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

Whether and how adult brains retain the ability to adapt their function and structure, especially in the context of learning, injury or restorative treatment is a fundamental question in neuroscience. In particular, understanding how neurons rewire or adapt during plasticity has been limited to (i) local electrophysiological measurements that lack the ability to report on brainwide aspects of plasticity, (ii) terminal experiments preventing longitudinal exploration in the same animal, or (iii) brainwide functional imaging with little insight into the underlying neural activity. Therefore, despite the scientific and clinical relevance of deciphering the neural substrate of neuroplasticity, a mechanistic, brain-wide study bridging the multiple spatiotemporal scales required for understanding neuroplasticity, is still lacking. We here propose to combine cutting edge functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging with calcium recordings in an animal model of visual pathway plasticity. First, we will use this exceptional multi-modal system to investigate the neurovascular coupling during visual stimulation and at-rest. Second, we will apply advanced computational neural models to characterize the functional organization of receptive fields and underlying circuitry across the rodent visual pathway and cortical layers. Third, we aim to map the time-course of functional reorganization and restructuring of neural circuitry following damage to the visual system. To do so, we will induce localized monocular retinal lesions and quantify changes in cortical organization and micro-circuitry resulting from the damage under differential visual experience (dark/ light exposure). This project will provide the first mechanistic description of adaptive circuitry processes and retinotopic (re)organization of the entire visual pathway associated with experience-dependent plasticity. Clinically, this is critical to assess the optimal timing for visual restorative and rehabilitation treatments.

Mots clés : ultra high resolution mri, calcium recordings, receptive field, vision, neurovascular coupling

Participants :
- Champalimaud Foundation (Portugal) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 147815.04 €
Projet MechTransition (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

While cancer biologists have long assumed that developmental Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transitions (EMT) transcriptional programs also control cancer metastasis, our lab has recently found that cancer EMT instead uses a mechanical-based two-step process. Typically, epithelial cells fated to die get extruded apically into the lumen. However, oncogenic mutations that drive metastatic cancers hijack this process, causing cells to either form masses or to extrude basally back into the tissue at separate sites. Basal extrusion causes transformed cells to not only invade but also to lose their entire apical membranes, including their E-cadherins, which are critical to epithelial identity. Later, invading cells migrate using a stable-bleb type motility typical of cells in confined spaces and then transdifferentiate into a variety of different cell types. While our lab has established that basal extrusion causes invasion and loss of epithelial identity, it is unclear what later causes cells to become mesenchymal. Using the transparent zebrafish embryo, I will investigate the mechanisms that promote the second step of EMT by answering the following questions: 1) Does mechanical stress following basal extrusion cause trans-differentiation of invading cells? 2) What programs promote EMT of transformed cells? 3) What environments allow invading cells to colonise specific tissues? Our new EMT model represents a paradigm shift in our understanding of how tumour cells initiate metastasis, survive in different environments, and become distinct cell types. Thus, addressing these aims could impact our ability to finally treat metastatic disease.

Mots clés : cell mechanics, epithelial to mesenchymal transition  emt, cell extrusion, zebrafish, mechanotransduction, quantitative microscopy

Participants :
- University of London (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 224933.76 €
Projet GENSEG (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

While in many countries women have been increasing their participation in higher education, fields of study continue to be segregated by gender. Men dominate the technical fields which include mathematics, engineering and the physical sciences, whereas women tend to engage in areas that have a social and caring dimension. Despite numerous policies to enhance gender equalities in society, gender segregation in higher education, ironically, appears to be more pronounced in post-industrial countries, such as Germany, than in developing/transforming societies. Although gender differences in field of study and occupational choices are shaped by multifarious influences, the role of parents might be particularly worth attention because parents are the primary and one of the most influential socialising agents in childhood and adolescence. In fact, one possible source of students’ knowledge about and interest in a particular field of study and career early on stems from parental education and occupation. The impact of parents’ occupational fields and its gender typicality has received less attention than parental education in early research. Even though some studies have identified the association of parental occupations with students’ engagement in gender-atypical fields of study, they do not provide any empirical evidence of the mechanism for the relationship. Despite the possibly significant influence of parental occupation on the educational and career choices of adolescent boys and girls, previous quantitative studies rarely examined the mechanisms for the relationship between such gender differences and parental occupations. With the proposed research “Understanding the impact of parental occupation on gender differences in field of study and occupational choices in Germany”, that comprises 3 projects using secondary and primary data, I seek to offer new evidence on how parental occupations influence students’ choices of a gender-atypical field of study and career.

Mots clés : gender inequalities in education, educational and occupational choices, parental occupations, german education

Participants :
- University of Tübingen (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 159460.8 €
Projet GUTWORM (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Whipworms (Trichuris trichuira) are soil-transmitted helminths that infect about 700 million people in the tropics and sub-tropics and cause the human disease, trichuriasis. Whipworms live preferentially in the cecum of their hosts where they tunnel through epithelial cells and cause inflammation potentially resulting in colitis. Despite extensive research, the role of whipworm interactions with epithelial and immune cells in triggering parasite expulsion remains unclear, hindering the development of anti-parasite therapies. The ultimate goal of my research proposal is to investigate and understand this interaction in detail. To achieve this, I will use T. muris, a mouse model of T. trichuira infection in humans. This research proposal has three key aims. First, to identify new parasite and host genes that could interplay and modulate immunological outcomes. Second, to characterize the role of host genes in whipworm infection and immunity. Here, novel and known candidate mutations conferring susceptibility to colitis identified through the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute - Mouse Genetics Project will be targeted. Thus, I will challenge mutant mouse lines with T. muris and evaluate the influence of these mutations on anti-parasite immunity and expulsion. Finally, upon identification of key genes regulating the immune response to whipworms, I will explore the mechanism of action of selected genes and their effect on the parasite. For this, I will take advantage of the vast range of ‘omic’ technologies and facilities available at the WTSI. This project will generate novel fundamental data on host-whipworms interactions and also support future efforts to control these parasites by the identification of potential new therapeutic targets. Moreover, resulting knowledge of the parasiteimmunological interplay could be exploited to understand other intestinal inflammatory diseases such as ulcerative colitis that have many similarities with trichuriasis.

Mots clés : whipworms, intestinal epithelial cells, host parasite interaction, trichuriasis, trichuris muris, intestinal immune system

Participants :
- Wellcome Trust (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 183454.8 €
Projet FPNP-BioLED (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : SIGNED

White light-emitting diodes (WLEDs) are the future of the artificial illumination promising to reduce 20% of the global electricity consumption in 2025. Nowadays, the main concern of the WLED technology is its sustainable development with respect to the inorganic phosphors (IPs) due to toxicity, environmental hazardousness, scarcity, high costs, and lack of efficient recycling protocols. In this context, bio-hybrid WHLEDs (Bio-WHLED) is emerging as a solid alternative showing how to replace IPs for sustainable fluorescent protein (FPs) embedded in a polymer matrix. In detail, Bio-WHLEDs take advantage of highly emissive blue, green, and red FPs that are stabilized into a rigid or elastomeric polymeric matrix over years under ambient storage and over months under device operation conditions. One of the main challenges towards stable and efficient Bio-WHLEDs consists in the difficult control of spatial distribution of FPs, which implies nonefficient energy transfer processes related to the distance in the polymeric matrix. Moreover, the overheating of Bio-WHLEDs related to the free motion of FP into the polymer matrix leads to the melting of the polymeric matrix and the quick photobleaching of the FPs due to the H-transfer deactivation of the chromophore under continuous excitation. To circumvent these limitations, we propose to develop highly efficient and stable Bio-WHLEDs using single-layered color filters with new white-emitting core-shell FP-nanoparticles (FPNP), in which a white-emitting core in the form of either a mixture of FPs or oligomeric white FPs is protected by a double shell of silica/metal oxide that will simultaneously avoid heat generation (protein motion) and H-transfer processes.

Mots clés : bio hybrid light emitting diodes, color down converting filters, fluorescent proteins, inorganic coating, silica nanoparticles

Participants :
- Technical University of Munich (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 162806.4 €
Projet EVOL-WNS (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

White-Nose Syndrome (WNS) is a fungal disease affecting bats during hibernation. Since 2007, an estimated 6 million bats in North-America have died of the infection, which causes bats to prematurely consume the fat reserves deposited for winter hibernation. The infected bats arouse from hibernation more frequently; probably due to epidermal damage caused by Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd), a psychrophilic fungus. Pd originates from Europe, however, European bats appear to be tolerant to the infection. Tolerance has also been recently observed in remnant populations in the U.S, where these WNS-survivors have co-existed with the fungus since 2006. The mechanisms leading to adaptation or tolerance remain unknown. Here we aim to investigate genetic factors that may contribute to Pd-tolerance in the most frequently infected genus of bats, Myotis. By using DNA-samples from two Myotis species from North America (Myotis lucifugus) and Europe (Myotis brandtii), we should observe selection in gene orthologs between European bats and bats in WNS-survivor populations. The selection profiles should differ from archived WNS-susceptible bats, sampled before the onset of the wildlife disease. Once we have identified suitable candidate genes with PoolSeq and detection of selective sweeps, we will validate the results by comparing the transcriptomes of both infected WNS-susceptible and infected WNS-survivor M. lucifugus and infected M. brandtii in the last quartile of their hibernation. The results will demonstrate the pan-species and population-wide effects of a real-time bottleneck and help us understand the mechanisms promoting tolerance to the pathogens. The proposal will provide training in technical and transferable skills to allow the experienced researcher to gain a tenured position and achieve impact through conservation measures that help predict bat population survival rates and hibernation strategies.

Mots clés : wildlife epidemics bat pathogen resistance

Participants :
- University of Liverpool (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 183454.8 €
Projet WISEFLOW (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Whole-plant assessment of Innovative, Sustainable and Energy-efficient Future Layouts Of Wastewater treatment plants The WISEFLOW project addresses multiple, and oftentimes conflicting, current and future challenges of wastewater treatment plants: load increases due to population growth and urbanization, stricter effluent quality limits, space-limitations for building new plants, energy-efficiency and last but not the least, sustainability. A promising perspective to address these challenges is through the integration of existing and novel technologies, in a smart and innovative way, within wastewater treatment plant configurations. These technologies include, but are not limited to: anaerobic treatment, high-rate activated sludge units, chemically enhanced primary treatment, aerobic granular sludge systems and shortcut nitrogen removal processes. Moreover, besides description of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus in biochemical processes, attention will be paid to the fate of sulfur, which has deleterious effects and is often overlooked but is particularly present in coastal areas. Research in this project will focus on key process engineering aspects, i.e. design and control, as the missing link to bring sustainable schemes for municipal wastewater treatment into practice. Through model-based analysis of unit processes and integrated schemes, including model calibration and validation based on experimental full- and lab-scale data, the proposed schemes will be optimized, evaluated and compared using multi-criteria objective analysis and newly-developed evaluation criteria. The overall multi-criteria evaluation and optimization of these novel wastewater treatment plant schemes is technically challenging and inherently innovative. The developed methodology and insights gained from this project will not be only most valuable as such, but will also be transferable to additional novel treatment technologies coming up in the future.

Mots clés : wastewater treatment, multi criteria optimization, multi criteria analysis, process design, process control, novel technologies

Participants :
- Ghent University (Belgique) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 178320.0 €
Projet PETITIA (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Why did Dutch merchants petition the Amsterdam city council for free trade in the English Empire in the middle of the Dutch Golden Age? And why was there a plan for a Dutch American Company to protect trade in the English colonies in Barbados, Virginia, and the Leeward Islands? This project posits that both were creations of a transnational advocacy network (TAN). This TAN was a cooperation between Dutch merchants and English planters in the English Atlantic colonies. This Research Action emphasizes the interdependent nature of economic interests and political decision making in international politics and diplomacy in the Early Modern period. Such an approach illuminates the historical origins of TANs predating the nineteenth century and challenges the strict national framework of petitions. This proposal highlights the importance of non-state actors in international affairs and empire building. Moreover, this approach adds a novel Atlantic perspective to both the English Civil Wars and the (first) Anglo-Dutch War(s). Finally, this project is a unique case to answer the question why a successful transnational economic network attempted to become a formal, state-chartered, organization called the Dutch America Company. This research has a two-pronged approach. [1] Reconstruct the economic exposure of the petitioners; linking names and signatures to notarial deeds relating to these English colonies. [2] Reconstruct the TAN’s coordination and strategy by comparing rhetoric and argumentation between petitions and diplomatic correspondence and pamphlets.

Mots clés : petitions, atlantic history, early modern history, institution, networks, transnational advocacy

Participants :
- University of Cambridge (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 224933.76 €
Projet WHYAGE (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Why do organisms age? This is surely one of the most compelling questions in biology. With advancing age, organisms can see physiological decline leading to higher mortality and lower fertility, a process known as ‘senescence’. The foundations of aging research state senescence should be inevitable in any organism, and is likely a by-product of attenuation in force of selection with age. But is senescence inevitable? Could senescence be adaptive? Senescence is not inevitable, according to recent research from the Max Planck Odense Center, University of Southern Denmark. Species’ aging trajectories are diverse; mortality and fertility may increase, decrease or stay constant with age. We need a new way to understand aging, which recognises this diversity and seeks to understand pattern and process in the evolution of aging across the tree of life. The WHYAGE project explores ecological consequences and evolutionary causes of diversity in aging from this ‘macro’ perspective. Senescence could be adaptive. This proposal presents a theoretical framework under which certain environmental disturbances affecting population age structures could, through population-level processes, favour senescent individuals. More generally, diverse environmental disturbance regimes could help explain diversity of aging across the tree of life. Three objectives facilitate the project. First, demographic method development will allow better understanding of aging trajectories in mortality and fecundity, and population dynamics influenced by these. Second, comparative phylogenetic analyses of global demographic databases of plants and animals will uncover the consequences of aging for population dynamics across the tree of life. This knowledge will inform the third objective; development of theoretical population models exploring how environmental disturbances and population dynamics feed into evolutionary processes, and using these to find conditions under which senescence may be adaptive.

Mots clés : aging senescence mathematics statistics model theory population phylogeny evolution comparative database animal plant environment disturbance perturbation dynamics demography transient stochastic

Participants :
- University of Southern Denmark (Danemark) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 200194.8 €
Projet OPTIshell (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Why in the age of 4.0 industrial evolution and ubiquitous Artificial Intelligence, the construction industry has such a devastating impact on ecology? Architectural Design Optimization (ADO) can aid us in designing buildings and structures that can perform better than ever before. Despite the growing interest in the application of ADO to find zero-energy and cost-optimal solutions for buildings in academia, its influence on practice remains very limited. The main reason, preventing the wider adaptation of the optimization solvers in practice, is the lack of optimizers dedicated for multi-objective constrained optimization problems (CMOPs), while majority of the real-world design problems involve multiple criteria and diverse constraints. Moreover, there is no industry validated evidence on economic and ecological benefits of ADO. OPTIshell will introduce into Architectural Design Optimization an innovative optimization algorithm based on Swarm Intelligence (SI) dedicated for CMOPs. The results of this research will provide crucial information on applicability of SI methods for CMOPs in design area. The performance of SI will be assessed with different tuning parameters and compared to the existing Evolutionary Computation in solving ADO problems. OPTIshell will demonstrate the ADO benefits through the optimization and construction of solar timber gridshells powered by flexible perovskites modules - CarPort4.0 . Development and testing multi-objective optimization is one of the most relevant research directions in ADO. Introduction of the constrained multi-objective Swarm Intelligence optimization into architectural design will be a significant step towards evolution of ADO and wider adoption of optimization in architectural practice. The industry-validated benchmark may increase the overall credibility of ADO methods. CMOPs increasingly occur in architectural practice, so proposed SI method has the potential to become a revolutionary tool in sustainable design.

Mots clés : architectural design optimization, swarm intelligence, multidisciplinary optimization, timber gridshells, perovskites, solar energy, industry 4 0

Participants :
- Saule spolka akcyjna (Pologne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Organismes privés (hors enseignement), subvention : 137625.6 €