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

Assessing the pandemic risk for viruses of zoonotic origin is extremely hard, but its importance motivates a steadily growing interest. The approaches used so far are hindered by the limited knowledge of the complex interactions of viral genomes with human cells. Within the framework of the global research effort to fill this gap, this action aims at unveiling the relevance of specific genomic features, especially those related to the codon usage bias, in the process of viral host jump. Two objectives are established: (i) identify and quantify the host-induced pressures on viral genomes; (ii) use these pressures to quantify the likelihood of host jumps. To address objective (i), the host-induced pressures will be inferred from large public databases of viral genomes, in the spirit of inverse problems in Statistical Physics. The results will be validated through experiments performed in collaboration with an experimental group at Istitut Pasteur (Paris). The results of objective (i) will be used in objective (ii) to take into account the compatibility of the viral genome with the host-induced pressures in a simple model of host jump. The Applicant will benefit from a secondment at University of Basel where he will acquire useful skills for this challenging objective. The ambitious aims of this action will be achieved via a strongly interdisciplinary approach, which will build on the existing skills of the Applicant, who specialized in combinatorial optimization problems and Statistical Physics of disordered systems during his PhD, together with the expertise of the Supervisor on inference and Statistical Physics models applied to biology topics. The proposed project is expected to have practical impact on vaccine strain design and virus surveillance strategies. Moreover, it will allow the Applicant to benefit of a unique training scheme, in contact with several top-level institutions in EU, and in close collaboration with internationally recognized researchers.


Participants :
- École normale supérieure PSL (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 184707.84 €
Projet GRAIL (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : SIGNED

At a time when the climate emergency and an ever growing energy-demanding population are major issues facing the world, it is clearer than ever that new integrated sensing technologies are needed to: (1) locally adapt to climate change (by monitoring and preventing environmental catastrophes) and (2) globally mitigate it (by developing the future greener technologies which will require from advanced self-monitoring system integrated sensors). State-of-the-art heterogeneous silicon photonics or plasmonics cannot withstand real-world environments and must be carefully protected; this leading to the question: Will it be possible to foresee a nanophotonic technology capable of withstanding extreme environments? GRAIL will explore a new 3D nanofabrication approach for embedding monolithic nanophotonic sensors inside harsh-environment resistant crystals, such as for example in the protective layer of a smart watch or on unmanned vehicles and remote monitoring systems. GRAIL is meant to develop novel single-frequency nanophotonic lasers (SFL) for future extreme-environment resistant sensors. This new type of laser will merge for the 1st time concepts from so far disconnected optical fields: photonic crystal fibers, semiconductor lasers, and rare-earth doped solid-state lasers. This leap will be enabled by the 3D-laser nanofabrication process recently discovered by the Host Supervisor, as well as by the expertise of the ER in SFLs for next-generation gravitational-wave detectors. GRAIL will also tackle the transfer of this technology to an award-winning EU-company on ultrafast laser fabrication. GRAIL will provide a high-quality training to the ER in nanophotonics, 3D-laser nanolithography, IPR & technology transfer whereas the Host will greatly benefit from the creation of a new international research field. The EU Industrial Partner will benefit from acquiring first-hand knowledge on the innovative SFL nanophotonic technology, an its mass-produccion studies.

Mots clés : extreme environment photonics, optical crystals, nanostructuring

Participants :
- University of La Laguna (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 160932.48 €
Projet USLAMISM (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

At a time when various Islamist groups are in close proximity to power, this project aims to examine the relations between the US and forces aligning themselves with Islamism . It is meant to understand the mechanisms of US policy towards this ideology. What are the issues arising from the diplomatic relations linking the US power and the representatives of an ideology traditionally opposed to them? What conceptions of Islamism –both historical and contemporary– has been guiding US foreign policy? The research process will be structured along two dimensions. The first is a historical investigation based on State Department and Presidential archives and sources handed down by US foreign policy practitioners dealing with Islamism over several decades. The second dimension consists of an examination of the contemporary state of play using interviews, discourse analysis and a study of US foreign policy actions towards Islamist forces. USLAMISM is original in three ways. First, the study proposed here deals with the external policy of states towards a transnational panislamic group which does not recognize the nation state as a working constituent of the political system. Second, regarding worldviews, Islamist movements may continue to rely upon an anti-Western ethic in shaping their political agendas; this despite various reorientations within these groups in recent years. Finally, with various Islamist forces currently exercising power or close to it, how can we come to terms with the significant differences in worldview held by these interlocutors? What is the best way to deal with groups which constitute ideological opponents but become sometimes partners –even allies– in the geopolitical sphere?

Mots clés : us foreign policy, political islam, muslim brotherhood, islamic world, arab world, middle east, history of international relations, neo  realism and constructivism, cold war, arab uprisings

Participants :
- George Washington University (Etats-Unis) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- University of London (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 251857.8 €
Projet NUCLAGY (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Autophagy is a major degradation and renewal system that controls cellular homeostasis and stress adaptation in eukaryotes. Emerging evidence indicates that autophagy is an integral part of the plant’s defence against pathogens and thus, a promising target to improve disease resistance in crops. Research on plant autophagy has primarily focused on cytoplasmic targets and mechanisms, yet the degradation of nuclear components (nucleophagy) and the epigenetic regulation of autophagy have recently received growing attention in yeast and mammalian systems. Whether nuclear events are of similar importance for plant autophagy is unknown and therefore, the major question to be addressed in this project. The proposed research builds on my key finding that several isoforms of the Arabidopsis core autophagy protein 8 (ATG8) localize to distinct nuclear compartments. I aim to identify the nuclear ATG8 interactomes at normal and virus-induced conditions by affinity-immunoprecipitation and mass spectrometry analysis. Candidate interactors will be functionally analysed for their potential role as transcriptional/epigenetic regulators, cargo receptors, and nucleophagic substrates in response to Cauliflower mosaic virus and Cabbage leaf curl virus. I will also investigate how these pathogens intersect with nuclear functions to manipulate cytoplasmic events of autophagy during infection. The proposed project will be carried out at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences under supervision of Prof. Daniel Hofius, a leading scientist and expert in plant autophagy and immunity. Hence, the project provides an excellent opportunity to expand my knowledge and experience to autophagy, while the host lab will benefit from my strong expertise in plant virology and epigenetics. Together, this synergistic effort will reveal fundamental insights into the nuclear dynamics of autophagy in plant immunity, and uncover novel autophagic mechanisms for crop improvement.

Mots clés : autophagy, nucleophagy, epigenetic, virus

Participants :
- Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (Suède) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 203852.16 €
Projet AutophagosomeSealing (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Autophagy is one of the major intracellular degradation processes and it is essential for cell survival in multiple stress conditions. As a result, this pathway plays a key role in the pathophysiology of numerous illnesses including neurodegenerative, cardiovascular, chronic inflammatory, muscular and autoimmune diseases, and some malignancies. Structures targeted to destruction such as protein aggregates, organelles and invading pathogens are sequestered into double-membrane vesicles called autophagosomes. Autophagosomes are formed through the concerted action of the autophagy-related (Atg) proteins at a site specialized location known as the phagophore assembly site (PAS). Despite this knowledge, the mechanism and regulation of autophagy remain largely unknown. The host laboratory has found that Ymr1, a phosphatase dephosphorylating phosphatidylinositol-3-phosphate, plays a key role in the regulation of autophagy. The main objective of this project is to elucidate the mechanism through which Ymr1 regulates autophagy. To achieve this goal, the applicant will exploit the experimental advantages of the yeast model and use in combination cutting-edge techniques in molecular biology, biochemistry, fluorescence microscopy and electron microscopy. The results will advance our knowledge on autophagy and in a long-term perspective they will provide the conceptual bases for the development of therapies or compounds aimed to regulate autophagy to the benefit of human health. Through the realization of the project, the applicant will strongly reinforce his professional maturity, diversity and independence, essential for starting his own research activity.

Mots clés : autophagy, atg proteins, ymr1, phosphatase, phosphatidylinositol 3 phosphate, autophagosome, regulation

Participants :
- University Medical Center Groningen (Pays-Bas) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 177598.8 €
Projet PAREAT (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) is a newly defined psychological disorder that is estimated to affect ~5% of children. Children with ARFID eat a limited quantity or range of foods due to sensory sensitivity to the food (i.e., taste, smell, texture, temperature, appearance), low interest/appetite, fear of adverse consequences of eating (e.g., choking, vomiting, pain), or a combination of these reasons. ARFID causes children to have significant nutritional deficiencies, growth impairment and/or significant psychosocial problems. However, little is known about what causes ARFID, particularly in early childhood when symptoms typically begin. A recent attempt to inform the pathophysiology of ARFID has been made through the introduction of the Three-Dimensional Neurobiological Model of ARFID, but this model has yet to be evaluated in early childhood. Given the powerful effect of parent feeding behavior on early childhood eating, it is essential to understand how parent feeding behavior interacts with a child’s biological vulnerabilities for ARFID to develop effective behavioral interventions for ARFID in early childhood. I will extend my research on child anxiety, parenting behavior and psychophysiological assessment, while obtaining essential training in the etiology and biology of feeding and eating disorders and emotional processing of food stimuli to conduct the first evaluation of the interaction of biological risks and parenting behavior on ARFID symptoms in young children. In a sample of 60 children ages 4-7 years (30 with avoidant/restrictive eating and 30 typically developing controls), I will 1) identify biological vulnerabilities for the sensory sensitivity and fear dimensions of avoidant/restrictive eating and 2) test the interaction of parent factors and biological vulnerabilities on the severity of symptoms in the sensory sensitivity and fear of aversive consequences dimensions of avoidant/restrictive eating.

Mots clés : avoidant, restrictive eating, etiology, psychopathology, psychophysiology, early childhood, parent behavior, anxiety, sensory sensitivity

Participants :
- University of Geneva (Suisse) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 203149.44 €
Projet LEWIS-PYR (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Azines are nitrogen-containing aromatic rings of utmost synthetic relevance in natural products, pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and materials science. Although nucleophilic aromatic substitution techniques are routine, these methods require air-sensitive and highly reactive nucleophiles, in most instances organometallic reagents. In sharp contrast, electrophilic aromatic substitutions are particularly difficult to the electron-poor nature of the azines, inevitably requiring harsh reaction conditions. Taking into consideration the wider availability of electrophilic partners when compared to their corresponding nucleophilic congerener, the development of a catalytic technique aimed at providing a mild, chemoselective and site-selective electrophilic aromatic substitution of azines will have tremendous consequences for the praxis of heterocyclic chemistry, particularly in late-stage applications. Aimed at providing a solution to such goal, LEWIS-PYR will design a conceptually new platform to activate unbiased azines via electrophilic aromatic substitution by using frustrated Lewis Pairs (FLPs) as a polarity inversion vehicles, allowing to substitute a series of a priori electron-poor nitrogen-containing electrocycles with a wide variety of different electrophilic partners.

Mots clés : frustrated lewis pair, azines, electrophilic substitution reaction, lewis acid, lewis base

Participants :
- Institut Català d'Investigació Química (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 172932.48 €
Projet FNS-4-NAMOSAT (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

BACKGROUND Nanoscale protein and lipid heterogeneities, e.g. lipid rafts, have been detected in numerous membrane-related cellular processes, including the initiation of the immune response upon T-cell activation. However, the interplay of protein and lipid segregation remains unclear. PROBLEM Super-resolution fluorescence microscopy can localize such supramolecular structures, but reveals little information on their identity. In contrast, (micro)spectroscopies with environment-sensitive probes can identify local molecular properties, but lack the appropriate spatial resolution for their localization. AIM The main research goal of the Action is to establish an original method with suitable resolution and sensitivity to improve our understanding of lipid reorganization during the activation of T-cells. SOLUTION We will develop fluorescence nanospectroscopy (FNS) by combining STED microscopy, spectral detection, and environment-sensitive probes, to achieve the sensitivity to local molecular properties with nanoscale spatial resolution. IMPACT Besides new insights into molecular mechanisms of immunity, FNS will importantly complement the available methods by probing local molecular order, facilitating FRET measurements, super-resolved spectral imaging etc. It will enable further advances in numerous fields of molecular and cell biology where membrane proteins and lipids act in a precisely coordinated manner. TRAINING The Researcher will be enrolled in the world-leading environment in the fields of STED microscopy, membrane structure and dynamics, and immunology. The acquired deep knowledge on the subjects of research, gained solid experimental and leadership skills from the Supervisor, invaluable experience from a cross-sectoral visit in the collaborating company, as well as his integration into the network within the scientific communities of planned multidisciplinary research activities, will decisively boost his future career as an independent life scientist.

Mots clés : fluorescence nanospectroscopy, sted microscopy, super resolution fluorescence microscopy, spectral imaging, environment sensitive probes, membrane heterogeneity, lipid clustering, immunology, t cells

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

BACKGROUND: Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a devastating disease, characterized by a dramatic increase in pulmonary arterial pressure and an intense remodeling of small intrapulmonary arteries. With the exception of the lung replacement therapy, PAH remains an incurable disease with poor survival. Recent studies have shown that in PAH, rewiring of the metabolism of the lung endothelial cells (ECs) promotes vascular remodeling. However, these studies overlooked that lung ECs are exposed to diverse microenvironments in vivo (various hemodynamic forces and stimuli), which might result in their phenotypic and metabolic heterogeneity, though this has never been investigated. OBJECTIVES & EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH: In order to characterize, for the 1st time, the lung EC heterogeneity in PAH, identify EC subsets, and determine in an unbiased way the metabolic gene expression profiles of these EC subsets, I will use single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) on freshly isolated lung ECs from PAH patients and from an animal model of PH. As proof-of-concept, I will evaluate the effects of a new metabolic therapy on these EC subsets, in vivo, in comparison to a clinically-used, ameliorative but not curative, PAH therapy. This approach, already validated in the host lab, promises to lay the foundation of a new paradigm in PAH where lung ECs are phenotypically and metabolically heterogeneous. It will yield novel insights into PAH pathophysiology, identify specific EC subpopulations driving the vascular remodeling process as well as new potential metabolic targets. CAREER DEVELOPMENT: Combining my expertise on PAH (PhD thesis) together with state-of-the-art frontline technology (scRNA-seq) and innovative science (EC metabolism) (within the host lab) in a multi-disciplinary project and international research environment will ensure successful achievement of the project goals, enhance my scientific output and offer me a highly competitive basis for my future career in academia.

Mots clés : pulmonary hypertension, metabolism, endothelial cell, single cell rna sequencing, vascular remodelling

Participants :
- Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie (Belgique) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 166320.0 €
Projet BIRTHBRAZIL (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

BIRTHBRAZIL is an interdisciplinary project that will analyze how enslaved women’s reproductive trends and practices shaped the gradual abolition of slavery in the middle to large plantation holdings of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from 1850 (the definitive end of the country’s slave trade) to final abolition in 1888. The project aims to contend that the struggle to end slavery was intimately entangled not only with elite understandings of slave reproduction but also with enslaved women’s own agency. To do so, it examines demographic trends among the enslaved population, elite views of enslaved women’s reproduction, and enslaved women’s own reproductive practices and agency. Like most Atlantic slave societies, the Brazilian slave population was reproduced through imports and not natural growth. Historians have argued that for 19th-century Rio de Janeiro state, harsh labour regimes and disease caused negative growth rates, dismissing the idea of “reproductive resistance”—the female enslaved practices of abortion and infanticide as purposeful attacks on the institution of slavery—popular in theories on Caribbean and US slavery. While enslaved women’s fertility control may not have caused negative population growth in 19th-century Rio de Janeiro state, BIRTHBRAZIL hypothesizes that enslaved women’s practices of fertility control played an important symbolic role in how elites understood and approached slavery itself. The findings of BIRTHBRAZIL are expected to demonstrate that enslaved women’s fertility control, both real and imagined, created the opportunity for abolitionists to implement the legal framework that abolished slavery. In doing so, the project provides historical background to current-day debates on reproductive rights, women’s health, and gender equality. The results will be disseminated through an academic monograph, peer-reviewed open-access publications, a website, an international conference, public history blogs, and a series of community lectures.

Mots clés : abolition of slavery, atlantic world, brazil, reproduction, women and gender, history of medicine, enslaved agency, fertility control

Participants :
- University of Edinburgh (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 183454.8 €