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

There has been a lot of research on smart vehicles (SV, including autonomous vehicles and smart powered wheelchairs), mainly for motorways and other structured environments, with resulting safety levels in such highly structured conditions being excellent. However, the situation is different for less structured environments, particularly where interaction between SV and pedestrians is possible, such as pedestrian junctions and mixed traffic environments. In these cases, more fundamental research in safety aspects is needed, since even minor contact between humans and vehicle poses serious dangers to unprotected humans. Specifically, pedestrian intention prediction is crucial for safe and smooth SV operation. This project aims to develop multi-source and multi-modal algorithms which can predict intentions of pedestrians under challenging lighting conditions (using both visible (RGB) and thermal imaging), using cues from both pedestrian movements as well as their environmental and social context. The project aims at enhancing the safety level of pedestrians in the context of SV in unstructured environments. Apart from the development of novel algorithms in this challenging domain, we aim to maximise the impact of our research through the creation of one of the first pedestrian intention prediction datasets combining RGB and thermal images. Performance evaluation of intention pedestrian algorithms will involve both vehicles in intersections, as well as smart wheelchairs for people with disabilities. By enhancing the safety level of SV and pedestrians through predicting pedestrians' intention under various lighting conditions, the results of this project will be very helpful for the development of SV, and will also promote the public' s acceptance of SV. Consequently, the results of this project are very beneficial for the EU, where multiple governmental and commercial autonomous driving initiatives are active.

Mots clés : pedestrian intention prediction, human vehicle interaction, pedestrian trajectory prediction, autonomous driving, autonomous vehicle, smart vehicle

Participants :
- Imperial College London (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 224933.76 €
Projet Pituitary enhancers (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

There is a fundamental gap in understanding how the GPR101 gene regulates human growth in physiological and pathological conditions. Children’s growth is remarkably clinical relevant and is an important indicator of their health and general well-being. The specific objective of this proposal is to identify the molecular mechanisms underlying GPR101 overexpression in the pituitary tumors of children with GPR101 duplications causing X-linked acrogigantism (X-LAG). My central hypothesis is that GPR101 duplications disrupt the structure of the local chromatin, leading to the creation of a new chromatin domain where de novo enhancer-promoter interactions take place, causing abnormal GPR101 expression. This hypothesis will be tested by pursuing three specific aims: 1. Elucidate the transcriptional regulation of GPR101 in normal and pathological conditions 2. Identify and functionally characterize novel pituitary-specific enhancer sequences 3. Investigate these regulatory sequences in patients with different pituitary pathologies. To achieve aim 1) I will perform an in vitro functional characterization of GPR101 promoter: promoter activity will be studied by luciferase-based reporter assays, by conducting a methylation analysis, and by determining its accessibility to transcription factors. To achieve aim 2) I will validate my preliminary results showing the formation of a novel chromatin domain by 4C-Seq. Four putative enhancer sequences located within the duplicated GPR10 region and identified in silico will be functionally evaluated in vitro to establish their impact on transcriptional activity. To identify novel pituitary-specific enhancers, a whole-genome profile of enhancer-specific histone marks will be performed in normal and tumoral pituitary cells by ChIP-Seq. To achieve aim 3) I will screen patients with different pituitary disorders for mutations (Sanger sequencing) and structural variations (CNV assays) in the functionally-verified enhancers.

Mots clés : pituitary gigantism

Participants :
- Istituti di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico (Italie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Organismes privés (hors enseignement), subvention : 183473.28 €
Projet PS (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

There is a pressing need for improvements in methods that accurately measure and predict those most likely to engage in suicide and self-harm. Traditional methods that rely solely on explicit self-reports are limited because participants can be unwilling to express thoughts or behaviours that they perceive to be socially deviant. In addition, they might not have introspective/conscious access to certain thoughts that can increase their risks of engaging in self-injurious behaviours. Similar impression management problems occur for researchers addressing prejudice and stereotyping, and consequently, implicit tasks that measure automatic biases are of immense value in clinical and social domains. This project will use the Simple Implicit Procedure (SIP) - a highly advanced implicit measure that was developed and validated by the applicant to overcome the limitations in existing implicit measures- to predict those most likely to attempt suicide. The SIP can be used to precisely specify the cognitive mechanisms that are driving an automatic bias, which will offer researchers across a host of domains crucial additional information. This additional insight can be used to assist with the development of interventions aimed at reducing problematic behaviours or thoughts. This project will also use a biopsychosocial approach to determine crucial factors that heighten the risks of suicide, addiction and prejudice. The training I will receive will secure me as the leading figure in advanced implicit measurement, with the necessary infrastructure and international collaborations developed, to establish a lab aimed at providing solutions to major societal problems. Using both front-line pragmatic methods and broad theoretical perspectives to better understand the causes of self-injurious behaviour, addiction and prejudice, I will be better placed to make recommendations to policy makers, who can then greatly improve the lives of the most vulnerable people in our society.

Mots clés : implicit cognition, simple implicit procedure, suicide, self harm, addiction, prejudice and stereotyping, clinical and social interventions, online experiments, big data, automatic biases

Participants :
- University of Amsterdam (Pays-Bas) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 242929.8 €
- Harvard University (Etats-Unis) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet G4-AntiBac (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

There is a pressing need to develop new antimicrobial approaches to combat bacterial resistance to antibiotics. Pseudomonas aeruginosa – a dreadful Gram-negative bacterium pathogen associated with severe acute and chronic human diseases – is responsible for 10-15 % of hospital-acquired infections worldwide. Thus, it is important to identify new biomolecular targets in bacteria and design new molecules that can selectively target them. This project aims to study G-quadruplex DNA (G4 DNA) structures as a new bio-molecular target for the development of new classes of antibiotics. G4 DNA is a non-canonical structure of DNA whose formation has been associated to a number of important biological processes. While the function of G4 DNA is well established in eukaryotic cells, far less is known about their functions in bacteria. Preliminary data from the host group has shown that G4 DNA’s can form in gene promoter regions of the genome in P. aeruginosa. They have also shown that metal complexes can bind to this G4 DNA regions and display antibacterial activity. In this project, I propose to develop novel compounds (via a ‘target-guided synthesis’ approach) that can specifically bind with high affinity to G4 DNA structures of relevance to bacteria. If the newly developed bacterial G4 DNA binders exhibit low cellular uptake, I propose to implement the well-established liposomal delivery strategies to improve their uptake into the targeted bacterial strains. Finally, the highly active compounds will be used to study the proposed gene regulatory role that G-quadruplexes play in P. aeruginosa. My proposed research falls under one of the key priorities (i.e. Infectious diseases and improving global health) of the Horizon-2020 work programme. The outcome of the proposed study will have impact in addressing one of the key objectives (i.e. Develop New Therapeutics and Alternatives) of the recently documented ‘European One Health Action Plan against Antimicrobial Resistance’.

Mots clés : quadruplex dna

Participants :
- Imperial College London (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 224933.76 €
Projet ROPHARE (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

There is an imperative need to gain knowledge on the spread and evolution of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Recent evidence from environmental, animal and human microbial studies shows that AMR is ancient and environments without contact with anthropogenic antibiotics possess abundant AMR genes. Bacteriophages are the most abundant entities in Earth and recent studies provide indirect evidence for the major role of transduction in the dissemination of AMR genes. Hence, phages might be of critical importance for evading one of the bottlenecks (ecological connectivity) that modulates the transmission of AMR genes from natural environments to animal and human biomes. In this proposal, a holistic and multidisciplinary approach that combines molecular genetics, genomics, metagenomics, in-vitro experimental analysis, computational biology, bioinformatics analysis, and modelling will be followed to measure the potential of naturally occurring phages to be vehicles for AMR transmission and spread in environmental systems with different antibiotic selective pressure. This comprehensive approach will allow us to better understand the phage-bacteria interactions that drive the AMR spread in different ecosystems. From this understanding we expect to be able to design and develop new tools for the control of antimicrobial resistance in clinical and veterinary practice as well as in agriculture. This project will contribute to the objectives of the Work Programme by: 1) allowing the researcher to gain new skills and additional training-through-research in phage and phage-bacteria interactions, computational and (meta)genomic analysis; and to become an EU leading specialist in a research field with emerging growth potential; 2) transferring the acquired knowledge to the EU; 3) establish a long-term collaboration between several centres of excellence that will enhance the quality of research of Europe and make it more competitive and attractive for high-profile researchers.

Mots clés : antibiotics, ecology of antibiotic resistance, resistome, horizontal gene transfer, mobile genetic elements, bacteria, pro phage, metagenomics, metaviromics, genomics, bioinformatics

Participants :
- Fundacion rioja salud-frs (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 254480.4 €
- Board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology (Suisse) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet EREMOZ (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

There is an increased demand for high temperature structural materials suitable for use at>1400°C, including heat exchangers, Generation IV nuclear reactor components (e.g. control rod sheath & fuel constituents), the receiver materials of concentrated solar power (CSP) systems, high temperature thermoelectric devices and static components in gas turbines and aero engines. Ultra-high temperature ceramics (UHTCs) exhibit especially high melting temperatures and include the diborides and carbides of zirconium and hafnium (ZrC & HfC). Unfortunately, UHTCs also suffer from poor fracture toughness, relatively poor oxidation resistance and are very difficult to process since the densification temperature required is also very high. EREMOZ will address these challenges by using a non-conventional process route along with a combination of fibre reinforcement and rare earth dopants. Specifically, processing will be based on the energy efficient process of chemical vapour infiltration (CVI) rather than more conventional sintering; the former allows dense composites to be produced at much lower temperatures. The poor fracture toughness will be improved by the introduction of silicon carbide fibres (SiCf) or carbon fibres (Cf), which enhance resistance to crack propagation. Finally, oxidation resistance will be improved by the introduction of second phases, such as those based on silicon and/or rare earths, which facilitate the formation of oxide scales that inhibit oxygen diffusion. The outcomes from this project will be three fold, to: 1. Determine whether the presence of the rare earth element (e.g. La,Eu, Nd, Ce, Y) dopants will improve the properties and performance of the composites and whether they have any effect, positive or negative, on the processing required; 2. Produce composites that display enhanced toughness compared to monolithic UHTC ceramics; 3. Produce composites that display enhanced oxidation resistance compared to UHTC composites.

Mots clés : composites, silicon carbide pre coated carbon fibre, zirconium carbide, rare earth dopant, chemical vapor infiltration, oxidation, microstructure, fracture toughness, thermo physical properties

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

There is an urgent need for intensive plant growth methods minimizing the input of nutrients, energy and chemicals while ensuring a high productivity. This project will discover novel bacterial volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to improve plant growth and protection against biotic (pathogen) stress under natural (greenhouse) conditions. In addition, the underlying mechanisms of action of VOCs will be explored, especially related to nutrient assimilation and hormone cascade pathways using advanced high throughput molecular techniques. Hence, the main objective of the project is to explore the potential of microbial-derived VOCs as a biotechnology tool to improve plant development under greenhouse conditions. The multidisciplinary nature of the project is strong, involving a combination of well-developed microbiology, biochemistry, and plant pathology and physiology. This proposal includes both the transfer of knowledge to the host institution and the training of the candidate in new advanced techniques. The innovative results of this study will attain not only high impact on the scientific community, farmers and general public, but will also be a step forward towards the commercialization of the cost effective and eco-friendly biomolecules to improve plant health.

Mots clés : plant microbe interactions, volatile organic compounds, biological control of plant diseases, microbial, ecology, plant growth promotion

Participants :
- Utrecht University (Pays-Bas) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 187572.48 €
Projet WHITELIGHT (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

There is an urgent need to develop a new generation of more efficient and durable illumination sources to surpass the limitations of the conventional lighting systems. Solid State Lighting sources based on Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) or Organic LEDs (OLEDs) devices are emerging as the next generation systems for general illumination. White LEDs on the market outperform the traditional incandescent and fluorescent lamps, both in term of efficiency and lifetime. More work has still to be done to develop their organic counterpart, OLEDs. These offer the distinctive possibility to fabricate large area flat and also flexible devices by vacuum or solution processing, i.e. by potentially less expensive and less energy-consuming production protocols. For this, the development of electroluminescent materials that show high brightness, easy synthesis, good chemical and electrical stability, low cost, and simple processing is actively pursued. In this context, WHITELIGHT targets the development of single-molecule white light emitting materials for the fabrication of OLEDs, containing Eu(III) (red), Tb(III) (green) lanthanide ions and bis(2-pyridyl)amine based ligands (blue) emitters. This is a very ambitious and multidisciplinary goal that requires a range of expertise spanning from theoretical chemistry to physical device fabrication and testing. The research unit at the hosting institution has a strong background in the photophysics of materials for light/ energy conversion, complemented by an expertise in the design and synthesis of organic luminescent materials, as well as the fabrication and testing of electroluminescent devices. On the other hand, the Experienced Researcher has a strong background in the synthesis of luminescent lanthanide complexes. This unique combination of expertise is a major factor for the successful implementation of the proposed research.

Mots clés : lanthanide metal complexes, luminescence, energy transfer, luminescent materials, white light, electroluminescent devices, oled

Participants :
- National Research Council (Italie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 180277.2 €
Projet SABIR (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

There is continuous refining and development of novel methodologies in the field of sustainability. From these methodologies, life cycle assessment is one of the most commonly used today. Over past decades researchers have “upgraded” life cycle assessment to life cycle sustainability assessment; later method combines 3 pillars of sustainability: environment, society and economy. While current methodologies looks at the impacts of analysed product or service in more holistic way, this approach is still lacking one important issue – dynamic feedback loops. The bottleneck of life cycle sustainability assessment method is rooted in the assumption that values for the impact categories remain constant, that is assuming a constant marginal impact or that no other sustainability information changes the overall system, and thus also the individual impacts. The aim of SABIR is to develop a novel, dynamic sustainability assessment tool, that uses life cycle sustainability assessment and system dynamic analysis tools at the same time in one model. To validate this tool two case studies of biorefinery supply chains from agricultural wastes will be used. Biorefinery case studies are chosen because these systems are increasingly seen as pivotal technologies to strengthen the growth in the area of bio-economy. Nevertheless, the overall environmental, economic and social consequences of implementing such biorefinery systems are poorly understood. Therefore, this project will aim to give two major benefits (1) to advance life cycle sustainability assessment methodology by introduction of feedback loops, (2) to advance studies on biorefinery concept, by outlining possible impacts and solutions.


Participants :
- Aarhus University (Danemark) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 200194.8 €
Projet DiverseRoots (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

There is increasing evidence for the positive effect of greater plant species diversity on primary production, nutrient retention, erosion resistance and stability in response to changes. Many of these benefits can be directly related to the rooting system, however, biodiversity research to date has mainly focussed on aboveground responses. Recent methodological advances, including molecular methods to analyse the belowground distribution of different plant species to identify soil biota, and advances in tracer methodology now offer new opportunities to increase our insight in these belowground properties and their drivers. The objective of this project is to apply state-of-the-art methodology to 1) assess to what extent biodiverse vegetation improves rooting structure and b) elucidate the main drivers behind these rooting dynamics. The increased understanding of the belowground functioning of biodiverse systems has direct importance for many fields, including the sustainable intensification of agricultural systems and prevention of soil erosion. In a desk study, I will analyse existing root data in order to assess the differences in horizontal root distribution in monocultures compared to mixtures. This will feed into the design of an experimental root study carried out in the unique Phytotron facility of Radboud University, in which I will combine state-of-the-art molecular techniques with my own expertise in tracer techniques, to investigate root development in species’ mixtures and its drivers. This fellowship will be a perfect stepping stone in achieving my career goal to become a researcher at the top of the interdisciplinary field of plant-soil interactions in biodiverse systems. My quality as a researcher will be hugely improved by the new skills and deepened knowledge that I will acquire in this fellowship. My secondment at a Water Board will facilitate stakeholder interaction and dissemination in a field in which my research is directly applicable.

Mots clés : plant ecology, biodiversity, roots, soil, nutrients, molecular methods

Participants :
- Radboud University Nijmegen (Pays-Bas) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 177598.8 €