Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-actions-marie-curie-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ColourFish (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Colour vision is critical animals to navigate their environment. Here, two or more spectrally distinct cone-photoreceptor types are needed in the retina which must be postsynaptically combined to extract contrasts in wavelength. Bipolar cells make selective connections with distinct cone types at the first synaptic layer of the retina and cone-signal integration by bipolar cells lays the foundation for vertebrate colour vision. However, how bipolar cells form connections with selective cone types and achieve functional integration of these inputs to extract chromatic signals during development remains poorly understood. We will focus on zebrafish that has robust colour vision and study the roles of cone inputs and composition in establishing bipolar cell chromatic wiring and function. We will use a multidisciplinary approach spanning genetic methods, anatomical analysis, physiological recordings and statistical modelling. Drawing on existing genetic tools and marker lines established by the applicant, we will focus on two genetically targeted bipolar cell types: one that is cone-selective and one that is cone-unselective. First, we will use in vivo time-lapse imaging to study how these bipolar cells formation dendritic contacts with cones during development. Next, we will use two-photon functional imaging of light-driven synaptic release from cones as well as both dendritic and axonal imaging in bipolar cells to study how chromatically distinct signals are functionally integrated. Finally, using further lines already established by the applicant, we will genetically silence or ablate individual cone types to study how functional integration and wiring formation are regulated by the activity or availability of cones. These studies will gain insight into the strategies to encode chromatic information in parallel pathways of the retina and thus advance our understanding in the role of colour vision circuits in driving animal behaviour.

Mots clés : colour vision, retina, zebrafish, bipolar cell, cone photoreceptor

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

Communication between the gastro-intestinal (GI) tract, the enteric nervous system (ENS), and the brain plays an important role in regulating our behaviour, and accordingly, impairments in this communication have been implicated in the pathogenesis of multiple disorders including obesity, diabetes, visceral pain, and inflammatory bowel diseases. A better understanding of the molecular and cellular mechanisms of gut-to-brain signalling will be critical for treating these disorders. An important group of cells in this context are enteroendocrine cells (EECs), and most notably enterochromaffin (EC) cells, which function as mechano- and chemoreceptors and signal by secreting serotonin, however the release process is poorly understood. Strikingly, these cells show molecular and morphological features that are highly reminiscent of neuronal synapses in the brain, raising the intriguing hypothesis that they may form synapse-like contacts that lie at the heart of their communication mechanism. To date, however, this hypothesis has been difficult to test due to the low spatial density of EC cells along the GI tract. Using a multidisciplinary approach combining intestinal 3D-organoid cultures, correlative light- and electron microscopy, electrophysiology, and single-cell RNA sequencing, this project aims to address the questions i) which molecular mechanisms mediate hormone secretion from EC cells, ii) what are the functional properties of the release process, and iii) how are local circuits organized to signal information to the ENS and brain. The results from this study will allow me to answer the fundamental question whether EC cells form functional synaptic connections, as well as providing a comprehensive overview over the functional and molecular properties of these ‘synapses’.

Mots clés : enteroendocrine cells, gut brain axis, enteric nervous system, serotonin, synapse biology, molecular and cellular biology, neurogastroenterology

Participants :
- University of Copenhagen (Danemark) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 207312.0 €
Projet COMLIB (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Communists into Liberals: The Transformation and Demise of the Left as Precursor to the Illiberal Turn in Poland ‘Communists into Liberals’ (COMLIB) seeks a historically grounded explanation to the recent ‘illiberal turn’ in Poland by pursuing a new line of inquiry into the country’s transition from state socialism to a European liberal democracy. Rather than focusing on relatively short-term political and economic structural contingencies, the project aims to bring both historical process and agency of key protagonists to the fore as a factor precipitating the developments of the past years. In doing so, three historical processes spanning from 1968 to the mid-2000s are placed in correlation to each other: the demise of communism and transition to liberal democracy in Poland, exchanges of ideas that transcended the Cold War divide of Europe, and the political trajectory of the Polish and European Left. Within this framework, the project examines the agency of a particular group of politicians and activists from the Polish Left and investigates how their ideas and policies set the stage for the recent so-called ‘illiberal turn’ fueled by populism of the Right. In doing so, it aims to re-examine the dynamics of reform communism prior to 1989 as well as its impact on the transition afterwards highlighting two issues: the ‘social-democratisation’ of communism and the ‘neoliberalisation’ of social democracy. COMLIB’s working hypothesis is that the Polish Left’s gradual abandonment of social democratic values during the post-communist transition contributed to their demise in the mid-2000s and facilitated the ‘illiberal turn’. The project’s methodological framework adopts a collective biography approach based on oral history, archival research and qualitative analysis of written sources.

Mots clés : polish history and politics, eastern europe, communism, post communism, social democracy, liberal democracy, neoliberalism, party reformers, post 1989 transition, european left, illiberal turn

Participants :
- European University Institute (Italie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 175673.28 €
Projet SmART (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Complex biologically-active molecules, containing linked rings of atoms and possessing elaborate 3D forms, represent the ultimate challenge for synthetic chemists. As many of society’s established and future drugs, agrochemicals, and biological probes, boast intricate architectures, the ability to efficiently generate molecular complexity from simple starting materials is vital. Radical cyclization cascade reactions could well provide the solution; they have the potential to deliver complex architectures, with control of three dimensional shape, in one-step. Unfortunately, carrying out reactions with radicals in an enantiocontrolled fashion remains challenging due to their high reactivity. This is particularly the case for radicals generated using the classical reagent, samarium(II) diiodide (SmI2). SmI2 is one of the global community’s most important and widely used reagents for radical chemistry, as evidenced by its commercial availability and its pivotal use in numerous scientific studies around the world. Despite over 40 years of widespread use, and 1000s of publications describing its chemistry, two well-known disadvantages shadow SmI2: 1. An inability to control the enantioselectivity of radical reactions using SmI2, and; 2. The requirement for the use of a significant stoichiometric excess of SmI2 thus raising issues of cost and waste. Bringing together the Procter group’s recent breakthroughs in chiral ligand control and catalysis using SmI2, Dr Agasti’s ‘SmART’ project will develop the first catalytic enantioselective reactions using SmI2. Furthermore, the new catalytic processes will be used to convert simple feedstocks into high-value, complex, cyclic molecules bearing multiple stereocenters with high enantio- and diastereocontrol. Previously, such molecules could only be prepared by laborious multi-step synthesis. Dr Agasti’s approach will therefore streamline complex molecule synthesis, saving time and money, and minimizing chemical waste.

Mots clés : catalysis, radicals, asymmetric

Participants :
- University of Manchester (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 212933.76 €
Projet NanoAID (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Complex metal oxides (MO) are the center of interest in a range of fields, with one of the most exciting applications being artificial photosynthesis. Converting solar energy into chemical bonds, once perfected, might constitute a large part of a solution to the energy sustainability problem modern society faces. Semiconductor MOs have been shown to be promising candidates for light absorbers in anodes of photoelectrochemical cells used for water cleavage and hydrogen production from sunlight. Candidate materials with optimal band gap and band alignment with water redox level used in such devices are often selected based on combinatorial material science techniques (inkjet printing, co-sputtering) and theoretical calculations. Once a compound is identified as having promising photoelectrochemical properties, a fabrication route is sought to prepare nano-structured thin films. Colloidal chemistry is a highly promising approach for the synthesis of complex MO nano crystals (NCs), in principle allowing control over the size and structure of the NCs by choosing appropriate precursors and tuning the conditions (temperature, time, reagent concentration, organic ligands). These advancements greatly facilitate research in the field of complex functional materials and are now a standard, but the optimization of synthesis-by-design of NCs and thin films fabrication has been lacking and mainly based on a trial and error approach. With NanoAID we will address this important issue and develop a comprehensive toolbox for synthesis and characterization of complex oxides, which will go beyond the state of the art with precise defects and non-stoichiometry control capabilities. NanoAID will focus on developing a toolbox for rapid structural and morphological characterization of complex oxide NCs and thin films, and thermodynamic analysis of the involved compounds. Research will center on ternary and quaternary compounds, namely Cu/Mn-V-O.

Mots clés : complex metal oxides, nanocrystals, colloidal synthesis, photoelectrochemical cells, thin films

Participants :
- Board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology (Suisse) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 187419.6 €
Projet SMs-Gut (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Composition changes of the human gut microbiome has been associated with a series of diseases. However, little is known about the mechanism of this microbiome alteration. Recent in silico studies revealed thousands of biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) that encode diverse types of specialized metabolites from human microbiomes. Many of these molecules are potentially involved in shaping microbiome structure or directly affect host cell and contribute to disease development. To date, only colibactin, a hybrid polyketide/non-ribosomal peptide produced by Escherichia coli in human gut, has been experimentally validated for its deleterious metabolic impact on human host and linked to the development of colorectal cancer (CRC). Thus, this project aims to expand the knowledge of specialized metabolites produced by gut microbiome and unravel their role in development of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and CRC. State-of-the-art bioinformatic, synthetic biology and chemical-analytic technologies will be used to tackle this challenge. In silico identification of BGCs will be facilitated by sequence homology search and the occurrence of function-related resistant makers. The cloning process will be realized by either capturing native BGCs, adopting polymerase amplification or using synthetic DNA, followed by HiFi DNA assembly, Red/ET recombineering based DNA integration method or combining of both strategies. The chemical diversity of these specialized metabolites will be unlocked by heterologous expression of the cloned BGCs and structure elucidation of the produced molecules. The biological functions of the discovered compounds will be established by probing their genotoxicity and cytotoxicity in vitro with human intestinal cell lines.

Mots clés : gut microbiome, biosynthetic gene clusters, specialized metabolites, synthetic biology, intestinal diseases

Participants :
- TU Dresden (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 174806.4 €
Projet DESYPHOR (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Compounds containing one or more phosphorous atoms in the P(V) oxidation state are important to chemistry, biology and medicine. These include marketed antiviral drugs such as Remdesivir, and Sofosbuvir; the former garnering interest as a potential treatment for COVID-19, and the latter being on the WHO list of essential medicines for the treatment of Hepatitis C. Accordingly, new and improved methods for the efficient synthesis of P(V) containing compounds, especially in an enantioselective fashion are essential. Although promising protocols are beginning to arise for the synthesis of racemic P(V) compounds, new strategic approaches for the stereoselective synthesis of P-stereogenic centres are limited and catalytic enantioselective approaches remain unknown. Herein we propose to exploit our modular and tunable superbase catalyst platform, to design, discover and develop new iminophosphorane catalyst systems that will allow the direct and enantioselective synthesis of chiral phosphates, phosphonates and their analogues, in a single enantioselective step. We wish to capitalise on the abundance of commercial phosphorous (V) starting materials to allow the ready and scalable preparation of suitable symmetric prochiral precursors and through a suitable catalyst-enabled desymmetrization generate, in high enantiomeric excess, synthetically relevant chiral phosphorous intermediates. The fellow has already acquired a notable, high-level skill set and has demonstrated his excellence throughout his career, however this challenging project will extend his capabilities and improve his skill base and further enhance his scientific potential. DESYPHOR will therefore bring vital new knowledge to the field of catalytic enantioselective desymmetrization, deliver important methodological tools to researchers across the globe and accordingly will advance the excellent standing of the candidate, the host laboratory in Oxford, and of European science in general.

Mots clés : catalytic, enantioselective, superbase

Participants :
- University of Oxford (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 212933.76 €
Projet Robust (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Computations in parallel environments, like the emerging Exascale systems, are usually orchestrated by complex runtimes that employ various strategies to uniformly and efficiently distribute computations and data. However, these strategies, pursuing excellent performance scalability, may also impair numerical reliability (accuracy and reproducibility) of final results due to the dynamic and, thus, non-deterministic execution as well as non-associativity of floating-point operations. Additionally, scientific computations frequently rely upon only one working precision for computing problems with various complexities, which leads to the significant underutilization of the floating-point representation or the lack of accuracy. The Robust project aims to address the issue of reliable and sustainable scientific computations through developing robust, energy-efficient, and high performing algorithmic solutions for underlying numerical linear algebra solvers and libraries as well as applying these solutions in applications and kernels at scale. The fellow, Roman Iakymchuk, is an expert in numerical linear algebra and high-performance computing and will collaborate with the research team of Prof. Stef Graillat at the Sorbonne University, who are experts in numerical analysis and computer arithmetic. This unique collaboration and combination of skill sets are crucial to embed numerical reliability and sustainability in algorithmic solutions for linear algebra operations and solvers. The derivation of novel robust algorithmic solutions, which will lead to either faster or more energy-efficient execution, will also grant a user an opportunity to specify the expected output accuracy of computations while ensuring optimal intermediate precisions. This ambitious research project in conjunction with formal training and bespoke mentoring will enhance the fellow's academic profile, research experience, and broaden skill set in numerical analysis and computer arithmetic.

Mots clés : floating point arithmetic, numerical algorithms, energy efficiency, numerical reliability, reproducibility

Participants :
- Sorbonne Université (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 196707.84 €
Projet SQALE (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Computers that use quantum superposition and entanglement are set to revolutionise how the world stores, processes, and communicates information. At the heart of quantum computers are building blocks known as qubits. Despite huge progress over the last decade, building a large number of interacting qubits protected from the environment remains a major challenge. One emerging solution makes use of elements comprising semiconducting nanowires with superconducting contacts. These profit from electric-field control and scalable methods to couple qubits. One natural implementation would be to use a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) as the semiconducting element. Recent measurements on indium arsenide 2DEG Josephson junctions are extremely promising, but the microwave response of 2DEGs is unknown and the substrate/gate dielectrics might limit qubit performance. To address these challenges I will fabricate scalable hybrid Josephson junctions in different 2DEGs. I will then readout the state of excitations in the 2DEG using microwave spectroscopy. Finally, I demonstrate operation of a 2DEG qubit with coherence times in the few μs range. What qualifies me to carry out this research is my experience with low-temperature measurements of nanodevices. To establish a group exploiting new discoveries in quantum technologies I require a deeper direct knowledge of quantum control techniques and experience working directly with industrial partners. I will acquire these skills by working at the Centre for Quantum Devices (QDev) at the University of Copenhagen under the supervision of Prof. Charles Marcus, a world-leader in the field. I will learn new research skills related to sophisticated microwave circuits while gaining valuable experience working in collaboration with top scientists at Microsoft Station Q. Introducing new 2D materials could also open exciting new collaborations with QDev and create future platforms for realising topological phases of matter.

Mots clés : qubits

Participants :
- University of Copenhagen (Danemark) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 200194.8 €
Projet SeaTGen (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Conservation and management of marine turtle populations are challenging because of their complex life history involving long-distance migrations. Consequently, marine turtles are affected by a wide range of anthropogenic threats across temporal and spatial scales, including climate change. The cumulative effect of these impacts is likely to have direct and indirect implications on these endangered species in the near future. This project aims to refine our understanding of the spatial structure of green turtles (Chelonia mydas) in the South-West Indian Ocean to understand better how populations interact and how they may be impacted by threats both at the nesting ground, at distant foraging areas, and along migratory corridors. To do so we aim to apply the power of genome-wide Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) combined with traditional mtDNA markers to assess fine-scale population structure and recent demographic history. In addition, the research will take a multidisciplinary approach, combining novel genetic methods with data from movement ecology (satellite telemetry) and oceanography (ocean current modelling) to provide a comprehensive analysis of connectivity between breeding and foraging areas. The results will allow conservation managers and policymakers to identify areas in need of protection and to assess the potential impacts of anthropogenic activities such as marine turtle interaction with fisheries. As such, our results will provide the scientific basis for future conservation actions within the framework of Integrated Maritime Policy. This project will allow me to gain critical new skills in conservation genomics. This will broaden my research horizon, strengthen my research profile and place me in a strong position for furthering my research career within the European Community.

Mots clés : marine turtles, sea turtles, chelonia mydas, radseq, snps, assignment analysis, indian ocean

Participants :
- Aalborg University (Danemark) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 219312.0 €