Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-actions-marie-curie-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet Fin-Est Connection (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2022)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The last five years of Soviet rule marked by perestroika and glasnost enabled Estonians not only to communicate their dissent but also to build relationships with people on the other side of the Iron curtain. One of the first types of contacts to start popping up were those with neighboring Finns. Spontaneous unofficial person-to-person networks sprung into action delivering clothes, medicine, technology, toys and food to Estonia. This gave Estonians a “taste of freedom”: It not only helped to kindle the fire of pro-independence movements but also provided a great starting position for the budding country and might account for some of the surprising success it has had during subsequent decades, especially when compared with other post-Soviet states.  Finnish humanitarian aid to Estonians during the re-independence era is among some of the most basic narratives in Estonia, but there is hardly anything researched or written about it. More than thirty years have passed since the first contact was made and some of the women and men in the front lines of this “diplomacy of the people” have begun to fade away, leaving this gap in historiography in a very perilous position, which requires urgent attention.  My mixed-methods research will encompass oral history, anthropological fieldwork, archival research and quantitative analysis to unearth this untold story in order to understand the role of spontaneous humanitarian aid from Finns to Estonians had in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The results of this international and multidisciplinary project will have the discursive power to create a reinterpretation of European Cold War history by bringing out hidden, silenced or under-researched networks and relationships between citizens on both sides of the Iron Curtain. The results may have a wider societal impact by providing good practices and learned lessons relevant for meeting the EU goals of cohesive development within the EU and its neighbouring regions in peace and war.

Mots clés : cold war, soviet, post soviet, finland, estonia, baltic sea region, social networks, humanitarian aid, personal relationships, oral history, anthropological fieldwork, gender

Participants :
- Université de Jyväskylä (Finlande) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 215534.4 €
- Finnish literature society fili (Finlande) — Partner, associated partner, Autres, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet StemLinc (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2021)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are a unique population defined by their self-renewal capacity and the potential to give rise to all blood lineages. A complete understanding of the specific mechanisms controlling HSC self-renewal and multipotency is still lacking. This knowledge is fundamental to improve ex vivo HSC expansion with therapeutic purposes and to unveil the mechanisms that promote aberrant cellular growth in leukemia. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are emerging as novel players of normal development and physiology and their dysregulation has been associated with multiple cancer types. Recent data suggests that lncRNAs may also act as molecular determinants of the balance between self-renewal and differentiation in HSCs. However, because of traditional limitations in RNA-profiling strategies, current lncRNA catalogs are still incomplete, representing likely only a fraction of the whole lncRNA repertoire expressed in cells. In this proposal, I aim to identify novel lncRNAs specifically involved in the regulation of HSC identity, to ultimately understand their function in normal hematopoiesis and leukemia. For this, I will construct a comprehensive HSC-specific lncRNA catalog through deep total-RNA sequencing of mouse HSCs and their closest cell descendants. I will then infer lncRNA functions through robust computational analyses and validate selected candidates in-vitro. Finally, I will investigate the role of HSC-specific lncRNAs in vivo, using a T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia mouse model. This work will extend our knowledge on lncRNAs, on the molecular mechanisms of HSC identity and on how their dysregulation leads to leukemia. By performing this project I will gain first-hand experience in normal and malignant hematopoiesis while reinforcing my expertise in lncRNA biology. I also expect to reach the highest levels of professional maturity and scientific independence which will allow me to establish a high-profile research group in the near future.

Mots clés : hscs, lncrnas, leukemia, transcriptomics, lncrna function, t all

Participants :
- Fundación Josep Carreras Contra la Leucemia (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 165312.96 €
Projet FIRESTORM (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Wildfires are increasing around the globe in frequency, severity and duration, increasing the need to understand their primary effects on ecosystems and human health. Furthermore, wildfires trigger or enhance a range of secondary hazards (e.g. floods, ash and phosphorus dispersion); also, wildfire's byproducts can be transported over long distances, with harmful effects on soil chemistry, air and water quality. The aim of FIRESTORM is the development of the first comprehensive system that integrates fire ignition from both natural and anthropic sources, fire spread and atmospheric dispersion (including fire byproducts and pollutants) at local, regional and global scale to assess primary and secondary hazards, enabling proactive measures for fire prevention (e.g. firebreaks). In addition, FIRESTORM’s features possible outlooks include the characterization of a range of anthropogenic or natural ignition scenarios (e.g. fires caused by lightning strikes, lava flows, volcanic pyroclastic material fallouts and earthquakes), auto-detection of new fires using satellite remote sensing, integration with other hazard models and maps, both natural (e.g. volcanic, seismic and weather-related maps) and anthropic (e.g. pollutant fallouts). This will be delivered through 5 Work Packages (WPs): the first three focus on the development and coupling of fire-air models; the fourth and the fifth are dedicated to the implementation and deployment of the system and its validation, respectively. FIRESTORM will therefore make a step forward in the state of the art, being the first multi-scale system capable of modelling and coupling fire and atmospheric flows, in order to provide short and long term hazard scenarios, which play a crucial role in civil defense, both for emergency management and for risk mitigation.

Mots clés : fire wildfires wind multiscale transport hpc gpu supercomputing

Participants :
- Conseil supérieur de la recherche scientifique (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 209914.56 €
Projet ENDRISP (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2021)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Mathematics
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Spontaneous pattern formation is an ubiquitous and fascinating phenomenon in nature, of enormous importance for the present and future of applications. A crucial aspect, both at zero and positive temperature, is that in dimension d>1 the physical states retain less symmetries than the interactions involved in the models. This phenomenon, known as symmetry breaking, coupled with nonlocality makes any attempt of giving a mathematical explanation of pattern formation extremely challenging and still largely not accessible with the current tools. ENDRISP aims at gaining deep insight into the mathematical mechanisms behind the phenomenon of energy-driven pattern formation, focusing on the following foremost questions in the field: Explain continuous symmetry breaking mechanisms for isotropic functionals; Show pattern formation and symmetry breaking in the positive temperature setting. The focus of ENDRISP will be on the formation of periodic one-dimensional structures in general dimension (i.e. striped/lamellar structures), as they are generally the first type of patterns to emerge from uniform phases when symmetry breaking occurs, in regimes in which the attractive and repulsive forces are of the same order. We will use precise nonlocal quantities of geometric character coming from the free energy to control the curvature of the physical states and derive rigidity and stability estimates. The techniques we developed to show pattern formation for continuous functionals retaining discrete symmetry together with our experience on representation theorems in the positive temperature setting and the new ideas in ENDRISP will be the ideal basement to the project. Major advances in Calculus of Variations, Geometric Measure Theory and Statistical Mechanics will be required, for which the transfer of knowledge with the supervisors, empowered by the unique training offered by Courant Institute in the outgoing phase and by GSSI in the return phase, will be extremely beneficial.

Mots clés : calculus of variations, geometric measure theory, pattern formation, rigidity estimates, nonlocal problems, statistical mechanics, large volume limits

Participants :
- Université de New York (Etats-Unis) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Istituto nazionale di fisica nucleare (Italie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 288859.2 €
Projet ISOSEA (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2021)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Hundreds of thousands to millions of seamounts unrelated to hotspot activity remain unexplored at the seafloor, either as isolated seamounts or as clusters. Most of them are located at remote sites within the ocean basins and they are not influenced by deep mantle upwelling processes or subduction/back-arc regimes, thus their composition and mechanisms of formation are intrinsically related to the upper mantle compositional nature and dynamics. For many years, the upper mantle has been considered as a homogeneous and depleted reservoir, nevertheless, the ever-growing isotopic data available suggest that heterogeneities are pervasively present throughout the mantle. The ISOSEA project aims to characterize upper mantle heterogeneity using the composition of non-hotspot isolated seamounts and seamount provinces as a window into the upper mantle. Using an integrated approach including petrological, geochemical, and geochronological evidence from the seamount province located south of the Mid-Pacific Mountains as the main case study, we intend to characterize their mantle sources in an effort to understand what is the origin and composition of enriched upper mantle heterogeneities that allow the formation of seamounts unrelated to hotspot activity. The results of this study could help lead to a paradigm shift of the composition of the upper mantle: from considering it as an inherently homogeneous depleted reservoir to a possibly highly heterogeneous one, containing enriched, recycled lithospheric components. The outcomes of the ISOSEA project will have a strong impact on the European and International scientific community, since they can be used to assess targets for future expeditions to unlock the secrets of the seafloor – the final frontier on our planet.

Mots clés : seamounts, isotope geochemistry, mantle heterogeneity, upper mantle, igneous petrology, intraplate magmatism, oceanic island basalts

Participants :
- GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 189687.36 €
Projet GLYCO-RESBIOTA (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The growing concern over the environmental impact caused by food industry waste, particularly residues from the production of plant-based beverages, has emphasized the need for more sustainable approaches. Despite the rapid expansion of the plant-based beverage market, most of the production residues are not adequately valorized, leading to a significant loss of fiber-rich carbohydrates that could have important health benefits. Additionally, the unique characteristics of the ileum microbiota and its interaction with these carbohydrates have not been fully investigated, primarily due to the technical challenges of sampling from this region. The GLYCO-RESBIOTA project aims to explore how fiber-rich residues from the production of plant-based beverages (soy, pea, and oat) can be digested in the ileum and exert prebiotic effects by modulating the ileal microbiota. The main objective is to apply advanced glycomics profiling techniques to characterize these carbohydrates and study their impact on ileal digestion using dynamic simulation models. Over three years, this project will be carried out in two phases: an initial phase at the University of California, Davis (USA), where the researcher will receive training in advanced glycomics techniques, and a second phase at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), where simulated digestion and metatranscriptomic studies will be implemented. The results of the project will contribute to understanding the interactions between carbohydrates and microbiota and offer sustainable solutions to reduce the environmental impact of industrial residues while improving gut health. This project has the potential to create an innovative glycomics platform in Europe, facilitating the study of carbohydrates in food and their relationship with gut health, aligning with the EU’s 2030 sustainability goals.

Mots clés : carbohydrates, microbiota, plant based beverages, glycomis, mass spectrometry

Participants :
- University of California System (Etats-Unis) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Conseil supérieur de la recherche scientifique (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 420966.72 €
Projet RegrOssBio (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2022)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

With increase of global dental implant industry, perimplantitis became an emerging problem worldwide, affecting up to 43% of the placed implants. Periimplantitis is caused by pathogenic microorganisms,that adhere to the implant surface triggering imflammation and bone destruction, eventally leading to implant loss in half of the cases. The overall aim of periimplantitis treatment is re-osteointegration of implant with surrounding bone, that can be achieved only in case of complete control over infection The existing treatment approaches are not able to provide efficient decontamination of the implant surfaces, while effectiveness of the existing local antibiotic delivery systems is questionable. The aim of this project is to develop biomimetic injectable CaP-based pastes with antibacterial and osteogenic properties for periimplantitis treatment. We will utilize biocompatible materials, such as octacalcium phosphate (OCP) and natural hydrogels (hyaluronic acid and functionalized gelatin) that closely resemble to the composition of inorganic and organic components of the bone extracellular matrix. They will serve as versatile platforms for local delivery of antibiotics such as Metronidazole and Doxyciсline or antimicrobial nanoparticles into the peri-implant pockets after mechanical removal of the bacterial biofilm. We hypothesize that these materials will offer control over infection in peri implant area and subsequent cellular functions and may have a great potential for implant re-osteointegration. To date, antibacterial formulations of bone graft materials, targeting peri-implant oral microflora are not available in the market. The obtained innovational products, designed according to the Principles of Good Manufacturing will have optimized composition and handling properties to be used straightforward at the chairside in dental office, without additional invasive surgical manipulations.

Mots clés : bone regeneration, calcium phosphate, hydrogel, mesoporous nanoparticles, drug delivery, re ossteointegration, dental implant, periimplantitis, injectable bone cement

Participants :
- Université technique de Riga (Lettonie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 162499.2 €
- Aristoteleies katartiseis aksiologiseis pistopoihseis anonimi etairia (Grèce) — Partner, associated partner, Organismes privés (hors enseignement), subvention : 0.0 €
Projet IPELSEE (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2021)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

IPELSEE studies the transformations of land use and land ownership in South East Europe (SEE) in processes of post-socialist transformation, different stages and paths of EU integration, and the restructuring of global capital flows. To do so, it approaches land as differently assembled human-soil relations: as a policy object, an everyday experience, and a site of alternative political imaginaries. It has two aims: (1) to develop an international political-ecology framework capable of studying human–soil relations across multiple scales, and (2) to use that framework to better understand transformations in rural and agricultural land use in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia. While political science and international relations have focused on issues of power, sovereignty, and territory, they have habitually ignored the human-soil relations that make the land they talk about and the rural areas where those relations are grounded. IPELSEE is based in three case studies: a disputed large-scale investment in agricultural land in Serbia, and two projects that reimagine land use in line with alternative political, ecological, social, and economic ideas: a cooperative producing autochthonous grains in BiH, and an EU funded project for conservation and restoration of dry grasslands in Croatia. It uses well-trodden methods (interviews, participatory observation, document analysis) and innovative methodologies (participatory mapping) to investigate human-soil relations and their transformations. Beyond academic contributions to international political ecology within IR, interpretive methods in IR and PolSci, and SEE area studies, communication activities will focus on researched countries to counter the stigmatisation of rural areas and shed light on practices of land use and land ownership that are not only used traditionally but can also contribute to more sustainable and just land use in the future.

Mots clés : political ecology, participatory mapping, globalising provincializing social sciences, interpretive methods

Participants :
- Université de Vienne (Autriche) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 199440.96 €
- Institut za politicku ekologiju (Croatie) — Partner, associated partner, Recherche, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet LIPOmRNA (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2022)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Many severe ocular diseases lead to visual impairment and blindness in millions of patients worldwide, and the number is rapidly growing in aging populations. Most ocular diseases are still without drug treatment and the current treatments are based on the use of small molecules and protein drugs. However, poor ocular absorption and rapid elimination restrict their development and use in ophthalmology. Technology for mRNA transfer into the cornea and retina and subsequent expression of encoded proteins may open widely applicable possibilities for the treatment of ocular diseases (e.g. various retinal degenerations, uveitis) as topical eye drops or intravitreal injections. However, clinical application of mRNAs is limited by their poor in vivo stability and low cellular entry. Therefore, efficient and safe delivery systems for ocular mRNA transfer are urgently needed. Our research program aims to develop lipid-based nanoparticle (LNP) systems that are specifically tailored for mRNA delivery into the corneal, conjunctival and retinal cells. The project will address the critical anatomical and physiological barriers of ocular mRNA delivery topically and intravitreally. Chemical structure and composition of LNPs will be carefully modified to optimize mRNA delivery across ocular barriers. Smart pH-sensitive LNPs with eye specific surface moieties will be used to target ocular cells and trigger mRNA release and cytosolic delivery. Moreover, eye drop formulations will be mucoadhesive, increasing precorneal residence time, whereas intravitreal injectables will be capable of permeating in the vitreous and inner limiting membrane into the retinal cells. The representative in vitro and ex vivo test models will be used to select the most promising LNPs for versatile animal experiments. Finally, in vivo pharmacokinetics and mRNA mediated anti-VEGF responses of the delivery systems will be investigated to understand their translational potential towards clinical use.

Mots clés : smart lipid based nanoparticles, delivery system design and creation, ocular mrna delivery, ocular barriers, topical and intravitreal administration, ocular pharmacokinetics, anti neovascular effect

Participants :
- Université de Padoue (Italie) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Université de l'est de la Finlande (Finlande) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 199694.4 €
- Université d'Helsinki (Finlande) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €