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

We are witnessing profound changes in our societies via biosciences and bio-technologization. Biotechnologies, synthetic biology, and new genetics in general represent key areas of life sciences, characterised by rapid technological and scientific development. The biotechnologies as key areas of contemporary cultural and social transformations are influenced by specific technological rationality and power that is inscribed in the very foundations of modern society. The power is biopower/biopolitics, which names, creates, and controls life. The project addresses contemporary challenges in the field of biopolitical life engineering, specifically in case of PGD (preimplantantion genetic diagnosis) technology. There is a lack of reflection on the broader social and cultural context and on the ramifications of synthetic life engineering, PGD in the Czech Republic from the anthropological and sociological points of view. These issues remain unanalysed, contributing to a lack of understanding of the specific concerns of synthetic life and life sciences in the Eastern European and post-socialist context. This proposed project will analyse social context of technology PGD in the Czech Republic in comparison with Germany. This project is guided by the main questions: How is the field of life engineering, particularly PGD technology, culturally and socially structured in the Czech Republic in comparison with Germany? What kinds and forms of agency are involved there? Are there any specific concerns in public debates relating to life engineering in comparisons of Eastern and Western Europe? The main aim of this research, which will be conducted on case studies of two European countries, is to analyse and interpret through sociological and anthropological perspective the ways in which current forms of biopower and ideas of artificial life have been influencing the social field of life engineering, especially PGD technology.

Mots clés : biopolitics, artificial life, life engineering, synthetic biology

Participants :
- Goethe University Frankfurt (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 159460.8 €
Projet EXPLORATHON (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : European Researchers' Night
Statut du projet : CLOSED

We present a unique, pan-Scotland approach to high-impact researcher-led public engagement that benefits from the well-established profile of European Researchers' Night. Our proposal is led by a partnership of four of Scotland's leading research-intensive universities (Aberdeen, Strathclyde, Glasgow and Edinburgh) each with an extensive track record in public engagement. Motivated by a guiding principle of 'Research for All' our Explorathon Nights in 2014 and 2015 will bring researchers, schools and publics together across Scotland’s three largest cities. A mix of popular and bespoke event formats will be deployed under a public-facing message of 'One Night – Unlimited Discovery'. The main objectives of our Explorathon are:- - To highlight the impact and relevance of modern research and researchers in tackling society’s global challenges, through a rich mix of stimulating, interactive activities - To challenge and enrich public perceptions of ‘research’ and ‘the role of researchers’ through stories and researcher journeys that address societal challenges and highlight the stimulating, exploratory and multidisciplinary nature of modern research. - To stimulate interest in research as a career, in particular for young people, through personal interactions with researcher role models, exemplified by our Marie Curie Fellows. To achieve this, we will apply our partnership's extensive experience in researcher professional skills development and public engagement to mobilise both researcher and public audiences to connect with the Nights. A visible, vibrant public awareness campaign will combine with a robust approach to researcher support, assisted by the ambassadorial roles of our Marie Curie Fellow cohorts, to produce a high quality set of activities, hosted in accessible venues, and featuring popular formats, exciting EU exemplar projects and aimed at a wide range of ages, backgrounds and interests.

Mots clés : public engagement, research busking, science cafes, festival, european researchers  night, marie curie, horizon 2020, satrosphere, aberdeen, glasgow, strathclyde, techfest, edinburgh, beltane

Participants :
- University of Aberdeen (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 77834.0 €
- University of Edinburgh (Royaume-Uni) — Partner, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 43156.0 €
- University of Strathclyde (Royaume-Uni) — Partner, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 22545.0 €
- University of Glasgow (Royaume-Uni) — Partner, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 18582.0 €
Projet REFOLDAMER (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

We propose to develop a new, artificial but bio-inspired mechanism for communicating information in chemical systems, by using the potential for hydrogen-bond reorganisation of novel dynamic 'refoldable foldamers', combined with biology's information storage mechanisms. Biological information is encoded in DNA or RNA by two dimensional arrangements of hydrogen bond donors and acceptors in nucleotide sequences: we will innovate nanoscale communication devices that read information encoded in this way, and translate it directly into a chemical feature (catalytic activity, ligand-binding ability) at a site remote from the source of information. Conceptually we shall telescope the biological processes of transcription and translation into a single conformational event in a single molecule. We will develop a new class of polarity-reversible foldamers as artificial receptors to translate information stored in hydrogen bonding patterns into a local conformational preference. The preference will be communicated the full length of the foldamer by means of a global change in shape, and used to define the detailed structure and hence spectroscopic and chemical properties at another site in the molecule. Those devices will mimic biology’s ability to communicate information in a manner reminiscent of the G-protein coupled receptor. Dynamic foldamer conformational switching will be based on reversible hydrogen-bond polarity rather than on helical screw sense switching recently used by Clayden to carry information: reversal in directionality of hydrogen bond networks has not yet been exploited. Success would open up a new area of science at the boundary of synthetic chemistry and biology, facilitating new developments in as-yet untapped applications of dynamic foldamers, improving European Science competitiveness. Transfer of cutting edge knowledge to a European scientist of outstanding potential will greatly enhance his career horizons.

Mots clés : dynamic foldamers, synthesis, conformation, molecular systems, biomimetic nanoscale communication machines, biological receptors mimics, stereochemistry, hydrogen bonding, stereodynamics, ureas

Participants :
- University of Bristol (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 183454.8 €
Projet Cork Discovers (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : European Researchers' Night
Statut du projet : CLOSED

We propose to host a Cork Discovers European Researchers Night (ERN) in 2018 and 2019 that will showcase research in fun, creative ways and will promote engagement between researchers and the public. The event will feature over 60 interactive events, with topics ranging from Archaeology to Zoology. Under the theme Learn, Live, Love Research (figure 1), Cork Discovers invites people to: • Learn about research and find out what it means to their lives; • Live like a researcher; visit laboratories and libraries, meet researchers and do experiments; • Love what research has to offer. Our consortium will bring ERN to Cork, Ireland, for the first time. Cork is Ireland’s largest county and has a population of over half-a-million people. It is home University College Cork (UCC), the project coordinator and largest University in the South of the Country. UCC sits in the heart of Cork and is ideally located to attract people from throughout the region. Its research strengths, as well as that of its consortium partner Teagasc, are closely linked to the local economy and community interests. This research will be the basis for a programme of outreach activities that are of relevance and interest to the local community forming 6 themes : Marine, Technology, Health, Agriculture & Food, Environment and Cultural Heritage. UCC and Teagasc will be supported in running the event by Cork City Council, the largest local authority in the region with extensive local knowledge and networks, and by UCC Academy Limited, a project management company with expertise in outreach and research communication. As 2018 is the European Year of Cultural Heritage (EYCH), a large section of the Cork Discovers programme will be dedicated to the topic and will encourage the people of Cork to discover and engage with their cultural heritage. We intend to apply for the EYCH label for the Cork Discovers ERN, an intention which has been very positively received by the Heritage Council of Ireland.

Mots clés : research, outreach, communication, cultural heritage

Participants :
- Teagasc - The Irish Agriculture and Food Development Authority (Irlande) — Partner, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 18750.0 €
- Cork City Council (Irlande) — Partner, beneficiary, Organismes publics (hors enseignement & recherche), subvention : 2500.0 €
- National University of Ireland (Irlande) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 128900.0 €
- National University of Ireland (Irlande) — Partner, beneficiary, Autres, subvention : 41500.0 €
Projet smSTRUCT (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

We seek to develop a new structural biology method that is able to overcome barriers to solving very complex functional protein assemblies that are variable enough in their composition and conformation to defeat current methodologies. I intend to combine high-throughput single molecule FRET (smFRET) experiments with computational modeling to achieve this goal. SmFRET will be used to derive individual building block structures as well as distances between these blocks on a molecule-to-molecule level. Computational modeling is used to fuse this information into a full atomistic model of the protein assembly. The yeast ESCRT machinery is proposed as a model system to develop the new methodology. The ESCRT machinery is particularly important because of its role in HIV infections: HIV seizes control of the cell’s ESCRTs to get released from infected cells. The ESCRT assemblies’ size and flexibility lead to the fact that their assembled structure on membranes is largely unknown. Individual ESCRT proteins will be labeled by Cy3/Cy5. The ESCRT assembly will then be reconstructed on invaginated supported lipid bilayers and imaged via TIRF microscopy. FRET efficiencies will be recorded and the label-label distance determined. High-throughput biochemistry and labeling technology will allow us to generate > 100 distinct labeling sites, resulting in overdetermined structures. Stepwise photobleaching will reveal the stoichiometry within full assemblies. Alterations in FRET efficiency due to local contact formations within the assembly will reveal these local contacts. Based on the experimental data of the individual complexes, their copy number in the assembly and their local contacts, the full assembly will be determined computationally, based on replica exchange Monte Carlo simulations.

Mots clés : single molecule fret experiments

Participants :
- Max Planck Society (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 257860.8 €
- University of California System (Etats-Unis) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet RGxGRAV (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : SIGNED

We will uncover and address new features of strongly interacting systems by systematically deforming scale invariant fixed point theories by couplings for operators which explicitly break spacetime symmetries. Such deformations can induce interesting classes of Renormalization Group flows to low energy theories with applications to diverse physical systems. Quantifying the properties of these flows along their trajectory, by studying the behaviour of various observables such as spectral functions and quantum entanglement, may lead to new constraints on the scale dependence of quantum field theories, and better informs our understanding of the phase diagram of strongly coupled matter. Presently, there is no satisfactory framework for describing universal properties of Renormalization Group flows from strongly interacting theories deformed by spatially varying couplings. The primary objective of this proposal is to advance our understanding of such systems and begin assembling this universal framework. In particular: 1) We will establish a new class of interacting quantum field theories which lack Poincare invariance at fundamental scales, yet are under calculational control at strong coupling. 2) We will study the energy scale dependence of a wide variety of observables in this new class of theories, using precision techniques based on holographic duality. 3) We will build upon our results to extract universal features of such deformations, as well as to develop interdisciplinary connections between these systems and those of relevance in condensed matter and cosmological settings. These objectives will be met by uniting the complementary expertise of the researcher and host supervisor participating in this proposal. Through collaboration, professional training, and a two-way transfer of knowledge, the research program of the host will be enhanced and the researcher's career potential maximized.

Mots clés : gauge, gravity duality, supergravity, renormalization group, superconformal field theory

Participants :
- University of Crete (Grèce) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 165085.44 €
Projet COSMIC SHEAR (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Weak gravitational lensing is one of the most promising techniques for probing and mapping the dark matter distribution within our Universe. Using lensing, we can simultaneously measure the total mass, the number of neutrino species and the global acceleration of the cosmic expansion, offering a direct handle on the mysterious dark energy. This Marie Sklodowska-Curie action will carry out one of the most competitive cosmological analyses to date by measuring cosmic shear from the weak lensing data acquired by the state-of-the-art European Southern Observatory Kilo Degree Survey (KiDS). We will place tight constraints on the theoretical parameters that describe the dark Universe. In addition, this analysis has the potential to reveal which galactic baryonic processes, between active galactic nuclei, sustained stellar winds or supernovae bursts, effectively feedback on the total matter density field. This scientific programme is central to an international collaboration that brings together the Fellow's expertise in theoretical and numerical modelling with world class experts on image processing, galaxy shape and distance estimation, weak lensing calibration and interpretation. The Fellow will analyze the KiDS data to its full potential by employing new methodology and including key ingredients to the analysis, for which his numerical simulations and mock galaxy catalogues are critical. Combined with innovative approaches in the treatment of the astrophysical and systematic uncertainties in weak lensing analyses, the project will guarantee a high level of precision and robustness in the resulting cosmological parameter constraints.

Mots clés : dark energy, dark matter, neutrino mass, gravitational lensing, data, simulations

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

Wearable sensors have the potential to revolutionise traditional health and wellbeing diagnostics by enabling personal healthcare monitoring everywhere and anytime. However, the increased demand, ubiquity and the inherent disposable nature of wearable sensors poses serious environmental concerns both in terms of high energy production requirements and end-of-life disposal. These concerns mandate urgent development of “green” materials and processes to ensure future sustainability of the wearable sensor sector. The project proposes a simple one-step, scalable approach for producing and patterning porous graphene films with three-dimensional networks from chitosan using laser writing technique (bio-LIG). SusBioLIG will start with investigation of the bio-LIG process to find the chemico-physical mechanism enabling LIG formation on chitosan. The effect of laser irradiation parameters, the percentages of individual components will be investigate in order to optimize standard formulation morphology and electrical conductivity. Obtained composites will be assessed by electrical characterisation and spectroscopic techniques. Finally, Bio-LIG electrode arrays will be designed and fabricated will be characterized by scanning electron microscopy, cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Label free electrode and functionalized electrodes by GOx and LOx will be used as sensing platforms for uric acid, glucose and lactate respectively. Direct electron transfer and or Prussian blue mediated electron transfer studies will be carried out for glucose and lactate. After electrochemical (e.g. cyclic voltammetry, differential pulse voltammetry and chronoamperometry) behavior studies of targeted biomarkers at electrode array platforms, affecting parameters will be optimized. Then, simultaneous detection of targeted biomarkers in an artificial sweat sample will be performed and figures of merit for each biomarkers will be obtained and compared.

Mots clés : biopolymers, wearable biosensors, laser induced graphene, chitosan, bioelectrochemistry

Participants :
- National University of Ireland (Irlande) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 196590.72 €
Projet InNaTo (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Weyl semimetals are a recently-discovered class of topological quantum materials predicting unexpected and extraordinary transport properties. Their electronic band structure features valence and conduction bands crossing in paired Weyl nodes with opposite chiralities. In such systems the conduction electrons behave as topologically-protected massless quasiparticles with an ultra-high carrier mobility and well-defined spin-momentum locking configurations. The unique combination of these properties has attracted the attention of the scientific community that is currently striving to unveil the complex physics underlying Weyl semimetals. Besides, from a technological perspective, Weyl semimetals are expected to provide an ideal platform to test novel device functionalities in the areas of information technology, energy conversion and sensing. Nonetheless, being a newborn field in science, so far the research activities have focused on Weyl semimetals in the form of bulk single crystalline materials. The main objectives of this action are to comprehensively investigate the yet-unexplored properties of Weyl semimetals at the nanoscale and to define possible integration routes for new-generation microelectronic devices. For this purpose, epitaxial thin films of Weyl semimetals will be used as referent systems to probe the influence of different control parameters (e.g. by substrate-induced strain, film thickness, interfaces, external electric and/or magnetic fields) on their structural and electronic properties. Eventually, the potential impact of Weyl semimetals in current microelectronic schemes will be evaluated by designing prototypes based on field-effect and magnetic heterostructures. In this context, the state-of-the-art facilities and the well-established expertise in the fabrication and characterization of complex nanostructures present at IBM Research Zurich offer an ideal environment to tackle the challenge of studying Weyl semimetals at low-dimensionality.

Mots clés : weyl semimetal, epitaxial thin films, field effect transistor, magneto transport, electrical measurement

Participants :
- IBM Research - Zurich (Suisse) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Organismes privés (hors enseignement), subvention : 191149.44 €
Projet LAST_LETTERS (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

What are the final wishes of those who are about to die, in a period of war? Can we identify patterns in wartime letter writing in the context of the two World Wars? The proposed research project consists of a thematic and linguistic analysis of the last letters of Italians sentenced to death during the two world wars. These letters are an invaluable testimony of the changes that occurred in Italian society when the Italian Republic was born, after the fall of Totalitarianism. These missives are the most illuminating tokens of a turning point in Italian language, politics, gender perception and culture. Indeed, they describe the advent of Italian as a national language, born of a mixture of several registers and regional traits. Furthermore, anti-war ideas, laying the foundations of the Italian constitution, are clearly expressed in the last words of most writers, who wanted to leave their political convictions as a legacy for the future of the country. Moreover, these letters demonstrate a deep change in traditional gender distinctions, as they expose new conceptions of the family during wartime – considering that the majority of these letters was sent to the writers’ next of kin. The purpose of the study is to interpret these last letters through the lens of new gender, identity, and conflict theories, categorising and arranging the searchability of these texts via digital technologies to make them available to the wider public. The research is supported by Europeana14-18 and the Italian Institute for the History of the Resistance, and is hosted by University College Cork. It is supervised by Dr Silvia Ross, Senior Lecturer in Italian, with an international research record in contemporary Italian literature and particular interests in gender, identity, alterity and conflict. The Researcher has also secured targeted international secondments with two other partners (U of Reading and the Italian Central Archive) and one external partnership (NYU).

Mots clés : letters, gender, conflict, language, identity

Participants :
- National University of Ireland (Irlande) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 175866.0 €