Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-actions-marie-curie-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ModulEndoA3 (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

In addition to classical clathrin-mediated endocytosis, mammalian cells have clathrin-independent endocytic (CIE) mechanisms. Among others, the BAR domain proteins, that sense and induce membrane curvature, are key players in CIE. In particular, the BAR domain protein endophilin-A3 (endoA3) drives CIE of the cell adhesion molecules CD166, L1CAM, and DICAM, with implications in tumour progression and viral infection. The regulation, mechanism, and functional implications of this recently-identified endoA3-mediated CIE route remain poorly characterized. In this context, I propose an interdisciplinary project combining cell biology, chemical biology, and virology approaches to substantially advance our understanding of endoA3-mediated CIE. The first research goal is to identify cellular regulators (kinases, phosphoinositides) that modulate endoA3-mediated endocytosis. In parallel, this project aims at identifying small molecule inhibitors that selectively inhibit the endocytic functions of endoA3. Subsequently, the cellular regulators and pharmacological inhibitors identified in this project will be used in cells, to modulate endoA3-mediated endocytosis and study the impact on cellular functions. Emphasis will be put on cancer cell properties and endocytic viral particle entry. Together, this project will generate high-quality fundamental knowledge on the mechanism and function of endoA3-mediated CIE. Moreover, the identification of modulators of endoA3 endocytic functions will provide valuable biological tools for the study of this recently-identified CIE route in physiology and pathology. Lastly, the identification of selective pharmacological inhibitors may pave the way towards the development of innovative antiviral and anti-cancer therapeutics targeted at unconventional endocytosis. This fellowship will be conducted in the laboratory of Prof. Henri-Francois Renard (UNamur, Belgium), who has been a pioneer in the identification of BAR-mediated endocytic routes.

Mots clés : membrane trafficking, clathrin independent endocytosis, bar domain, endophilin, kinase, phosphoinositide, small molecule inhibitors, cancer, virology

Participants :
- Centre national de la recherche scientifique (France) — Partner, associated partner, Recherche, subvention : 0.0 €
- Université de Namur (Belgique) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 191760.0 €
Projet TransmId (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Economic Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), high levels of ethnic diversity have often been considered in quantitative research as constraining social and economic development. Yet most of the research on ethnicity and development has given little thought to the complexity of ethnic identities, treating ethnic identity as a static affiliation to a single group. As such, it is not easy to reconcile findings from this literature with more recent empirical work that stress that multi-ethnicity is not a rare phenomenon in SSA and that ethnic identity identities may be less salient than national identities. In response, the TransmId project (Intergenerational Transmission of Identity in sub-Saharan Africa) proposes a novel understanding of ethnicity by focusing on the intergenerational transmission (IGT) of identity in SSA. By studying which identity traits (e.g. language use, religious practice) are passed down generations, we can gain a more nuanced understanding of ethnicity while considering it both as socially salient and dynamic. The project combines insights from the theoretical economic literature on parental investment in IGT with perspectives from political science and sociology on institutional factors and socialisation mechanisms. TransmId relies on economic modelling, statistical analyses, and first-hand data. The project’s workflow follows the sequence of intergenerational transmission over generations, from marriage decisions to investments in children’s identities. First, I will focus on understanding the drivers of intermarriages using data from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Second, I will design a lab experiment in Kenya to assess parents’ preferences regarding their children’s identity (e.g. multi-ethnicity, ethnic and national identities). Third, building on case studies and on a cross-country longitudinal analysis, TransmId will provide a comparative perspective on the role of institutional contexts in shaping IGT decisions.

Mots clés : marriage intergenerational transmission africa education nation building policies

Participants :
- Aix-Marseille Université (France) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Université de Namur (Belgique) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 191760.0 €
Projet PRIMONPLANTS (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : SIGNED

We propose to extend a recently discovered and novel route to the non-aqueous synthesis of Metal Oxide NanoParticles (MONPs; M: Zn, Ce, Zr) that uses as precursors (i) their nitrate salt and (ii) affordable plants, like the doum or beet root, some of their constituents such as glucose and sucrose and even simpler organic compounds such as glycerol and ethylene glycol (iii) which is carried out in a one pot synthesis with foaming at low temperature (< 110°C) in a few minutes compared to those reported that require a higher temperature, several steps and several hours (500°C, 8 h). We will take advantage of this study to model, on simple compounds, the mechanism of MONP synthesis involving plants described as "green synthesis" in the literature, which until now has not yet been properly rationalized. To this end, we have strategically assembled a panel of scientists from different fields ranging from physics and materials science to inorganic and organic chemistry, belonging to both academia and industry. We will extend our original discovery to a series of strategically selected organic compounds containing different functional groups to find those that behave as described above and eventually produce MONPs by foaming. Finally, we will apply our findings to the large-scale production of certain MONPs (M: Ce, Zr) through a partnership with "Stûv", a leading company specializing in the manufacture of domestic wood stoves, a sustainable resource for household heating. This should give this European industry a competitive advantage at the international level. MNOPs will be inserted into filters to destroy Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) found in smoke generated by household woodstoves. The economic impact should be significant because the emission of toxic fumes is a brake on the use of this mode of heating in Europe. This project is in line with and goes beyond the new European regulations (Ecodesign2022).

Mots clés : bioengineering, foaming, plants, green synthesis, maillard reaction, caramelization, solution combustion synthesis, synchrotron

Participants :
- Le Mans Université (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 211754.88 €
- Stuv sa (Belgique) — Partner, associated partner, Organismes privés (hors enseignement), subvention : 0.0 €
- Université de Namur (Belgique) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet METMAP (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Every 2 minutes someone in the world is diagnosed with melanoma, so by the time you read this application dozens of new melanoma cases will be detected. Beyond its growing incidence, cutaneous melanoma is the most aggressive type of skin cancer and notorious for its high metastatic propensity, which constitutes the primary cause of death for these patients. Cellular heterogeneity and plasticity are key features of melanoma, supporting disease progression. The host laboratory has recently charted a functional map of the melanoma ecosystem and identified a cell population that fuels tumor growth (pre-EMT) and another that functions as metastasis-initiating cells (MICs). Increasing evidence indicates that metastatic dissemination of MICs relies on the formation of favourable microenvironments, or pre-metastatic niches (PMN), at secondary sites, and that extracellular vesicles (EVs) shed by the primary tumour are key mediators of PMN formation. I hypothesize that EVs produced by phenotypically distinct melanoma cells are likely to contain different biological information, and thus may exert different (possibly diverging) roles in PMNs formation. In METMAP, I will (i) determine the melanoma cell state(s) contributing to the formation of PMNs via EVs; (ii) dissect the molecular mechanisms underlying PMN formation; and (iii) unravel how these mechanisms facilitate metastatic spreading. I will leverage my background in EVs biology and establish melanoma cell state-reporters to track EV-mediated communication between melanoma subpopulations and PMNs. Proximity labelling will be used to dissect the bioactive contents of EVs transferred to PMNs and perturbation experiments will be conducted to decipher this complex interplay. Through METMAP, I will deliver a functional understanding of how distinct melanoma states contribute to the development of PMN and, ultimately, identify new targets for disruptive therapies that hinder melanoma metastasis.

Mots clés : extracellular vesicles, intratumor heterogeneity, metastasis, pre metastatic niche

Participants :
- Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie (Belgique) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 175920.0 €
Projet SugarPain (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

"What can I eat?” This is the question that patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) ask their general practitioner. Diet is the first line of treatment for IBS and is based on restricting foods containing a group of sugars (Fermentable Oligo-, Di-, Mono-saccharides and polyol or FODMAPs), which are not fully absorbed by the host and fermented by the gut microbiota. Although effective, this treatment is not sustainable in the long term, as the diet requires limiting beneficial foods such as vegetables and fruits. To date, due to a lack of specific trials, our understanding of which and how specific FODMAPs contribute to IBS symptoms has yet to be uncovered. Based on (1) preliminary results showing a patient-specific response to purified FODMAPs in IBS patients, (2) the central role of the gut microbiota in FODMAP digestion and (3) the interindividual variation of the gut microbiota between individuals and IBS patients, I hypothesise that specific FODMAPs cause symptoms in IBS patients through individualised microbiome activity. By combining my bioinformatics skills and microbiome background with wet-lab microbiology expertise of the host group, I aim to identify bacterial species and metabolites causing the development of symptoms. Firstly, I will analyse samples and clinical data from a trial conducted in the host lab, in which patients were exposed to six purified FODMAPs, to identify microbiome changes in those experiencing symptoms. Next, I will test the interaction between FODMAPs and the identified microbes with high-throughput in-vitro fermentation, monitoring dynamic shifts in the gut microbial ecosystem and metabolic activity upon FODMAP exposure. Finally, I will determine if baseline microbiome or metabolite profiles can predict an individual's tolerance to specific FODMAPs. The outcomes of my research project will pave the way for innovative, effective, non-invasive, and personalised therapeutic approaches for a disorder affecting 10% of Europeans.

Mots clés : irritable bowel syndrome fodmaps diet human microbiome

Participants :
- Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie (Belgique) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 191760.0 €
Projet SAFE-GREENPACK (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : SIGNED

There are two clear trends in the food industry: the demand for convenience foods and the push for increased packaging sustainability. While take-out meals require disposable food contact materials (FCM) the packaging industry is experimenting with sustainable alternative-to-plastic solutions. But are these materials as safe as their replacement? Although these FCM must comply with the framework Regulation (EC) No 1935/2004, there is no specific regulation at the European level that is as comprehensive as the Commission Regulation (EU) No 10/2011 for plastic. As a result, the chemical composition and the health risks of these disposable FCM applications remain largely unknown. Further investigations need to be conducted. Preliminary targeted studies detected fluorinated substances in alternative single-use tableware and fast-food packaging. These (and others) substances can then find their way into the environment or human body. A 2019 Spanish investigation detected endocrine disruptors in the body of every participant studied. However, disposable FCM’s contribution to the population's exposure to harmful chemicals is still unclear, and a risk assessment is necessary. The 24-month SAFE-GREENPACK project aims to contribute to filling this gap. With a growing fast-food market, Spain will serve as a proof of concept for evaluating the food safety of alternatives to disposable plastics. First, this FCM market will be mapped by a comprehensive market study. Next, analytical data on contaminants will be provided. Those will result from an optimised workflow based on untargeted screening, prioritisation of the results and quantification of relevant substances. High-level secondments will contribute to the quality of the results. Finally, a risk assessment will highlight priorities for safety policy. The project’s interdisciplinary approach in the rapidly evolving field of FCM’s food safety will let the fellow learn from different fields and further develop his career.

Mots clés : untargeted screening, food contact materials, market study, risk assessment, nias

Participants :
- Université d'Anvers (Belgique) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Université de Saragosse (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 194074.56 €
- Université de Liège (Belgique) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet KLESIS (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Climate change (CC) poses numerous risks to society. Amongst these, recent work has quantified the impacts which adverse climate conditions can exert on economic growth and inflation by applying empirical models (EMs) to historical data. Evaluation of the extent to which historical and future CC is changing such impacts is crucial for translating these empirical insights into actionable knowledge. Two key examples are quantifying the historical anthropogenic contribution to intensified impacts, and accurately projecting their near-term changes. These tasks face challenges because climate model ensembles often under-estimate forced changes in impact-relevant conditions such as extremes, and near-term changes are affected by both greenhouse forcing and internal variability, with the latter amplifying or masking impacts over decadal timescales. KLESIS proposes to extend recent methodological developments in climate science to overcome these obstacles to an accurate evaluation of how climate impacts are changing. First, we will develop and apply statistical methods to attribute historical changes in impact-relevant climate conditions directly from observations. These methods will be tested in climate models, applied to observations and combined with EMs to evaluate the anthropogenic contribution to historical changes in climate impacts on the economy, crucial for informing loss and damage debates. Second, we will extend state-of-the-art decadal climate prediction systems to include impact-relevant conditions. Combining these with EMs will provide near-term estimates of climate impacts which accurately reflect the important and otherwise neglected role of internal climate variability. Finally, near-term projections of impacts on economic growth and inflation will be disseminated to stakeholders at the European Central Bank via a 6-month non-academic placement, to develop a framework for the assessment of physical climate risk in their quarterly macroeconomic forecasts.

Mots clés : climate impacts, detection attribution, decadal climate prediction, climate econometrics

Participants :
- Université polytechnique de Catalogne (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 206641.2 €
- European Central Bank (Allemagne) — Partner, associated partner, Organismes publics (hors enseignement & recherche), subvention : 0.0 €
- Leibniz-Gemeinschaft (Allemagne) — Partner, associated partner, Recherche, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet TRIQ (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Inflammatory Bowel Disease, including Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, now afflict close to 1/250 individuals in industrialized societies. There is a pressing need for effective preventive means as well as curative drugs. Cis-eQTL analyses are uncovering a growing list of genes that are perturbed by IBD risk variants detected by GWAS, constituting a list of prime drug targets for the pharmaceutical industry. Cis-eQTL effects trigger downstream effects – both within the same (intracellular) and other cell types (intercellular) – that culminate in disease declaration. Some of these downstream effects are accompanied by changes in transcript levels referred to as trans-eQTL effects. The aim of the TRIQ project is to take advantage of the CEDAR-II dataset – transcriptome data for up to 400 individuals in > 75 IBD-relevant cell types – to identify trans-eQTL effects that mediate IBD predisposition. The genes that are perturbed by these trans-effect will include druggable targets that constitute prime targets for the development of new IBD therapies.

Mots clés : eqtl analysis, inflammatory bowel diseases, post gwas analysis, gwas, 

Participants :
- Université de Liège (Belgique) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 191760.0 €
Projet CoQHoNet (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2022)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Classical Neural Networks (NNs) are architectures successfully employed in Machine Learning (ML) tasks, such as pattern recognition, analysis of big data, and digitalization. Currently, a full development of quantum technologies is considered the most promising improvement on classical ML. Motivated by this, various contributions are focusing on the emerging field of quantum NNs, regarded as the backbones of quantum ML. Though strategic to tackle digitalization challenges of Europe concerning e.g. secure information, a unifying framework for quantum NNs is still missing. This project aims at contributing to the general effort of defining the main features of quantum NNs, and further exploiting them for practical purposes. More concretely, it considers quantum generalizations of associative memory-type NNs, such as the prototypical example referred to as Hopfield NN. To start with, associative memories can perform relatively easy tasks such as pattern retrieval. However, they are employed in more complex architectures too, as it is the case of Hopfield NNs when embedded in Boltzmann Machines. State-of-the-art quantum associative memories exploit quantum spin NNs and bosonic platforms, describing them as Markovian, or memory-less, open quantum systems. Importantly, these setups are relevant for condensed matter and photonic implementations. Inserting these proposals in a more general theoretical frame can provide insights to answer timely questions, such as storing non-classical states, accounting for non-Markovian effects on the retrieval task, characterizing the storage capacity. The challenge of this proposal consists in unveiling the bridge between Markovian quantum Hopfield-type NNs, and the formalism of quantum maps. Fulfilling such a gap further enables to use associative memories for designing near-term quantum devices that are robust to detrimental effects of the environment, which generically cause deterioration of e.g. coherence and entanglement.

Mots clés : quantum neural networks, quantum machine learning, near term quantum devices

Participants :
- Université des îles Baléares (Espagne) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Conseil supérieur de la recherche scientifique (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 165312.96 €
Projet ProteoYeast (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2021)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Protein secretion is a universal trait among organisms, involving multiple steps of quality control, sorting, trafficking, and export; as well as various organelles. Numerous pressing challenges faced by society can be addressed by thoroughly understanding protein secretion. Disease mechanisms can be elucidated, new antimicrobials can be discovered, and high-value proteins can be produced. However, exactly because of its complexity, a full mechanistic understanding of protein secretion is still lacking, impeding full exploitation. The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a promising model organism for studying protein secretion and is also a major expression host for industrial heterologous protein production. So far research has only focused on a few lab strains, that are inefficient protein secretors and that do not fully represent this yeast’s natural biodiversity. My preliminary data show that properties considered to be optimal in lab strains often are inferior to those observed in some other, more ‘wild’ yeast. Herein, I propose that natural S. cerevisiae strains can have more efficient protein production and secretion pathways and that the responsible alleles can be identified and exploited creating a robust protein-producing strain. In ProteoYeast, I will combine my skills in omics analyses and systems biology with the host lab’s QTL mapping expertise, unique yeast collection (>1200 strains) and advanced robotic systems to address the existing knowledge gap. This work will be divided into three parts: 1) High-throughput investigation of the natural biodiversity for protein secretion in a high-throughput manner; 2) ‘Round Robin’ QTL approach to identify novel alleles affecting protein secretion; and 3) development of robust strains for high-titer secretion of added-value proteins. Today’s urgent demand for a sustainable bio-based economy, combined with progress in laboratory automation and systems biology make this project timely and fitting to societal needs

Mots clés : genome variability and evolution biodiversity secretion systems biology quantitative trait locus

Participants :
- Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie (Belgique) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 175920.0 €