Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-actions-marie-curie-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet SAVE (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) are characterised by abnormal connections between arteries and veins due to defects during vascular remodelling. Although often asymptomatic, AVMs can cause intense pain and patients affected present higher risk for strokes and aneurysms. Hereditary AVMs have a prevalence of 18 in 100000 people causing a two-fold increase in mortality in patients younger than 60 years of age. Hereditary AVMs are linked to defective Notch/BMP signalling, however they represent less than 10% of cases. The majority of AVMs do not present genetic mutations and remain idiopathic. Asides Notch/BMP signalling, vascular responses to haemodynamic forces generated by blood flow are crucial regulators of blood vessel formation. The passage of fluid results in physical forces on the endothelium, i.e. shear stress, which activate signalling cascades inside the cells necessary for vascular remodelling. Endothelial cells sense shear stress through proteins localised on their plasmatic membrane. The calcium channel Piezo1 is required for shear stress induced calcium signalling and its ablation resulted in serious vascular defects. Both shear stress and calcium signalling are known to affect the activation of Notch, a pathway essential during the process of arterial-venous specification and vascular remodelling. Therefore we hypothesise that Piezo1 plays a crucial role in arterial venous specification and onset of AVMs by modulating Notch signalling activation. This proposal utilises an interdisciplinary approach to decipher the new targets underlying the intricate and still unknown interaction of physical and molecular mechanisms responsible for defective arterial venous specification. The results of this research will potentially provide appealing diagnostic and therapeutic opportunities for both hereditary and idiopathic AVMs.

Mots clés : piezo1, notch signalling, shear stress, avms, arterial venous specification

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

Artificial photosynthesis, in which solar energy is directly used to generate fuels and useful chemicals from CO2 and water, is a promising solution to both energy crisis and global warming issues now-a-days. However, implementation of such a sustainable solar-fuel technology requires efficient light harvester and catalyst materials to power the uphill reaction. The proposed project is aimed to develop a novel flow cell set up with gas diffusion photocathode (GDP) for photoelectrochemical CO2 conversion into multicarbon alcohols (high energy density fuels). A layer by layer electrode fabrication method (systematic assembly of diffusion layer, photo-sensitizer, and co-catalyst materials) will be employed to develop a gas diffusion photocathode. Novel co-catalyst activation processes will be used to make the photocathodes active for multicarbon alcohol production. The innovative aspect of “SolarFUEL” is to employ a flow cell/GDP set up for the first time in photoelectrochemistry to produce alcohols from CO2. The cathodic solar CO2 conversion process will be coupled to an anodic solar water oxidation process. Operando spectroscopy studies (Raman, IR, and UV-Vis) will be carried out to monitor the catalyst systems and reaction pathways. The project being at the interface of material synthesis, photo-, electro-chemistry, and spectroscopy, will provide an excellent opportunity for the experienced researcher (ER) to develop profound scientific and technical expertise. In addition, the fellowship will allow the ER to gain complementary skills such as, manuscript preparation, public outreach, networking and collaboration which will be substantially helpful for his future independent career. The combination of the cutting-edge science and training excellence of the project will enhance the ER’s academic career prospect as well as improve the host’s international reputation.

Mots clés : photoelectrochemistry, gas diffusion electrode, flow cell, co2 conversion, operando spectroscopy

Participants :
- University of Cambridge (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 212933.76 €
Projet AtropFluoPhoto (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Arylated heterocyclic systems, such as fluorophores, have a long history as a component in functional materials. They are extremely useful platforms for a broad application in material science, biological imaging or organic synthesis, owing to their unique chemical, photophysical, and electrochemical properties. The development of an efficient route to prepare this type of heterocycles continues to attract interest for various applications, while only limited to the synthesis of symmetric fluorophores in racemic fashion. Introducing a chiral element into the molecules is of great significance for drug discovery, the design of catalysts for asymmetric synthetic photochemistry and other enantioselective methods. The resulting fluorophore bearing enantiospecific sensing platforms may also find potential applications in the enantioselective recognition of chiral small molecules or bioactive compounds such as DNA. Hence, the aim of the proposed AtropFluoPhoto is to develop a strategy for the asymmetric catalytic synthesis of chiral heterocyclic fluorophores. We plan to investigate different activation modes, such as chiral Brønsted acid and anion-binding catalysis, to achieve the construction of axially chiral fluorophores in intramolecular or intermolecular reactions. With the knowledge of their unique chemical and photophysical properties, we will then particularly explore their practical application in synthesis and novel catalyst design for asymmetric catalysis in photocatalysis. The proposed research will greatly broaden the fellow´s competencies and help him reach the professional maturity for a future academic career.

Mots clés : catalysis, organocatalysis, asymmetric catalysis, organo fluorophores, helicenes, photocatalysis, axial chirality, ion pairing catalysis, chiral phosphoric acid

Participants :
- University of Basel (Suisse) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 203149.44 €
Projet Tips in SCQFT (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

As a MSC fellow I will work on the investigation of non-perturbative and topological properties of strong interactions and beyond. This project includes the study of 3 timely problems on Strongly Coupled Quantum Field Theories (SCQFT) using Lattice techniques. Within this project I will provide the detailed calculation of the spectrum of the closed flux-tube in 4-dimensional Yang-Mills theory and investigate the properties of the new "axion" particle on the worldsheet of the QCD flux-tube. This includes the extraction of the excitation spectrum of the flux-tube in the fundamental representation of colour with N-ality k=1 as well as in representations with k=0 and k=2, for short as well as long-flux tubes and for arbitrary values of the θ-vacuum angle. Furthermore, I will evaluate the Standard Model value of the neutron Electric Dipole Moment (nEDM) via Lattice QCD; this investigation would make use of 3 and 4 flavours of quarks with masses corresponding to the physical pion mass as well as an extrapolation to the continuum. This would provide valuable input for current and future experiments measuring nEDM. In addition I will investigate strongly coupled BSM physics as a possible explanation for the mechanism of electroweak symmetry breaking. Within this framework I will study the continuum properties of the SU(2) Yang-Mills theory with 1 adjoint Dirac flavour. This might proved to be an essential component of a theory that could realise the mechanism of electroweak symmetry breaking and could be verified by LHC or future experiments. This 3-fold interdisciplinary project requires computational work which involves highly sophisticated numerical techniques and state of the art HPC facilities. The above actions will be running in parallel with an estimated completion time of 24 months. Moreover this proposal aims to train the fellow on GPU programming, simulations at finite θ, BSM phenomenology and to introduce as well as to establish UNIPI in Lattice BSM studies.

Mots clés : lattice gauge theory, strong interactions, bosonic strings, neutron electric dipole moment, conformal window, beyond the standard model physics, vacuum, gpu programming, computational physics

Participants :
- University of Pisa (Italie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 180277.2 €
Projet RNAmpMax (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

As a Maria Skłodowska-Curie Fellow, I aim to develop formulated next-generation RNA replicons that are designed to overcome the limiting initial type I interferon response that inhibits amplification and protein expression. RNA replicons are currently a cutting edge nucleic acid platform for delivery of vaccines and therapeutics, as they do not require penetration into the nucleus like plasmid DNA, but possess self-amplification properties that results in more efficient protein expression than messenger RNA. While pDNA and mRNA have have demonstrated excellent results with low doses when tested in mice doses must be scaled up by two orders of magnitude to mirror these effects in nonhuman primates. This disparity reflects a non-linear dose-response relationship, where increased doses are associated with triggering of an interferon cascade which restricts protein expression. Under the supervision of Prof. Robin Shattock, a world leader in translational vaccines and clinical trials at Imperial College London, I aim to overcome this translational barrier for RNA replicons by focusing on maximizing protein expression. I intend to engineer synergistic increases in the amplification of RNA replicons through a combination of molecular modifications designed to minimize interferon response and co-delivery with synthetic single-strand oligonucleotides known to inhibit the interferon pathway. These molecular adaptions will be paired with a novel delivery polymer that directly incorporates oligonucleotides into the RNA polyplex, thus ensuring co-localization: to be synthesized in collaboration with Prof. Molly Stevens, a world leader in polymeric biomaterials, during a secondment at the Karolinska Institutet. This project is the first demonstration of synergistic molecular and formulation design to address the non-linear dose-response relationship, and could impact scalability of RNA vaccines and therapeutics making them more affordable and available in Europe and worldwide.

Mots clés : rna vaccine, nucleic acid formulation, immunoengineering

Participants :
- Imperial College London (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 183454.8 €
Projet MADGRASS (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

As a consequence of anthropogenic climate change, it has been hypothesized that human-mediated deforestation degraded closed-canopy forest into grasslands dominated by fire- and grazing-resistant grasses. There is accumulating evidence, however, that tropical grasslands are natural biomes with origins that predate human activities. The extent to which grasslands have expanded and contracted in response to natural climate cycles versus more recent agricultural practices remains an open question and is the motivation for the proposed research. MADGRASS focuses on the grasslands of central Madagascar, because identifying ancient grasslands and protecting them is of urgent conservation interest. Population genomic methods and novel bioinformatic approaches will be used to test demographic hypotheses that will identify the timing of grassland expansions and contractions, population structure, and gene flow between populations. Research goals are made possible by recent advances in the analysis of polyploid species, which will be implemented through MADGRASS. There are direct conservation policy outcomes expected from MADGRASS. Currently, tree-planting programs are attempting to re-forest the grasslands of central Madagascar. These programs often include invasive tree species that grow quickly and require more water than is available, which can unintentionally lead to increased frequency and intensity of fires and overall detrimental outcomes. We will identify the range of Madagascar’s natural grasslands that should be protected. Results will also be used to identify which grasslands should be released from protected status for community and commercial use, building respect and trust with local Malagasy people. All aspects of the proposed research will be conducted in close collaboration with Malagasy colleagues and include specific outreach activities for both local communities in Madagascar and broader scientific and lay groups.

Mots clés : grasslands, polyploidy, population genomics, historical demography, coalescent theory

Participants :
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 224933.76 €
Projet PERSIST (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

As a global healthcare issue, chronic and recurrent infections are often caused by multidrug tolerant persister cells, which are regulated by redundant pathways involving the almost ubiquitous alarmone (p)ppGpp. Despite extensive studies, two major questions in the persistence field remain to be answered, 1) the extent to which (p)ppGpp is involved in persistence and 2) how persistent cells resuscitate. To address these questions, three state-of-the-art techniques will be used in this project. First, DRaCALA (differential radial capillary action of ligand assay) will be used to systematically screen for proteins directly binding (p)ppGpp for the first time. The potential fellow from the Imperial College London has tremendous experience in DRaCALA. Second, barcode analysis by sequencing (Bar-seq) technique will be used to screen for persistence-specific and, for the first time, also resuscitation-specific genes. Collaboration with the partner Professor Duncan Maskel at the University of Cambridge, UK, a specialist in quantitative DNA deep sequencing, will ensure smooth progress of this objective and enable the potential fellow to be trained with this first-class technique. Both DRaCALA and Bar-seq will be transferred to the host lab. At last, identified candidate genes and proteins through the first two objectives will be validated with the contemporary single cell persistence assay developed in the host Professor Kenn Gerdes’s lab, at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Bar-seq and single cell persistence assay will be transferred to the potential fellow by senior postdocs in the partner and host labs, respectively. The tripartite cooperation with complementary expertise on a timely important project is expected to generate significant amount of high-quality data for the persistence field, facilitate extensive transfer of knowledge and promote the potential fellow to obtain an independent research position in the area of molecular microbiology and physiology.

Mots clés : persistence, resuscitation, p ppgpp, bar seq, dracala

Participants :
- University of Copenhagen (Danemark) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 212194.8 €
Projet GENCARGAP (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Economic Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

As careers progress women tend to lag behind their male peers. This career divergence results in the underrepresentation of women in positions of power, which is bound to bear an important cost to individuals, firms, and society. It is likely to be linked with a misallocation of talent, make the glass ceiling more impenetrable, and hinder future progress towards equality. The focus of this project is on the role of gender composition within firms and occupations on the career divergence of men and women. Relying on high quality administrative data and a credible empirical design, I will estimate how the share of women in a firm affects the gender career gap. Then employing structural estimation approach, I will test the effectiveness of policies aimed at reducing gender imbalances within the workplace, such as quotas or equal opportunity policy. Finally, I will conduct a comparative analysis across European countries to test the external validity of the findings and to draw lessons on the role of institutional environment and how it interacts with different employment policies. The question I address speaks directly to an ongoing global political and economic debate. Advancement towards gender equality is currently one of the priorities of the new Strategic Agenda of the EU. The approach I take is novel and the results have a potential to shed light on the underlying causes of workplace gender imbalances. Finally, the cross-country comparative analysis will add to the relevance of this proposal in a European perspective. The community of the Universitat Pompeu Fabra and Barcelona School of Economics and the supervision by Professor González constitute the perfect environment to conduct this project. The main factors being the outstanding research conditions, the strong affinity of research interests and agenda with the Supervisor, and the presence of a high number of experts with complementary knowledge and skills, which will lead to two-way knowledge transfer.

Mots clés : gender, career gap, earnings profile

Participants :
- Pompeu Fabra University (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 172932.48 €
Projet SOCLE (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

As early shown with social insects, natural selection can maximize group performance by favouring the evolution of altruistic phenotypes. Such social selection has been shown to occur in a wide range of taxon, mainly in animals and microorganisms. Conversely, we have a very poor knowledge of social interactions in plants, mainly because the study of plant-plant interactions has largely remained disconnected from social evolution theory. For example, we don’t know which plant traits have social effects, and we don't know to what extent plant group performance can be affected by social effects. Better understanding social interactions in plants could open new opportunities for plant breeding. Indeed, it has long been suggested that crop yields could be increased by selecting more cooperative varieties. Moreover, advances in animal breeding based on social evolution have already shown convincing results. The aim of this project is thus to better understand social interaction in plants, using crops as a model system. Based on a competition experiment, I will use three approaches: a trait-blind approach, a trait-based approach, and a genomic approach. In the first approach, I will use the indirect genetic effects (IGE) framework to quantify the amount of heritable variation on crop yield that is due to social interactions, and compare it to the non-social heritable variation. With the second approach, I will test the social effects of a set of ecologically and agronomically important traits in order to identify those that contribute most to social interactions. Finally, I will use a genomic approach to look for genomic regions involved in social effects. Conducted in collaboration with plant breeders and leading scientists in the field of social evolution, this multi-disciplinary project will address fundamental research questions related to plant-plant interactions and their evolution, and pave the way for innovative agronomic solutions based on crop cooperation.

Mots clés : social evolution, crops, cooperation, indirect genetic effects, intraspecific interactions, plant breeding

Participants :
- University of Lausanne (Suisse) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 191149.44 €
Projet NATELM (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

As modern devices shrink, thermal management become increasingly critical. The need for better understanding and control of thermal transport at the nanoscale thus arise and has been in the spotlight for several years for semiconductors such as silicon in particular. Recently, layered and 2D materials have been the focus of much research for their promising optical and electronic properties, and will be the core of many future devices in the field of Information and Communication Technologies. Their thermal properties need to be understood and controllable. Due to experimental challenges, they have remained largely unexplored. We propose the first experimental realization of thermal and phononic devices in 2D and layered materials that are expected to function at temperatures exceeding 300K. Our approach is based on engineering defects, pores or inclusions, in suspended 2D materials by focused ion beam and electron-beam lithography. These method would allow fabrication of desired (periodic, asymmetric, gradient) patterns with close to atomic precision and characteristic length scale of ~10 nm. That is smaller than the mean free path and coherence length of phonons in materials such aWe propose the first experimental realization of phononic devices in 2D materials that are ex-pected to function at temperatures exceeding 300K. Our approach is based on engineering de-fects in suspended 2D materials by focused ion beam. This method would allow fabrication of desired (periodic, asymmetric) patterns with close to atomic precision and characteristic length scale of ~10 nm. That is smaller than the mean free path and coherence length of phonons in materials such as graphene. This would provide fundamentally new opportunities to study ballis-tic and coherent thermal transport phenomena, for which such dimensions are a requirement, and to design novel thermal devices. If successful, it would represent a major step forward in the field of thermal management at the nanoscale.

Mots clés : 2d materials, phonon transport, thermal rectification, thermal management, nanoscale energy management

Participants :
- Centre national de la recherche scientifique (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 133892.4 €