Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-actions-marie-curie-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet EvoColour (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2021)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

How genetic architecture and selection jointly contribute to evolution is central to understanding the striking diversity of colours and patterns in nature. Yet, major questions remain: do novel colour variants appear gradually or in jumps? Can evolution of sexual signals proceed independently of colours used for crypsis? Can evolution modify male colouration independently of the colour of females and vice versa? Answering these questions requires the integration of highly multivariate data on colouration and ecological data, as well as information about the underlying genetic relatedness between populations and lineages. In particular, rapid diversification of coloration, between lineages of the same species, can put the role of genetic constraint and selection in evolution to the test. This project will be novel in studying these factors simultaneously across an extraordinary radiation: Balearic wall lizards (Podarcis pityusensis and Podarcis lilfordi). These lizards exhibit a striking variation in colouration between lineages isolated on more than forty islands in the Balearic Islands (Spain). In this project, I will i) reveal the evolutionary history of Balearic wall lizards, ii) establish if genetic constraints bias evolutionary change by reconstructing evolutionary transitions in body colouration between males and females (i.e. sexual dichromatism), and iii) put to the test the role of sexual and natural selection for evolutionary change in male and female colouration. This will offer genuine insights into the origin and evolution of colour diversity, and help to resolve how the diversification of colouration is shaped by genetic constraints and sexual and natural selection. Complementary, this project will provide a wealth of information (e.g. molecular, morphological, ecological) about two endemic species currently facing a decreasing population trend.

Mots clés : animal communication, colouration, evolution, lizards, sexual dichromatism, visual signals

Participants :
- Université de Lund (Suède) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 222727.68 €
Projet DrunkButterflies (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2022)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Key innovations allow organisms to exploit novel resources fuelling rapid diversification. Fermenting fruits have higher nutritional value, for example, than nectar, and their consumption provides higher fitness benefits. However, the high alcohol concentration in fermenting fruits reaching up to 8% can be detrimental, making them a challenging resource. Nevertheless, diverse animals feed and breed on fermenting fruits using the alcohol detoxification system, yet little is known about how this convergent phenotype evolved. Such systems allow addressing key questions at the heart of evolutionary biology: what ecological drivers triggered shifts to feeding on fermenting fruits? Are such shifts key innovations? At what level of genetic mechanism do the diverse animals feeding on fermenting fruits show convergence in the alcohol detoxification system? These questions can only be answered using a large-scale, integrative and comparative evolutionary framework, yet studies remain focused on within populations of few taxa. My proposal seeks to answer these outstanding questions using the rich model system of butterflies, to quantify the ecological and genetic mechanisms underlying diet evolution (fermenting fruits vs nectar). My three main objectives are to: (1) Unravel the macroevolutionary patterns of convergence in dietary shifts and quantify impacts on diversification, (2) Conduct a comparative sequence analysis of the alcohol dehydrogenase gene and its enzyme across fruit and nectar feeders, and (3) Test hypotheses on the effects of dietary alcohol on fitness and gene expression in a fruit and nectar feeder. I will integrate information on butterfly natural history with methods from comparative phylogenetics, genomics, and experimental approaches to achieve my objectives. This fellowship will train me in precisely the technical and analytical techniques required for carrying out interdisciplinary research and advancing my career development as a leading scientist.

Mots clés : evolutionary ecology, macroevolution, butterflies, alcohol, alcohol dehydrogenase, comparative phylogenetics, genomics, rnaseq

Participants :
- Université de Stockholm (Suède) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Université de Lund (Suède) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 206887.68 €
Projet mAB (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2022)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Many of the exceptional breakthroughs in pharmaceutics require the collective and interdisciplinary effort of the scientific community to overcome challenges and shortcomings involved in optimizing the formulation of the final product. Monoclonal antibodies, for instance, have been found to be highly effective for the treatment of various immunological and allergic diseases as well as for cancer treatments thanks to their high specificity. On the other hand, they typically present high viscosities in concentrated solutions, dramatically altering their flow properties. The direct consequence is the difficulty in preparing stable solutions suitable for subcutaneous self-administration which, compared to intravenous infusion, would be advantageous in terms of patient compliance and adherence to the treatment, and reduced healthcare costs. Currently, a univocal framework providing microscopic interpretation to the enhanced viscosity is missing. With my proposal many(Anti)Bodies, I aim to address this issue by putting forward an interdisciplinary approach which exploits soft matter and colloidal science to investigate the molecular origin of the observed macroscopic behavior in antibody solutions. By combining numerical simulations with experiments, I will first design an accurate single-molecule model that accounts for the anisotropic shape of the antibody and include all relevant ingredients that determine intermolecular interactions. Therefore, through advanced computational techniques, I will be able to bring the current understanding of the antibody collective behavior and rheological properties to a new level, by shedding light on their dynamics and self-association in crowded environments. With the direct collaboration of pharmaceutical industries, my proposal will ultimately guide the formulation of novel antibody-based biologics and inspire future studies where the features of the antibody are designed according to the desired solution properties.

Mots clés : antibodies proteins machine learning rheology scattering experiments charges molecular dynamics coarse graining colloids anisotropic systems

Participants :
- Université de Lund (Suède) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 206887.68 €
Projet Weather Events (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2021)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Tackling the climate crisis in an appropriate way - making governments sign international climate agreements and letting citizens live up to them - proves difficult. A much-given explanation for this problem is the fact that many of the crisis' consequences are only about to happen in a distant future complicates making them visible and tangible in the present. However, extreme weather events (e.g., floods, heatwaves, hurricanes) might have the potential to break this pattern. This project investigates this potential, through analyzing the political impact of extreme weather in the American, Dutch, and Austrian public spheres. It will include three sub-studies: 1) mixed-method analyses (computational and qualitative investigations) of a wide variety of extreme weather events in newspapers, parliamentary debates, and policy documents from the three country contexts, to research to what extent, how, and why they impact political perceptions of the climate crisis; 2) a comparison of these results to analyses (based on similar data and methods) of the impact of terrorist events, occurrences which often seem to invoke more immediate and substantial political impact than extreme weather events; 3) interviews with public actors (journalists, politicians, scientists), to research the cultural and institutional opportunities and constrains they face in the (non-)creation of extreme weather event impact. All together, this project adds to two relatively under-developed sociological fields: environmental sociology and the sociology of events. On a societal level, it can potentially help politicians and policy makers with how they can, through their responses to extreme weather events, better handle the climate crisis.

Mots clés : events, extreme weather, climate crisis, social change, public spheres, mixed methods, content analysis, interviewing

Participants :
- KU Leuven (Belgique) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 175920.0 €
Projet MULTIGLOW (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2022)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The overall goal of this project is the detection and imaging of the serine protease TMPRSS2. The first chemical part focuses on the design and synthesis of "multi-modal" chemical probes to visualise serine proteases, in particular TMPRSS2. The then obtained smart activity-based probes will be used to complete the goal of the biomedical part of the project, which is of TMPRSS2 in a mouse model for colorectal cancer (CRC) and in blood samples of CRC and prostate cancer patients. Successful execution will lead to new diagnostic tools to detect TMPRSS2. The chemical tools will be readily applicable to other serine proteases as well, whereas the specific TMPRSS2 probes may also be used in other cancer types.

Mots clés : activity based probes, serine proteases, chemiluminescence, colorectal cancer, prostate cancer

Participants :
- KU Leuven (Belgique) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 191760.0 €
Projet Blue-PeroLED (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : SIGNED

In this project, we aim to develop metal halide perovskites-based spectrally stable, high-performance pure blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs). This research objective is crucial for the development of perovskite-based solution-processed, cost-effective next-generation solid-state lighting and display technologies. Despite achieving perovskite green and red LEDs with EQEs > 25% and luminance (L) >100000 cd/m2, the sought-after perovskite pure blue LEDs (455 nm < peak emission < 470 nm) have been lagging far behind in their performance with max. EQEs < 8% and L < 1000 cd/m2, and typically suffer from severe spectral instability due to ion migration and phase segregation. These inefficient perovskite pure blue LEDs hold back the perovskites' integration into next-generation solid-state lighting/display technologies. Here, I will design spectrally stable and efficient mixed ‘Cl/Br’ halide quasi-2D perovskite (Q2DPe) pure blue emitters through “compositional engineering”, in particular by using chlorinated bulky organic cations (BOCs) and introducing a small fraction of large size A-site cations. The resultant Q2DPe will comprise of “Cl-rich surface with homogeneous halide distribution and localized lattice distortions within the unit cell", and are speculated to possess elevated ion migration activation energies, which will suppress ion migration and phase segregation, thereby ensuring spectral stability. Further, I will design and fabricate LEDs with interface engineering, and study LED test device structures (HTL-only and ETL-only devices) to find out suitable pairs of HTL-ETLs to achieve efficient and balanced charge carrier injection, eventually resulting in spectrally stable high-performance pure blue LEDs. The project outcomes will be spectrally stable, efficient Q2DPe pure blue emitters and high-performance pure blue LEDs with EQE > 15%, luminance > 50000 cd/m2, and lifetime > 500 h at 500 cd/m2, which largely exceeds the current state-of-the-art.

Mots clés : mixed halide quasi 2d perovskites, spectrally stable pure blue emitters, compositional engineering, high plqys, led device engineering, suitable pair of etl htls, high performance pure blue leds

Participants :
- KU Leuven (Belgique) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 191760.0 €
Projet PLASTIGUT (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The recalcitrance of plastics leads to their accumulation in the environment, where physical deterioration in absence of degradation is causing widespread pollution. Microplastics have been found to enter the food chain and to bio accumulate with hitherto unknown long-term health effects, making plastic pollution one of the major environmental problems of our time. In recent years, a plethora of plastic degrading microorganisms and enzymes have been reported, however their degradation efficiencies, especially for conventional plastics, are often underwhelming. Enzymes capable of plastic degradation share a close homology to enzymes involved in the degradation of natural plant derived polymers, such as esterases, cutinases, lipases. It is therefore no surprise that most plastic degrading microorganisms and enzymes are found in the soil environment and compost, where plant litter is a dominant carbon source. Recently, microorganisms inhabiting the guts of xylophagous insect larvae were reported to degrade highly recalcitrant plastics such as polyethylene, polystyrene and polyurethane. However, evidence of this degradation remains scarce and to date few enzymes capable of degrading these polymers could be confirmed. in this regard, xylophagous insect larvae harbour much untapped potential for the discovery of unknown plastic degrading microorganisms and enzymes that could help mitigate plastic pollution. This project will benefit from my previous experience with stable isotope probing, sequencing analysis and plastic degradation by using carbon-13 labelled plastics to investigate plastic fate and degradation in the gut of xylophagous insect larvae. Cryosectioning of the larval gut and state-of-the-art imaging technologies will be used to study plastic fate. Stable isotope probing coupled with metagenomics and proteomics will then identify genes and enzymes responsible for plastic degradation and their function will be confirmed in vitro through heterologous expression.

Mots clés : plastic biodegradation, stable isotope probing, metagenomics, metaproteomics, heterologous expression

Participants :
- KU Leuven (Belgique) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 191760.0 €
Projet Plas_OpMap (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2022)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Human microbiome science is advancing, showing promise of having important impacts on human health with new insights into disease etiology and general human biology. Accordingly, DNA sequencing platforms have been developed rapidly, expanding the scope in microbiome research. Among others, optical mapping technique, capable of imaging single DNA molecules provides access to genetic information on single molecules up to ~1 Mbp in length. It uses fluorescence imaging of linearly stretched DNA molecules labelled at specific sites to probe information patterns along the molecules. The precision of the method is further improved by resolving single molecules below the diffraction limit through super-resolution imaging. However, requirement of large photon budget slows down the speed of imaging, as long acquisitions are required to build up sufficient photons for precise localization. This affects the throughput of DNA optical mapping which involves imaging large areas, thereby limiting its capabilities in providing real-time information of the microbiome on daily basis. Enhancing the emission rates from single molecules can overcome this limitation to permit faster image acquisition. Here we propose to use plasmon-enhanced fluorescence by employing substrate made out of wet-chemically synthesized gold nanotriangles for optical mapping of human gut microbiome. Plasmonic nanostructures can confine incident electromagnetic field into small area near their surface leading to strong light absorption and higher emission rates from fluorophores in their vicinity. The use of wet-chemical plasmonic substrate exhibiting strong plasmon resonance can significantly increase the number of photons released from the labelled DNA, allowing faster image acquisition. With the improved speed, the time required for optical mapping analysis can be significantly shortened, enabling longitudinal metagenomic analysis with practical implications for quicker diagnosis and personalized health care.

Mots clés : dna optical mapping, plasmon enhanced fluorescence, metagenomics, super resolution microscopy, gold nanoparticles

Participants :
- KU Leuven (Belgique) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 188548.0 €
Projet SPARK (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2021)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Loss of dopaminergic (DA) neurons in midbrain underlies motor dysfunction in Parkinson´s disease (PD). PD is one of the most challenging neurodegenerative diseases to study due to the limitations of existing model systems in recapitulating its complex etiology resulting from individual risk variants, distinct genetic and epigenetic backgrounds, and age-related environmental triggers. The SPARK project (Human Stem cell-based technologies to model PARKinson´s disease and drive patient-specific cell therapy) will use induced pluripotent stem cells reprogrammed from PD patient-derived somatic cells as well as from age- and sex-matched healthy individuals to model key aspects of DA neurodegeneration. Advanced human stem cell-based technologies including brain organoids and cell transplantation will be exploited to recreate functionally mature human DA tissue in an ad hoc disease-like environment. A single-cell sequencing approach will be used to obtain molecular insights into PD etiopathogenesis and the pathological mechanisms responsible for DA neuron degeneration. Lastly, gene editing in a patient-specific genetic background will be performed to create an autologous source of “healthy” DA neurons reverted from the disease-related phenotype. These cells will be pre-clinically validated in a PD rat model, with a view to ultimately achieving autologous cell replacement treatments for PD.

Mots clés : regenerative medicine, parkinson s disease, induced pluripotent stem cells ipscs , human brain organoids, cell based therapy, single cell sequencing

Participants :
- Conseil national de la recherche (Italie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 188590.08 €
- Université de Lund (Suède) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet INTERLAYER (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Liquids lack the spatial order required for advanced multifunctional materials with spatial resolution. However, self-supporting structured all-liquid multiphase systems would create a new class of biomimetic and reconfigurable materials. This can be achieved by assembling nanoparticles (NPs) at the liquid-liquid interfaces providing enhanced interfacial elasticity and stability. However, NPs-stabilised multiphasic materials currently suffer from low mechanical strength owning to the limited particle concentration that can be achieved at the interface, ultimately limiting the structure-property space. To remove these limitations, INTERLAYER sets out to localise NPs at the interface with much higher concentration via novel advective processing for the first time, enabling non-equilibrium kinetically trapped stabilized states. This will impart enhanced interfacial and bulk mechanical properties, while offering a unique and material-efficient route to create novel self-supporting all-liquid hierarchical constructs. The choice of polysaccharide nanoparticles (PNPs) in INTERLAYER, isolated top-down from plant-based sources, offers a promising platform with adaptability in particle shape, size, and surface chemistry. PNPs are also a sustainable alternative for fossil-based surfactants and inorganic particles, and are gaining increasing attention from industry. INTERLAYER will establish static state diagrams linking PNP physico-chemical properties to the multiphase material structure (Objective 1). Elucidating the physics-chemistry-processing relations will allow the production of novel self-supporting all-liquid hierarchical constructs stabilized by PNPs-laden interfaces (Objective 2). These constructs will then be used to build multiphase materials with more complex structures and advanced functionalities via 3D printing (long-term vision). INTERLAYER will pave the way to the next-generation sustainability-by-design materials, contributing to a more sustainable world.

Mots clés : polysaccharide nanoparticles, interfacial rheology, particle laden interface, particle stabilised multiphase system, viscoelasticity

Participants :
- KU Leuven (Belgique) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 191760.0 €