEANOR will also provide the KM3NeT collaboration with new tools to develop a variety of searches for low energy neutrinos emitted during transient events, such as Novae or Fast radio bursts.

Mots clés : neutrino astronomy, multi messenger astronomy, gamma ray bursts, km3net, orca

Participants :
- Université Paris Cité (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 184707.84 €
Projet FutForm (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Staff Exchanges
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The estimated cost of getting a new medicine to market is now in excess of $2.6 billion, with an additional $300 million (approx.) typically being directed towards post market approval research and development activities (including testing of new indications, new formulations and new dosage strengths and regimens) (Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 13, 877 (2014)). These costs have increased >145% since 2003, and reflect an increasingly complex process in which there remains a high chance of failure in the expensive later phases of development. With the aim of reducing the times and costs associated with medicine development, increasing attention has focused on the development of approaches to better predict and/or optimize the behaviour of actives and their formulations at an earlier stage of development. Recent research within the School of Pharmacy (University of Nottingham (UoN)) has focussed on the application of advanced surface analytical and biophysical tools to address this need. This proposal will build on this activity via an intersectoral researcher exchange program focussed on supporting future pharmaceutical formulations development. The principal objective of FutForm is to translate the advanced analytical approaches developed within UoN, so that they become embedded into industrial practice for the development of future pharmaceutical processes and therapies. This will be achieved through a collaborative programme of researcher secondments with three small-medium enterprise (SME) companies, each with early stage innovative technologies in areas of importance to the future pharmaceutical industry, namely; enzyme formulations for improved cell isolation (Abiel s.r.l; Italy), nanoparticle platform formulations for oral and topical drug delivery (Inovapotek, Pharmaceutical Research and Development Lda; Portugal) and hydrogel formulations for cell-delivery (Hy2Care b.v.; Netherlands).

Mots clés : pharmaceutical formulations, drug delivery, cell delivery, pharmaceutical materials characterization

Participants :
- Abiel societa a responsabilita limitata (Italie) — Partner, beneficiary, Organismes privés (hors enseignement), subvention : 27000.0 €
- Hy2care bv (Pays-Bas) — Partner, beneficiary, Organismes privés (hors enseignement), subvention : 54000.0 €
- University of Nottingham (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 297000.0 €
- Inovapotek, pharmaceutical research and development lda (Portugal) — Partner, beneficiary, Organismes privés (hors enseignement), subvention : 36000.0 €
Projet iDAPT (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The evolution of a terrestrial flora from within a single fresh-water algal lineage (Streptophyta) represented a singularity in Earth’s history, giving rise to one of the most profound geobiological transitions in the history of the planet. Adaptations key for the transition from aquatic to terrestrial habitats included the ability to tolerate extremes in temperature, desiccation, and radiation; key stressors characteristic of the surfaces of glaciers, where Zygnematophycean ‘ice algae’, some of the closest living relatives to land plants, currently thrive. With this proposal, I hypothesise that glacier surfaces represent important intermediates between aquatic and terrestrial habitats, driving evolution of unique adaptations in ice algal lineages that represent exaptations of ancestral Streptophytes for the colonisation of land. To test my hypothesis, I will unite the disciplines of genomics, engineering, glaciology and biology to constrain ice algal cold-adaptation mechanisms to life in surface ice and provide unique insight into the aspects of Streptophyte biology that enabled the conquest of land. I will achieve this by i) sequencing the genomes of two ice environment specialists that dominate across the cryosphere, allowing identification of ice algal cold-adaptation mechanisms and homologs in extant basal land plant lineages; ii) develop a controlled environment microalgal assessment system, i.e. ‘photosynthetron’, optimised for deployment in surface ice environments in collaboration with a leading developer of high-throughput plant and algal phenotyping platforms; iii) deploy this across the cryosphere to validate cold-adaptation mechanisms identified from genome interrogation and significantly advance our understanding of how life excels within icy environments. Taken together, outcomes will significantly advance the emerging field of glacial microbiology and could represent a fundamental shift in the way we view processes of land plant terrestrialization.

Mots clés : glaciology, streptophyte algae, land plants, terrestrialization, glaciers

Participants :
- Mount Allison University (Canada) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Aarhus University (Danemark) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 273687.36 €
Projet WAMSISE (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The evolution of the Antarctic Ice Sheet has been widely debated. According to several studies a continent-wide ice sheet first developed during the early Oligocene and subsequently it experienced many cycles of advance and retreat. Tectonic, oceanographic, climatic and ice dynamic processes have been pointed to as the primary factors controlling this oscillation. However, their relative influence is still controversial. Middle Miocene growth of the Antarctic ice sheet has been related to intensification of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. It was followed by warm episodes during the Mid Miocene Climatic Optimum and during the Pliocene when collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet has been suggested. However, the stratigraphic signature of such a collapse has not been recognized on West Antarctic continental margins. The main aim of this proposal is examine the record of ice sheet evolution on West Antarctic continental margins from middle Miocene to present and clarify the factors controlling the major sedimentary changes and their global implications.

Mots clés : west antarctic margin, antarctic ice sheet, seismic drilling tie, global implications of antarctic evolution, seismic stratigraphy, ice ocean interactions, bottom currents

Participants :
- Victoria University of Wellington (Nouvelle-Zélande) — Partner, organization partner, Recherche, subvention : 0.0 €
- UK Research and Innovation (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 245943.0 €
Projet MOSK (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The experienced researcher, Dr. Benjamin Mosk, wants to investigate a description of gravity in terms of non-local degrees of freedom. This approach is motivated by the AdS/CFT correspondence and the recent progress made by Dr. Mosk and his collaborators on the subject of kinematic space, the space of totally geodesic sub manifolds of Anti de Sitter (AdS) space. Dr. Mosk proposes to generalize the idea of kinematic space and the description of dynamical fields on this space to more general classical geometries, starting with the AdS-Schwarzschild geometry. The scientific objective of this project is to make progress towards a fundamental description of gravity at the non-classical level, which is arguably the largest open question in theoretical physics. Dr. Mosk, who is currently conducting postdoctoral research at Stanford University, is applying for a Global Fellowship. During the outgoing phase, Dr. Mosk wants to go to UC Berkeley, where he will work with Professor Raphael Bousso. The return phase will take place at the University of Cambridge, where Professor David Tong is supporting his application. Both research groups have their specific specializations, which are complementary in the project and allow for a great degree of synergy and knowledge exchange between the partner organizations and the experienced researcher. Special emphasis will be put onto developing Dr. Mosk’s international network and visibility, which are key factors towards Dr. Mosk’s long term career goals. The proposal elaborates on the appropriate training necessary to reach these career goals. A MSCA Individual Fellowship (Global) would support Dr. Mosk’s professional development optimally, by enabling him to work in the perfect environment and by facilitating for the appropriate training described in the proposal.

Mots clés : cft correspondence, holography, quantum gravity, kinematic space, integral geometry

Participants :
- University of California System (Etats-Unis) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- University of Cambridge (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 171792.6 €
Projet DEBOGAS (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Mathematics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The experimental realisation of Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) in trapped alkali gases in 1995 triggered numerous mathematical investigations of the properties of dilute Bose gases. For the mathematical description of these experiments the Gross—Pitaevskii (GP) limit is relevant. In the past two decades there has been a substantial progress in the understanding of ground state properties of Bose gases in the GP limit, culminating in the recent rigorous justification of Bogoliubov’s theory for the ground state energy and for low lying excitations. Except for a recent contribution of me and my co-authors [1], the highly relevant GP limit at positive temperature has not been considered so far. The aim of the proposed project is to develop new mathematical tools to study dilute Bose gases at positive temperature. This will be done from two points of view: Thermodynamics and Dynamics. More precisely, in the first part of the project I plan to prove refined estimates (w.r.t. [1]) for the free energy in the GP limit which would yield a better understanding of how interactions affect the thermodynamic properties of such systems. In the second part I will investigate the dynamics of positive temperature states after the trapping potential will have been switched off and prove that a certain structure of the 1—pdm is stable under time evolution. Apart from asking two highly relevant questions in modern mathematical physics, the project is also interesting from a physics point of view since it would justify two frequently used approximations in the physics literature. [1] A. Deuchert, R. Seiringer, J. Yngvason, Bose-Einstein Condensation in a Dilute, Trapped Gas at Positive Temperaturre, Commun. Math. Phys. (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00220-018-3239-0

Mots clés : mathematical physics, dilute bose gases, many particle quantum mechanics, statistical mechanics

Participants :
- University of Zurich (Suisse) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 203149.44 €