Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-actions-marie-curie-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet Q-Skyrmions (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : TERMINATED

The increasing need for new magnetic storage applications has brought to the fore new topologically stable particle-like spin configurations known as magnetic skyrmions, which appear as attractive candidates for future spintronic devices. For the efficient controllable manipulation of magnetic skyrmions, it is important to understand their dynamics, their response to external driving fields as well as their dissipation effects. Damping emerges from the coupling of the skyrmion to the environment degrees of freedom, such as electrons, magnons, or phonons, while its amplitude and form is prescribed by the microscopic details of the system. Thus, in an actual experimental setup, tuning in situ the rate at which the skyrmion dissipates is challenging. Q-Skyrmions takes up this challenge and aims to design optimal ways to manipulate skyrmion's dynamics under certain driven non-equilibrium conditions. The environment is dynamically engineered out-of-equilibrium by efficient external protocols, such as time-periodic fields, ultra-short laser pulses and thermal gradients. The interaction of the skyrmion with the reservoir degrees of freedom, gives rise to dissipation and thermal random forces that incorporate the environment’s dynamical activity and will result in a tunable dissipation. By merging concepts from the general area of quantum driven dissipative systems and exploring several features of out-of-equilibrium dynamics, the action investigates how the propagation of topological particles can be dynamically controlled by experimentally relevant protocols. In addition, the action Q-Skyrmions investigates quantum effects for atomic-scale skyrmions in magnetic insulators, ideal candidates to exhibit quantum mechanical behavior at a mesoscopic scale. We study the effect of dissipation and noise on the quantum tunneling events for a skyrmion embedded in a thermal environment, driven by time-dependent external fields under nonequilibrium conditions.

Mots clés : skyrmions, magnetism, floquet systems, nonequilibrium systems, quantum field theory, langevin equation, macroscopic quantum phenomena, quantum dissipation, quantum tunneling, fluctuations and noise

Participants :
- University of Cologne (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 246669.12 €
- California Institute of Technology (Etats-Unis) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet MET-PEST (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The industrial and agricultural activities of the modern society lead to significant release of a large number of toxic substances into the environment having an ultimate impact on the food quality and human health. Many of such chemicals are used in agriculture as pesticides, fungicides, etc. to enhance the productivity. This is the case of dithiocarbamates (DTC) that are one of the relatively large used fungicides being effective against a broad spectrum of fungi and plant diseases. Despite the significant environmental and food chain impact of DTC, the current analytical approaches for their determination suffer from serious drawbacks. The European reference method for this purpose relies on non-selective quantification by indirect determination of the sum of DTC species hence this approach provides incomplete information on the exposure to individual DTC. The present proposal aims at the development and validation of a method for accurate and selective determination of DTCs in food by a multi-approach strategy. A combination of analytical methodologies such as those currently employed for trace metals speciation and also for organic contaminants will be developed and fully validated. These methodologies will be critically compared through the analysis of real-life food samples from EU and imported from external markets. The impact of different cooking modes on DTC degradation pathways will also be investigated. By combining powerful separation techniques such as high performance liquid chromatography with elemental and molecular spectrometry, this project will allow obtaining a deeper knowledge on the presence of individual DTCs in various foodstuff and of their degradation mechanisms during food processing. Additionally, it will consistently contribute to the development of a reference method for selective DTC determination in food hence having a great impact on the scientific research in food quality control at European level.

Mots clés : pesticides, food control, dithiocarbamates, hyphenated techniques, chromatography, mass spectrometry

Participants :
- Agence nationale de sécurité sanitaire de l'alimentation, de l'environnement et du travail (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 185076.0 €
Projet RecPAIR (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The integrity of genetic information is central to life, yet the DNA is vulnerable to damage from internal and external sources. Incorrect repair of DNA damage drives mutagenesis, loss of genetic information, ageing, and cancer. Double strand DNA breaks (DSBs) are perhaps the most threatening DNA lesions, where the integrity of both strands of the DNA duplex is interrupted at the same position. In E. coli, faithful repair of DSBs is possible only through the homologous recombination (HR) pathway which uses replicated chromosome as a template to recover the information. At the center of HR lies an elusive search process, during which broken strand localises and pairs with the repair template. I will use a combination of CRISPR/dCas9 screening and in-situ genotyping of pooled library of strains to characterise the genetic landscape controlling the homology search. First, I will develop a low probability DSB induction method, to limit the DSB-formation to only a single chromosome per cell. Next, I will design and implement a whole-genome CRISPRi screen coupled to high-throughput sequencing and map the genes involved specifically in the homology directed repair of DSBs. The knowledge of the recombination-specific genes will allow to create a refined, high-quality phenotypic screen. In this screen the whole chromosome dynamics will be monitored and defects in the DNA movements will be characterised for each tested target with a microfluidic-based fluorescent microscopy. Each phenotype will be linked to a specific gene using the state-of-the-art in-situ phenotyping approach called DuMPLING. The functional characterisation of recombination genes will allow to conclude a molecular model of the search process in vivo.

Mots clés : homologous recombination, whole genome screen, crispri, in situ genotyping

Participants :
- Uppsala University (Suède) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 191852.16 €
Projet FeTOP (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The interplay between correlations and topology is an open question in condensed matter physics. In this project I will set up a framework with which to study this question, using the iron-based superconductors as a platform. Experimentally, vortex cores in these materials have been shown to host bound states under certain conditions. I will design a feasible experimental setup to probe the exchange statistics of the observed bound states. To complement this endeavor, I will develop a minimal model for these materials and establish whether the observed states are expected to be topological in nature. The iron-based superconductors exhibit two strong signatures of correlations, namely a multitude of ordered phases coexisting in the phase diagram, and the tendency towards orbital selectivity. I will establish how these two phenomena affect the topological properties of these materials. The research will be carried out in the group of Professor Karsten Flensberg of the Niels Bohr Institute (NBI) at the University of Copenhagen. Professor Flensberg leads the Center of Quantum Devices at NBI which brings together a host of theorists and experimentalists working in the field of topological systems. The center has a tradition for close collaborations between experiment and theory, making it an ideal place to carry out the proposed research. While carrying out the research, I will receive training in methods from topology and device physics, in addition to more specific technical skills. Furthermore, I will attend courses on teaching, science communication, and grant writing. These skills will make me more attractive to prospective employers and will help me attain a job at the end of the fellowship.

Mots clés : iron based superconductors, topological properties

Participants :
- University of Copenhagen (Danemark) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 219312.0 €
Projet ToPP (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The intricacies of the human mind and its disorders are one of the remaining modern-day enigmas. Whereas recent advances in brain imaging and genetics are currently changing the clinical neurosciences by identifying novel general mechanisms of complex traits underlying risk and resilience at the group level, our understanding of individual-level causes and mechanisms of mental disorder has remained almost unchanged which is important because clinical management must be performed at the individual level. During the Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions-Standard European-Individual Fellowship (MSCA-SE-IF) I will address this challenge. Initially, I will expand our innovative normative modeling framework to incorporate information on degree of genetic relatedness (Genetic Normative Model). Similar to growth charts in pediatrics, for which a child’s height is compared to the normative height at her/his age, we describe the distance of each individual in reference to the empirical population/healthy norm of a biological process. We compute this distance while also incorporating information on relatedness quantified by bioinformatic tools based on single-nucleotide polymorphisms across the genome or familiar relationships. We apply this approach in two discrete ways. First, we map the distance between individuals in reference to this norm based on their degree of genetic relatedness (Genetic Mapping), and second, we place individuals showing symptoms of mental disorders in reference to the estimated norm. In this way we can dissect pathophysiological mechanisms on a case by case basis (Disorder Mapping). This individualized approach has the potential to revolutionize our understanding of the heterogeneous mechanisms modulating risk and resilience of mental disorders and requires a joint effort across disciplines. Therefore, while hosted at NORMENT, a center of excellence in Norway, I will spend a secondment at the University of Oxford mentored by world leading experts.

Mots clés : brain imaging, imaging genetics, mental disorders, precision medicine, big data analytics

Participants :
- University of Oslo (Norvège) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 202158.72 €
Projet NEOMEDIS (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The introduction of farming (6th millennium BC) fundamentally transformed the Western Mediterranean but prehistorians have long argued about the causes, tempo and completeness for this change. Stable isotope analysis (SIA) of ancient human bones provides a novel approach for addressing this problem directly reconstructing diet and crudely assessing the transition from foraging and fishing to farming. However, there are some uncertainties with this approach precluding the accurate determination of the extent to which Neolithic ‘farmers’ still relied on marine foods. This is important as a prominent model for the so-called ‘Neolithisation’ is of population replacement and of a complete change to domesticated cereals and animal products. The existing state-of-the-art relies on analysing bone protein from skeletal remains and relate these measurements to data obtained from potential food sources. NEOMEDIS aims to advance this approach by breaking down the protein into their constituent amino acids and analysing the carbon, nitrogen and sulfur isotopes in these individual molecules tracing different dietary components to obtain an approach that will provide a more accurate dietary reconstruction. NEOMEDIS will provide detailed dietary reconstructions for 75 Neolithic individuals from the NW Mediterranean dating from the first arrival of farming to the Middle Neolithic to examine the change over this period. Skeletal remains from key sites are already in hand, benefit from excellent chronologies and contextual information provided by leading expert collaborators in Spain, France and Italy. The fellowship will furnish the applicant in next-generation methods skills in SIA that are beginning to be widely applied in ecology, archaeology and geochemistry using facilities that are not yet available in her country. The applicant will obtain a unique skill set and the independence to pursue her own bioarchaeological research following a clear route towards professional maturity.

Mots clés : stable isotopes, palaeodiet, neolithic, mediterranean basin, csia

Participants :
- University of York (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 195454.8 €
Projet CatCoW (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The introduction of the Corded Ware Culture across much of Central and Northern Europe during the 3rd millennium BC was a time of major cultural transformation, which recent ancient genomic work has linked to a series of migrations from the Pontic-Caspian steppe region. The people attributed to the Corded Ware Culture had shared burial practices, material culture and cord-decorated ceramics, and it has also been suggested that they had an increased reliance on dairy products compared to other Neolithic populations, evidenced by a higher frequency of the genetic variant for lactase persistence than other Neolithic populations, meaning that they could tolerate the higher amounts of lactose present in fresh milk. However, the context of this potential dietary change has not been explored, and we currently do not know enough about how animal husbandry practices or agriculture may have changed at this time, or how dairy products were being used on a daily basis. CatCoW will investigate this issue. It will consider the hypothesis that Corded Ware Culture migration from the steppe led to the introduction of new cattle stock and an increasing economic reliance on dairy products. To do this it will focus on animal bone and pottery recovered from settlements in the areas now occupied by modern day Switzerland and the Netherlands, which both have rich archaeological records covering the transition to the Corded Ware Culture. This highly interdisciplinary study will consist of four parallel and complementary lines of investigation: 1. Archaeozoology, 2. Archaeogenetics, 3. Organic Residue Analysis, and 4. Palaeoproteomics.

Mots clés : neolithic, archaeozoology, archaeogenetics, lipid residue analysis, proteomics, husbandry

Participants :
- University of York (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 212933.76 €
Projet CuTAN (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The invention of processes that can form several bonds, stereocentres and rings in a single process is key to a sustainable future in synthetic chemistry. Multicomponent reactions and tandem procedures are two strategies that enable the rapid build-up of molecular complexity from simple reagents. By combining these two strategies into a single procedure, the diversity, complexity and value of products can be further enhanced along with the efficiency and economy of their construction. In this project, Dr Satpathi will develop novel copper-catalyzed multicomponent couplings of unsaturated hydrocarbons (e.g. allenes, enynes) with imines and boron reagents. These procedures will provide high-value amine products with universally high regio-, diastero- and enantiocontrol. The products will bear a variety of synthetic handles, for example, amino, alkynyl/alkenyl, and boryl groups, thus the products are primed for subsequent transformation. Dr Satpathi will exploit this functionality in tandem intramolecular couplings (e.g. intramolecular Suzuki/Buchwald-Hartwig reactions) to provide core cyclic structures of drug molecules and natural products. Thus, through a tandem procedure of; 1) copper-catalyzed borofunctionalization, and; 2) subsequent transition-metal catalyzed cyclization, he will gain efficient access to highly sought-after complex molecules. Overall, the process will provide high-value, chiral, cyclic motifs from abundant, achiral, linear substrates. Finally, Dr Satpathi has identified the phthalide-isoquinoline family of alkaloids as target molecules to display the power of his tandem methodology. Dr Satpathi has devised a novel route, which begins with our tandem multifunctionalization/cyclization reaction, to provide a range of these important alkaloids. The chosen alkaloids are of particular interest as they display a range of bioactivities – for example as natural products, receptor antagonists and on-market drugs.

Mots clés : catalysis, copper, multicomponent, tandem

Participants :
- University of Manchester (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 212933.76 €
Projet GINGER (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The issues of globalisation, intercultural relations, migration crisis and ecological crisis are among the most challenging problems that Europe is currently facing. In their core lies the issue of identity-otherness dual. The present project attempts to address these problems in an innovative way seeking to understand whether the current situation in Europe leads to transformation of the dominant European worldview and whether and how Eastern religions influence this process. Therefore, the aim of the project is to investigate the contemporary interrelation between Europe and Eastern religions. The project combines study in the fields of comparative philosophy and religion, as well as philosophy, sociology and anthropology of religion. It has three major objectives: (1) a research objective, (2) an educational dissemination objective and (3) career advancement objective. The general research objective is to write a book with a working title “Eastern religions in Europe” investigating why and how Eastern religions penetrate and exist within the European worldview and society. The educational dissemination objective is to contribute to development of a tolerant attitude to otherness. Enrichment and extension of research, teaching and organisational skills and abilities of the researcher through the proposed research and training will contribute to her professional development, career advancement (full professorship) and development of new BA and MA courses at home University on religious and cultural interconnections between East and West.

Mots clés : eastern philosophy, eastern religion, comparative philosophy, comparative religion, tolerance

Participants :
- Leipzig University (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 171460.8 €
Projet BIDMAG (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The key goals of the BIDMAG project are: a) the training of a talented experienced researcher, Dr Lopes, in the fast growing field of science, technology and industrial applications of magnetic biosensors, where the host has a critical knowledge and expertise; and, b) design, development and optimisation of cost-efficient smart hybrid surfaces onto magnetic substrates, able to present magnetic response for detecting bacteria. The interdisciplinary training program includes magnetic materials surface modification, fabrication, modelling, characterisation of Magnetoelastic Resonators (MER), surface biofunctionalisation and detection of the biological parameters, which will enhance and broaden her expertise and increase her exposure to both academic and industrial collaborations. She is a talented researcher who has gained much expertise in interdisciplinary area of electroactive polymer composites during her postgraduate career. This background is invaluable for applying in preparation and characterisation techniques of smart materials. To further her career in magnetic biosensors Dr Lopes needs to gain expertise in functional materials and magnetic characterisation, fields in which BCMaterials has a world-recognised expertise. Additionally, through secondments at academic and industrial co-hosts, at ACREO and VAC, respectively, she will gain additional training in: industrial production of MER and Optimization of compact and commercial MER interrogation systems.The impact of the project will be multidisciplinary, since it has applications ranging from environmental monitorization and food quality control to fast medical diagnostics. Besides, to further boost her career, Dr Lopes needs to increase her supervision and teaching experience, gain project and intellectual property management expertise, research funding and proposal writing skills. Multidisciplinary activities will assist her in acquiring necessary competences and reaching professional maturity.

Mots clés : biosensors, magnetic resonator, magnetic detection, polymer surface, biofunctionalisation

Participants :
- Basque Center for Materials, Applications and Nanostructures (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 158121.6 €