Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-actions-marie-curie-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet Bioelectroammonia (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Enzymatic biological fuel cells (EBFCs) utilise enzymes as biological catalysts to produce electrical energy from chemical energy, usually being fuelled by simple molecules such as glucose or ethanol, in the presence of O2. This technology provides an alternative to the use of expensive metal catalysts (such as platinum) and offers the ability for electrical energy to be produced under much milder conditions, such as near-neutral pH and room temperature. The cathodes of EBFCs usually employ O2 as the oxidant and final electron acceptor; this proposal seeks to utilise N2 in its place. Not only does the use of N2 as the oxidant circumvent issues relating to dissolved O2 concentrations and solubility (limited to less than 1 mM), but it also presents the possibility to produce industrially important NH3 (using a novel technology) whilst simultaneously producing electrical energy.

Mots clés : enzymatic biological fuel cell  nitrogen fixation by nitrogenase  ammonia production

Participants :
- National University of Ireland (Irlande) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 248063.4 €
- Utah System of Higher Education (Etats-Unis) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet CF (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Enzymes perform essential reactions that sustain life with un-matched specificity and selectivity. Foldamers provide an opportunity to mimic Nature’s best catalysts as they are conformationally ordered structures that resemble proteins or enzymes. However, costly and time-consuming synthetic efforts have yielded only a small set of foldamers that exhibit poor catalytic activity in water. Here, we propose to combine for the first time Dynamic Combinatorial Chemistry (expertise of the host) and high-throughput screening methods (expertise of the ER) to identify a catalytically active foldamer that operates fully in aqueous solutions. The catalytic foldamer will emerge, with little synthetic effort, from a Dynamic Combinatorial Library (DCL) which contains building blocks that display key catalytic centers. The emerging foldamers will be tested for catalytic activity (e.g. hydrazone formation, ester hydrolysis) using newly-developed UPLC/UV-vis/fluorescence high-throughput protocols. This will allow rapid screening across a large substrate scope and range of experimental conditions, leading to the identification of foldamers that exhibit weak catalytic function. The activity of these hit foldamers will be optimized by combining different building blocks with optimized structures. Screening will be done in an iterative fashion to quickly survey the possible foldamer structural landscape generated from a mixture of two (or more) building blocks. The resulting data will allow essential design rules to be formulated regarding the relationship between building block structure/library components and catalytic activity. The three-dimensional structure of the discovered catalytic foldamers will be confirmed by X-ray crystallography (expertise of the secondment host).

Mots clés : foldamer chemistry, dynamic combinatorial library, systems chemistry, high throughput screening, analytical chemistry, organocatalysts, click chemistry

Participants :
- University of Groningen (Pays-Bas) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 175572.48 €
Projet SRIMEM (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Epigenetic marks are posttranslational modifications of chromatin that act as gene regulators. Although every cell-type contains the same DNA sequence, the epigenetic marks dictate specific function of each cell-type. Epigenetic modifications are both heritable and dynamic, and can be treated enzymatically to reverse. The dynamic marks sometimes lead to aberrant gene regulation in cells, causing diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer’s, and diabetes. Therefore, epigenetic state of individual genes can be used to identify the aberrant genes to reverse them. In this project, a novel assay for simultaneous identification of epigenetic marks and their genomic position is proposed. State-of-the-art DNA-PAINT super-resolution microscopy, developed by Prof. Jungmann, in combination with immunofluorescence in situ hybridization (iFISH) will be used to identify the epigenetic marks in human cells with very high precision (<5 nm). The novelty of this assay is that, for the first time, it will allow to read the epigenetic marks, their genomic and 3D position in the nucleus simultaneously, for precise mapping of the epigenetic state of genes in individual cells. The assay can be used as a tool to identify aberrant marks in cells for diagnosing diseases caused by these modifications. Therefore, it has a high potential for both research in biotechnology and diagnostics.

Mots clés : epigenetics, dna paint, super resolution imaging, fluorescence, dna origami, chromatin

Participants :
- Max Planck Society (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 171460.8 €
Projet EpiBigDatainWomen (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Epigenetic mechanisms might be involved in linking environmental and lifestyle factors and CVD development. Several studies suggest that changes in DNA methylation contribute to the regulation of biological processes underlying CVD, such as atherosclerosis, hypertension and inflammation. The recent increased digitalization, collection and storage of vast quantities of data in combination with advances in data science, has opened up a new era of big data. Although these approaches are gradually implemented in a number of clinical settings, they still lack the integration with environmental individual data, strongly affecting several multifactorial diseases such as cardiovascular disease (CVD). Classical risk factor approaches still fail in correctly estimating CVD risk in women compared to men, therefore there is a need for novel strategies to identify signs of reversible early disease or disease risk factors in this population. We plan to generate and analyse epigenetic data in the context of a very large number of environmental and lifestyle variables (big data) in a group of women and men with traditional CVD risk factors (and age-matched controls) selected from the MOLI-SANI cohort. With this approach we hope to shed light into the controversial aspects of CVD prediction and prevention in women, independently of traditional CV risk factors.

Mots clés : big data analysis, cvd risk factors, women

Participants :
- Istituti di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico (Italie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Organismes privés (hors enseignement), subvention : 168277.2 €
Projet FunFiCO (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Staff Exchanges
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Epoch-making observational, theoretical and computational developments make this an exceptional time for the understanding of gravity in the strong field regime. The recent detection of gravitational waves (GWs), together with other ongoing experiments; the discovery of unexpected compact objects in General Relativity (GR); and the breakthroughs in the field of Numerical Relativity (NR), make strong gravity a central player in the scientific scene. Exploring different scenarios in this context is timely and synergies are mandatory, for such an endeavor. This project focuses on the construction, theory, phenomenology and dynamics of new families of black holes (BHs) and compact objects that are being discovered in GR in the presence of fundamental fields and alternative theories of gravity. Particular focus will be given to astrophysical phenomenology, including GW signals. The research proposed is split into three main items, which, however, are mutually connected: (a) Construction and physical properties of "hairy" BHs and other compact objects, both in GR and other theories of gravity. Using numerical methods for solving elliptic coupled PDEs, in different models, we shall construct solutions, and organize them into publicly available libraries, of new types of compact objects, also addressing their physical and mathematical properties. (b) Astrophysical phenomenology I. We shall perform test-fields studies to address phenomenological properties of these solutions, including shadows and lensing of light, accretion disks and X-ray spectrum, trajectories of stars, Quasi periodic oscillations, scattering of different fields. Using linear perturbation theory, linear stability of these objects and response to perturbations (such as ringdowns) will be studied. (c) Astrophysical phenomenology II. Fully non-linear numerical evolutions will be performed, to study non-linear stability of these new objects and the GW signals of binaries, to be compared with observations.

Mots clés : black holes, gravitational waves, numerical solutions, numerical relativity

Participants :
- University of Sheffield (Royaume-Uni) — Partner, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 22500.0 €
- University of Valencia (Espagne) — Partner, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 94500.0 €
- University of Aveiro (Portugal) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 90000.0 €
- Associacao do instituto superior tecnico para a investigacao e desenvolvimento (Portugal) — Partner, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 13500.0 €
- Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (Mexique) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Federal University of Para (Brésil) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet Errspitals (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Staff Exchanges
Panel : Economic Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Errors are a recurring fact of organizational life and the wisdom of managing and learning from errors is incontrovertible. In particular, medical errors in the health care industry, defined as avoidable adverse outcomes or injuries to patients stemming from healthcare processes, pose serious threats to human life and have an impact on total national costs. Yet, healthcare organizations that achieve a breakthrough in mitigating errors are extraordinarily rare. The aim of this Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions proposal is thus to improve our understanding of the occurrence of medical errors and to develop a new, integrative approach to mitigating medical errors and promoting quality, efficiency, and innovativeness in hospitals. We strive for this goal by immersing ourselves in broad literature reviews and going beyond state of the art, collecting massive first-hand data in the hospital settings, and testing our working hypotheses on both qualitative and quantitative data. We envision three direct outcomes of our endeavor that are beneficial to both the academic community and heath care organizations. First, we will suggest an integrative theory of errors in organizations by identifying discrepancies, tensional issues, and opportunities for research synthesis via level of analysis and temporal and priority lenses. Second, we will develop an innovative, hybrid method to illuminate the errors phenomena and assess long-term effects of medical errors. Third, starting with the partnership between three participating research teams, we will create a long-lasting network that offers a rich resource for collaboration and knowledge-sharing that makes this resource more visible, inspectable, and systematic, which may aid the process of learning at a larger societal level.

Mots clés : lean production, agile production, error management, hospitals, randd organizations, efficiency, quality

Participants :
- Technion – Israel Institute of Technology (Israël) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 76500.0 €
- Babson College (Etats-Unis) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Tilburg University (Pays-Bas) — Partner, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 103500.0 €
- University of St. Gallen (Suisse) — Partner, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Pepperdine University (Etats-Unis) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet DynFish (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Escape responses (reaction to a threatening stimulus) are widespread in the animal kingdom and are critical for survival in many species. In recent years, it has become apparent that individuals differ consistently from one another in their behaviour, often called ‘animal personality variation’. Boldness refers to the extent to which animals take risks, and is a major personality trait that has important ecological and evolutionary implications. While it is widely accepted that the trade-off between exposure to predation risk and the benefit gained from it (e.g., greater access to food) generates personality variation in boldness, how and why bolder individuals are more likely to be preyed upon remain to be investigated. Furthermore, personality variation is also common in social species. Despite the extensive research on collective vigilance, personality variation has rarely been considered in this context. In this project, I will study how the relationship between boldness and food intake shapes anti-predator escape responses, shedding light on how the mechanisms of the food-mortality trade-off generate personality variation in boldness. For this purpose, I will first conduct experimental work on individuals and groups of three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus). Individuals and groups will be tested in a setup allowing me to precisely control the behaviour of a predator model and study how escape responses vary with individual boldness, food intake and social interactions. Second, I will couple this experimental work with computer simulations to 1) fully characterise the food-mortality trade-off, 2) elucidate the mechanisms underlying individual differences in boldness, and 3) give new insights into the evolution and maintenance of personality variation under predation risk in different ecological conditions.

Mots clés : escape response, animal personality, food intake, collective behaviour, swarm, fish, stickleback

Participants :
- University of Bristol (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 212933.76 €
Projet ECIRSWE (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Ethical consumerism as a way of protecting society, civil and citizen rights, labour rights, as well as the environment and animal welfare is considered a civil response of consumers to the inefficient socio-environmental policies of governments and public organisations. Despite some initial findings from non-European societies, the great bulk of our knowledge of the phenomenon is related to the European northern and western societies that generally have relatively similar social contexts and structures. Going beyond the conventional boundaries to investigate the issue in a non-western social context and to provide a novel comparative study, the research strategy is to study two very different countries in terms of their social, economic, political and cultural situation, Iran and Sweden. Considering consumption as a social practice that is affected by embedded social regime and setting, the project will apply social practice theory (SPT) and multi-level perspective (MLP) to compare the (im)possibilities of the formation of ethical consumption in target countries. The project will apply in-depth semi-structured interviews and purposive sampling will be utilized to select a diverse sample group in each context. To understand the wide range of social parameters that determine ethical consumerism interviewees will be asked about related corresponding issues. They will also specifically be asked about key factors of buycotting, boycotting and organic products in their personal life. By identifying similarities and differences of consumption practices in response to the embedded social structure and settings in Sweden and Iran the project will contribute to further theorizing about ethical consumerism. The project will also reveal through which social mechanism consumers engage or not in ethical consumerism and what social regimes and structures promote them to be ethical consumer or prevent.


Participants :
- Örebro University (Suède) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 191852.16 €
Projet EuroCult (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

EuroCult, a three-year research project to be developed at the universities and research centers of Toronto and Turin, will study the wide-ranging networks of Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini (1404-1464), one of the most important humanists of early fifteenth-century Europe. Piccolomini was a man of many talents who inhabited multiple spheres: as a layman he was present at the Council of Basel, secretary to the antipope and the Emperor, then become bishop, cardinal and eventually pope himself. During his life he wrote many dialogues, historical works, and hundreds of letters, making himself the hub of an extensive European literary and political web. This research aims to demonstrate that Piccolomini, who played a significant role in practical political affairs both locally and internationally as the emperor’s legate and as pope, can be viewed as an important contributor to shifting cultural approaches at a European level. He had a rich and vibrant personal and professional network of intellectual contacts with whom he exchanged ideas and books, received informal feedback on his work, and discussed cultural, religious and political questions. EuroCult will reconstruct the cultural, political and religious spheres of which he was a part, investigating his networks and communities of learning, and his role as cultural model in the use of Latin in early Renaissance Europe and later.

Mots clés : early renaissance, latin, rhetoric, cultural exchanges, cultural models

Participants :
- University of Toronto (Canada) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- University of Turin (Italie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 237768.0 €
Projet SCENEUNDERLIGHT (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Doctoral Networks - Industrial Doctorates
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Europe has a strong position in the fast-growing photonics and lighting industry but has to face the fast technological changes and, most importantly, a demand for larger transfer from research to industrial innovation and application. With the introduction of Solid State Lighting (SSL) new targets of energy efficiency were set and smart lighting technology was boosted. SCENEUNDERLIGHT leverages the privileged role of Europe in photonics as well as in smart lighting technologies. We propose 1. training of early stage researchers, who would become future experts in computer vision and lighting technologies, 2. first-class research, to push the state-of-the-art of computer vision and to drive the changes of lighting technologies, and 3. new disruptive products in smart lighting to accelerate the technological transfer from academia to industry. The proposed program will make efforts on systems for energy saving, towards a more sustainable greener Europe. We plan to implement this directive by smart lighting, defining new disruptive light management system technologies. Our planned demonstrator will take long-term time-lapse top-view images of the environment, understanding it by means of computer vision algorithms and controlling lights, for optimal lighting and energy saving. This will proceed via estimating the scene illumination properties (3D structure, material of objects and light source positions) and its use, with respect to the activities of the people. Finally, all research results will converge into the creation of an “invisible light switch”: users moving within an environment (e.g. warehouse with multiple aisles) will have the feeling that all of it is lit (e.g. switching lights on in an aisle just before the person turns into it), while the system will actually manage lighting to save energy, switching off those which the user cannot see, as for an “energy saving in the invisible”.

Mots clés : smart lighting

Participants :
- University of Verona (Italie) — Partner, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 258061.32 €
- Italian Institute of Technology (Italie) — Partner, organization partner, Organismes privés (hors enseignement), subvention : 0.0 €
- OSRAM (Germany) (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Organismes privés (hors enseignement), subvention : 249216.48 €