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

Child trafficking is one of the most challenging problems of our time, a problem with deep historical roots. This interdisciplinary project aims to contribute to the understanding of these roots by studying the migration of abandoned children organised by members of Catholic religious orders in the South China Sea during the 18th and 19th centuries. As part of the Catholic mission in China, Jesuits, Dominicans, and Franciscans took in and bought abandoned Chinese children in their inland missions, Canton and Macau, whence many of these children were sent to distant places such as the Philippines or Goa to be raised as Christians. The project will first reconstruct the channels through which these children, mostly girls, were transported, using Portuguese, Spanish and Chinese sources; and, second, analyse the ethical and moral boundaries crossed and the various effects of this phenomenon in the European and Catholic projects of the Early Modern period. At the same time, it will UNSILENCE the voice of these historiographically neglected children. How many girls were involved in this flow? What was their fate and life trajectories in their foster societies? What was their agency? Unveiling this hitherto unknown traffic and examining its consequences will open a new chapter in the history of early modern intra-Pacific circulations and the analysis of intercultural encounters. Fully within the framework of KU Leuven’s strategic goals, the researcher's cooperation with the ERC AdG TRANSPACIFIC project, and the dissemination of results (high-impact publications, an international conference and a ground-breaking exhibition with educational materials) will greatly boost her career. Moreover, this innovative project will raise awareness about the importance of history in tackling current European and international challenges such as gender equality, decolonisation, and the protection of human rights.

Mots clés : early modern iberian empires, human trafficking, childhood, christianity in china, eurasian encounters, women identity in early modern history

Participants :
- KU Leuven (Belgique) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 166320.0 €
Projet CALLIRHEO (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Childhood obesity is currently at epidemic rates, with serious risks for cardiovascular disease in adulthood and premature death. Obesity is known to accelerate the initiation of endothelial dysfunction and alter the hemodynamics in young arteries. In alignment with urgent EU and worldwide policies on understanding childhood adiposity, we propose to develop a novel and safe computational tool to study numerically, for the first time, the obesity-altered hemodynamics in children and adolescents. The project aims to transfer the non-invasive computational fluid dynamic technology to the paediatric practice and enable personalised prediction of cardiovascular disease and effective decision-making. Within a multi-scale modeling framework, the proposed study seeks to utilise high-fidelity state-of-the-art numerical methods and develop new ones, for the implementation and coupling of the 3D flow in anatomically realistic arterial geometries with macroscopic and microscopic information, ensuring high stability and accuracy of results. In conjunction with clinicians, the study will perform patient-specific numerical simulations, correlated with medical data, and help towards individualized treatment planning, with a significant impact on the quality of life of the young patient. This multidisciplinary perspective is fundamental in elucidating early vascular changes induced by obesity and predict cardiovascular disease risks, while protecting the young population.

Mots clés : childhood obesity, cardiovascular hemodynamics, numerical modelling

Participants :
- University of Strathclyde (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 183454.8 €
Projet GutMIND (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Childhood psychiatric disorders are alarmingly common, yet current gold-standard treatments fall short in creating lasting, meaningful improvements for many individuals. To improve outcomes, it is imperative to enhance our understanding of pathways to disordered development. Recent advances in the study of microglia-neuron interactions and critical period signals suggest that disruption in the developmental timing of these neural events may contribute to early-onset psychopathology. However, the factors that modulate these signals have not been well-defined. The GutMIND project will test the hypothesis that complementary maturation of the microbiota and the brain during critical windows of development may be one contributing factor. For the first time, the (sex-specific) trajectory of the microbiota’s influence on behavioural and neural outcomes during early host development will be characterised in detail. This will generate testable hypotheses regarding potential mechanisms and thus potential treatments to ameliorate the effects of microbiota depletion during critical periods. Specifically, this will be achieved by experimentally testing 1) metabolite pathways that may contribute to the microbiota’s influence on microglia-neuron communication and 2) the mediating role of the microglia in microbial influences on behaviour. In line with the objectives of the MSCA fellowships, the research project has been designed to facilitate the applicant’s career development by providing advanced training in supportive host environments that will diversify her research competencies, foster her managerial and teaching skills, and strengthen her research profile and professional network. In the process, public, industry, and scientific audiences will be engaged in the outcomes of the action through a multi-pronged communication, dissemination, & exploitation strategy that will promote positive mental health development in the EU and beyond.

Mots clés : brain gut microbiota axis, microbiome, neurodevelopmental disorders

Participants :
- National University of Ireland (Irlande) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 175866.0 €
Projet ChRONAM-H (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Chromatin Factors (CFs) comprise a diverse family of proteins that elicit key regulatory epigenetic activities during the regulation of cellular fates. Although this heterogeneous group has been traditionally considered a static toolkit of epigenetic enzymes deployed to lineage-specific loci under the control of Transcription Factors (TFs), recent works have shown that CFs are crucial determinants of developmental lineage decisions that assemble into dynamic chromatin regulatory complexes with exquisite cell-type-specific composition. Hematopoiesis is a key developmental process largely dependent on Chromatin Factors. Importantly, CFs are the most recurrently mutated protein category across diverse blood malignancies. In fact, alterations in some of these proteins, like MLL fusions, have been proven to be central drivers of malignant transformation. However, in spite of this proven relevance, the contribution of most Chromatin Factors to blood lineage commitment remains largely unexplored; moreover, even for well-studied complexes such as SWI/SNF Polycomb or COMPASS, very little is known about the mechanisms that govern their locus-specific assembly and activity during cell fate specification. My project Chromatin Regulation Of Normal And Malignant Haematopoiesis (ChRONAM-H) proposes a multidisciplinary framework to explore the functions of CFs during hematopoietic lineage commitment and malignant transformation. I will combine high-throughput functional measurements with state-of-the-art chromatin profiling technologies to unveil the lineage specifying roles of a large number of CFs and orthogonally link them within existing TF-centric networks in both normal and malignant hematopoiesis. This will shed light on the molecular behavior of chromatin regulatory complexes, providing new insights about the genome regulatory mechanisms that orchestrate hematopoiesis and how they might be therapeutically targeted to fight leukemia.

Mots clés : chromatin regulatory complexes, crispr screens, single cell genomics, technology development, droplet based chromatin profiling, hematopoiesis, blood malignancies

Participants :
- University of Cambridge (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 212933.76 €
Projet Titin Signals (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Chronic heart failure is a leading cause of mortality in the industrialized countries. Pathomechanistically, a variety of diverse stress signals on the cardiomyocyte trigger loss of myofibrils and cardiomyocyte death, thereby activating a vicious cycle of cardiac stress and deterioration during terminal heart failure. Despite the enormous clinical relevance, the exact pathomechanisms in charge remains unclear. Here, I propose to investigate the molecular mechanisms that couple mechanical cardiomyocyte strain and cardiomyocyte loss during the heart failure involving the mechanosensing titin filament. For this, I will perform research in three globally leading teams and access their complementary expertise in a secondment scheme. In the the proposed 2-year outgoing phase, I will study how cardioprotection is mediated by key factors recently identified in the Ju Chen lab (UCSD, San Diego). During this time, I will be trained in cutting-edge molecular mouse genetic models and phenotyping tools. This research is expected to shed light on CARP-titinsignaling axis in cardiomyocyte death and to provide tools for manipulating this pathway. In a one-year re-integration phase I will perform follow-up mechanistic structural studies in the Olga Mayans lab (University of Liverpool) to determine the structural basis how the CARP (cardiac ankyrin repeat protein)-titin signaling axis mediates cardiomyocyte protection, and in the Labeit lab (University of Heidelberg, Medical Faculty Mannheim) how to perturb activity of this complex by small molecules. Taken together, this work encompasses structural studies at the atomic level up to vivo animal models to study CARP-titin functions. After the propose three years, I expect to be ready to pursue an independent career in the field of molecular cardiology research. Therefore, my goal during the re-integration phase will be to set-up an interdisciplinary collaboration involving the three lead teams of this proposal.

Mots clés : heart failure, cardiomyocyte, titin, ankrd1, carp, mechanoptosis, transgenic mouse models, structural biology

Participants :
- University of California System (Etats-Unis) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Central Institute of Mental Health (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 239860.8 €
- Heidelberg University (Allemagne) — Partner, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet REGAIN (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : TERMINATED

Chronic pain is a global health challenge of enormous proportions. Estimates claim that over 1.5 billion people live with chronic pain worldwide, which results in $245 billion USD in global economic costs annually. Recently, minimally and non-invasive neuro-technologies for pain modulation promise to provide a new avenue to support people living with chronic pain. Especially in the United States (U.S.), pain modulation has gained attention as a low-risk alternative to pain treatment with addictive opioids. However, I hypothesise that the use of these neuro-technologies will produce new vulnerabilities for consumers, Do-It-Yourself (DIY) users as well as clinical patients. To date, there is a lack of understanding and an urgent need for anticipating these vulnerabilities in order to render neuro-technology a responsible contribution to the health challenge of chronic pain in Europe. Within the proposed project, I will study the socio-political context and actual use of neuro-technologies in pain care in the context of the U.S. I will transfer the resulting insights and learned lessons to relevant stakeholders in the study, design, and governance of pain modulation in Europe. The overall aim of REGAIN is to provide an integrative framework for studying, designing, and governing “Responsible Neuro-Technologies of Pain” (NTPs). I ground this framework in an extensive qualitative study of (a) the socio-political context of neuro-technology in pain care across the U.S. and Europe as well as (b) the user practices in consumer, DIY, and clinical pain care with minimally and non-invasive NTPs in the U.S.

Mots clés : social study of neuroscience, vulnerability, user research, anthropology of  chronic  pain, disability studies

Participants :
- Cornell University (Etats-Unis) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Universität Hamburg (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 246669.12 €
Projet MaSCheNav (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Chronic pain represents a major unmet medical need which has been linked to changes in voltage-gated sodium channels (VGSCs). These channels are transmembrane protein-complexes with a key-role in signal transmission in excitable cells, such as neurons, and allow the flux of Na+ ions through the cellular membrane in response to specific stimuli, thus controlling the generation and propagation of action potentials. Nine VGSC subtypes are known to be expressed in different cell types, and among them subtype Nav1.7 is of extreme interest since it is involved in nociceptive processing (pain-sensing) in the peripheral nervous system. Remarkably, patients suffering from congenital indifference to pain syndrome, which derives from loss-of-function mutations of the gene encoding for Nav1.7, have a dramatically reduced ability to perceive painful stimuli, but are otherwise perfectly healthy. Therefore, Nav1.7 has been recognized as an exciting target for pharmacological treatments of pain. However, detailed structural and functional information is lacking, and its attainment represents a fundamental step in the challenging task of finding Nav subtype-selective modulators. Thus, the main focus of my project is to study ligand-binding events with known modulators, thereby paving the way to the design of safe and selective inhibitors. I will develop, by solid phase peptide synthesis, a chemical probe specifically designed to isolate Nav1.7, using a tandem photoaffinity labeling-bioorthogonal conjugation approach. This probe will be applied in model cell lines expressing the channel, in order to study their binding interaction through mass spectrometry-based chemoproteomics. Once these chemical tools are established and validated in the model system, I will translate them to patient-derived cells, in order to study disease-relevant systems.

Mots clés : chemical proteomics, target profiling

Participants :
- Imperial College London (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 183454.8 €
Projet CiliaryTip (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Cilia are microtubule-based organelles with essential motile, sensory and signaling functions. The cilium structure is important for its function however the mechanisms underlying the structure-function relationship are not well understood. The proposed study will address the role of the cilium structure in hedgehog signaling, one of the main cilia-based signaling pathways, essential for embryonic development and implicated in disease. In mammals, cilia are required for hedgehog signaling and the localization of signaling proteins at the distal end of cilia, the ciliary tip, is important for pathway activation. Structural defects at the ciliary tip affect the localization of signaling proteins and pathway activation and cause a subset of cases of Joubert Syndrome. We propose an unbiased and comprehensive approach to elucidate how the ciliary tip organization supports the localization and dynamics of hedgehog signaling proteins at this compartment. This work will impact how we address hedgehog related diseases in the future and will generate insights with broader implications with respect to the signaling and sensory roles of cilia. The fellow will conduct this work in the laboratory of Dr. Skourides at the University of Cyprus, a group with a consistent record of high quality publications, including important findings related to cilia. The Fellow’s experience in studying the ciliary tip in motile cilia and the expertise of the host in cellular and developmental biology ensure the successful implementation of the proposed work. The Fellow has demonstrated great potential in becoming an independent scientist by securing funding for her PhD work and receiving the Seal of Excellence on an MSCA-IF submitted in 2018. Through this fellowship the researcher will acquire both the training and experience that will allow her to transition to an independent career focused on the connection between cilium structure and function and its role in vertebrate development.

Mots clés : primary cilia, ciliary tip, hedgehog signaling, microtubules

Participants :
- University of Cyprus (Chypre) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 145941.12 €
Projet UACSURF (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Circulation changes are at the heart of changes in both regional precipitation and temperature and extreme events ranging from heavy precipitation to heat waves or cold spells. Understanding and modelling circulation changes in a warming climate therefore constitutes an emerging challenge for climate science. General circulation models still struggle to represent important features of the large-scale circulation in the present-day climate, which undermines confidence in future projections. The present project is to combine a small-scale process-level with a large-scale dynamical perspective to investigate how drag processes at the Earth's surface associated with boundary-layer turbulence, orography and gravity waves affect large-scale circulation. Our aim is to develop a climatological view of the distribution and variability of individual components of surface drag as represented in general circulation models and to understand which processes or model parametrisations are responsible for current model biases especially in the representation of mid-latitude storm tracks.

Mots clés : boundary layer, turbulence, climate modelling

Participants :
- University of Reading (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 195454.8 €
Projet HyPer SMM (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Civil structures and infrastructures in desert environments and sandy coastal regions are sensitive to windblown sand. Even if the problem was first tackled in the fifties, it has emerged as a key scientific, technical and economic issue in the last decade. Indeed, windblown sand effects can lead to several incremental costs in infrastructure management, and also disastrous events. The demand for the design of Sand Mitigation Measures (SMM) has grown in the last decade and it is expected to further increase in the next years. However, the rigorous performance assessment of SMMs is still missing in the scientific literature and technical practice. On the one hand, the multiphysics and multiscale nature of the involved phenomena make analytical approaches inapplicable. On the other hand, current experimental physical and computational approaches do not fulfill alone modelling requirements and practical needs of infrastructure designers. The HyPer SMM project aims at finding a way forward by developing an innovative hybrid approach, as a brand-new design-and-assessment methodology in the field. It combines innovative Wind-Sand Computational Simulations (WSCS) and highly reliable Wind-Sand Tunnel Test (WSTT). The main scientific and training objectives of the project include: - the development of highly reliable WSTT to assess SMM performance; - the extension of WSTT-based SMM performance from scale to full-scale conditions by means of WSCS; - the drafting of best practices/guidelines to SMM performance assessment; - enrich Experience Researcher’s (ER) scientific competences on the specific topic; - enforce ER’s management skills and professional independence. In order to guarantee the multidisciplinary and intersectoral objectives, the layout of the project envisages the ER hosting at a research center in fluid dynamics (Von Karman Institute, BE) and the ER secondment at a consulting company in computational simulations (Optiflow, FR).

Mots clés : sand mitigation, performance assessment, arid environment, modelling, wind tunnel, computational simulation, wind engineering, civil engineering, aeolian research

Participants :
- Von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics (Belgique) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 166320.0 €