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

The VENORIGN project aims to understand the evolution of novelty in biology. A major goal of contemporary evolutionary biology is to decipher the molecular basis of major phenotypic innovations in organisms, such as winged flight in birds and echolocation in whales. However, most cases of evolutionary novelty involve complex interactions among multiple genes, each with only minor effects. To address this challenge, we turn to venomous marine snails, specifically the Conoidea group, which includes cone snails and related species. Venom in these snails is linked to a limited set of proteins called toxins, representing the primary genetic changes responsible for the shift from non-venomous to venomous animals. The long-standing interest in cone snail toxins provides a unique context for studying this transition. Yet, the origins of the conoidean venom system and the processes governing multiple venom losses remain poorly understood. This project tests the hypothesis that the origin and loss of conoidean venom resulted from rapid genomic and morphological changes and will investigate these genetic and morphological alterations driving venom's emergence and disappearance. Using cutting-edge methods spanning morphology, taxonomy, genomics, and transcriptomics, we will analyze venomous and non-venomous conoidean and related species. This comprehensive comparison will reveal the processes governing venom acquisition and loss, shedding light on the principles of evolutionary novelty. Our work extends beyond venomous snails, offering a novel model to understand the molecular foundations of significant evolutionary changes. These findings will contribute to our understanding of how novel traits emerge in various biological systems, including human pathogens and agricultural development.

Mots clés : comparative genomics, venom, evolutionary novelty

Participants :
- Université d'Oslo (Norvège) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 210911.04 €
- Swedish Museum of Natural History (Suède) — Partner, associated partner, Recherche, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet COMMONCITY (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2022)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

A new tendency is on the rise in EU urban policy-making: adopting Co-production Arrangements inspired by the paradigm of the Commons (CAC). Some pioneering cases stand out, such as the Urban Commons Regulation in Bologna (2014), the Commons Transition Plan in Ghent (2017) and the Citizen Assets Programme in Barcelona (2017). These cities have been joined by others that either have adopted similar arrangements or are currently considering adopting them. By and large, these arrangements aim to redistribute decision-making power to citizens over services and resources that are considered as essential for urban collective wellbeing (e.g. public buildings and spaces, energy and water utilities) by fostering community self-management. Preliminary and applied research on these arrangements has been carried out, mostly based on single case study analyses. However, scientific, in-depth and comparative knowledge on CAC is still scarce. By adopting an urban epistemology to the traditional state-centred political science field, COMMONCITY will produce key, useful and timely knowledge on CAC. It will comparatively analyse the i) policy models, ii) political, social and administrative challenges, iii) impact on urban democracy of recently adopted CAC in the three EU pioneering cities: Barcelona, Bologna and Ghent. By adopting a co-production-oriented approach to data collection and analysis that will foster citizen science, it will provide unique empirical data on the varieties, effective functioning and democratising effect of these arrangements. The results of COMMONCITY will contribute to the scientific debate in the broad urban study field and, specifically, in urban democracy, urban governance, urban policy-making and urban participation. It will also provide policy recommendations to various levels of government, in order to foster the adoption of CAC and improve the functioning and democratic impact of existing and under-adoption ones.

Mots clés : new municipalism, coproduction, commons, urban democracy, urban governance, urban policy making, urban participation, ghent, bologna, barcelona

Participants :
- Fondazione pietro giacomo rusconi,villa ghigi, per l'innovazione urbana (Italie) — Partner, associated partner, Autres, subvention : 0.0 €
- Université d'Anvers (Belgique) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 191760.0 €
Projet ECICH (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2022)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

This project studies the role of European cultural institutions (ECIs) depending on their Ministry of Foreign Affairs in promoting national cinemas abroad and developing local film cultures in Chile. It compares the role of the Instituto Italiano di Cultura, the Institut Français, the Centro Cultural de España, and the Goethe Institut in two key historical periods (1955-1973 and 1974-1989) in which these institutions were the main gatekeepers and providers of European cinema in Chile. The action will be hosted at the Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center (ViDi) of UANTWERPEN under director Prof. Philippe Meers’ supervision and at the Centre of Research in the Arts (CoRA) based at Oxford Brookes University under director Prof. Daniela Treveri Gennari’s supervision. Through an interdisciplinary approach in the line of New Cinema History, the research will analyse the transnational connections embedded in local film cultures and facilitated by cultural diplomacy. It aims to generate new empirical data on this under-researched area of study, from a peripheral and non-Eurocentric standpoint. Its objectives are: To identify European films that circulated in Chile thanks to ECIs, and the social and institutional networks involving this process; To explore the emerging imaginaries of “European”, “political” and “quality cinema” attached to this circulation and influencing local film cultures; and to analyse the local reception of these films and ideas. The methodology will combine archival and qualitative research, drawing on the researcher’s previous experience and her training at both the beneficiary institution and the secondment. The main results include an online open access database, network analysis and a qualitative dataset; the researcher’s training in cutting-edge academic skills and digital humanities; valuable inputs that can inform international cultural policies; and new collaboration networks between academic and non-academic international institutions.

Mots clés : film cultures, new cinema history, european cinema, cultural diplomacy, latin america

Participants :
- Oxford Brookes University (Royaume-Uni) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Université d'Anvers (Belgique) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 175920.0 €
Projet ORIBAR (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2022)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : TERMINATED

Esophageal adenocarcinoma is the most rapidly increasing form of cancer in the Western world characterized by short survival times. Its precursor lesion is Barrett’s oesophagus, which is present long before oesophageal adenocarcinoma arises. This offers an opportunity for prevention. However, the cell of origin of Barrett’s oesophagus is unknown. This represents a huge knowledge gap and impairs the development of preventative and curative therapies.  My research has shown homeobox transcription factor HOXA13 is expressed in both Barrett’s oesophagus and in a fraction of oesophageal submucosal gland cells, but not in differentiated epithelial cells of the oesophagus or stomach. The submucosal glands have been proven to have positional and mutational kinship with Barrett's oesophagus. Therefore, they likely contain its cell of origin. Currently, the only models with oesophageal submucosal gland cells are large laboratory animals. These don't contain human cells, are impractical, costly and unethical in their use. Therefore, I propose to establish and validate the first human, 2D, organoid based, model of these glands.  I propose to test if submucosal glands contain the (HOXA13+) tissue specific stem cell of Barrett's oesophagus by employing single cell culture and single cell visualisation techniques. If proven, the resulting identification of the cell of origin of Barrett’s oesophagus would open a clear path to understanding mucosal plasticity and early stage oesophageal carcinogenesis. I propose to elucidate the characteristics of this cell of origin and identify which signaling pathways mediate the emergence of Barrett’s oesophagus. The proposed host group of Prof. Krishnadath is well-positioned for executing this project due to their access to relevant tissues and experience with handling submucosal glands, organoid technology and Barrett’s oesophagus experimental models. The results and experience gained will be instrumental for my further scientific career.

Mots clés : barrett s metaplasia hox transcription factors carcinogenesis gastroenterology experimental medicine

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

The reach of biological electron transport (ET) increased from nm to cm with the discovery of cable bacteria that do ET via highly conductive fibres along their filaments. Their extremely long distance ET electrically connects 1000s of cells and influences redox cycling. Other bacteria interact with this electric highway via interspecies ET. A visual version: flocking, where aerobes use cables to breathe oxygen in its absence. Flockers dump electrons on intermediates, electron shuttles, which cables recycle. Since their discovery, cable bacteria sparked interest for green, biodegradable electronics. Flocking suggests that we can access the electric fibre without damaging it. Cables must have a natural electric entryway, to upload electrons from shuttles onto the fibres. ENTER aims to map this.  We combine Prof Meysman's expertise on cable bacteria fibres with mine on flocker-cable bacteria interactions to: 1) Identify the electron shuttle by extensive electrochemical characterization of flockers (isolated in my PhD), map their ability to generate electricity, and find shuttle production potential in the genomes. 2) Advance models to find entryway protein sequences in closed cable bacteria genomes (from the host). 3) Localize the entryways on the filament and activate them using correlative light and electron microscopy with labelled shuttles and Raman microscopy.  ENTER will provide new insights into the functioning of electric ecosystems and electric microbes. It will offer novel perspectives on redox and electron flow in natural systems. For example, oxygen breathing way beyond its presence will affect CO2 burying and sequestration in the seafloor. ENTERs impact, not limited to natural systems, will also inspire new insights for engineered systems (microbial fuel cells, contaminant biodegradation). It could provide critical stepping stones for promising alternatives in new green electronics. ENTER connects many disciplines, that it will influence and inspire.

Mots clés : extra cellular electron transferring proteins, extra cellular electric interactions, electron shuttles

Participants :
- Université d'Anvers (Belgique) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 175920.0 €
Projet BeyondInformation (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Within theoretical neuroscience, many have by now embraced the view of the brain as a prediction machine which updates its predictions in light of incoming information. Yet, these ‘Predictive Processing’ theories (PP) face big conceptual challenges. As I've shown previously, by relying on semantic notions like information, representation, prediction, hypothesis-testing etc., they resist integration within the larger causal-mechanistic framework of which they claim to be a part. The twofold problem is, first, how to make naturalistic sense of semantic content or meaning at the level of individual neurons or neural populations and, second, how the assumed semantic content is supposed to be causally efficacious. Yet, if we can’t understand the neuroscientific data in terms of upstream information, downstream prediction and resulting prediction errors, how, then, should the neuroscientist interpret the bidirectional neural activity? Via 3 complementary research objectives (RO1-03), this project is aimed at providing an alternative explanation for the neuroscientific data which is traditionally framed in terms of information processing and, more recently, information prediction. For RO1, the pivotal move will be to substitute the problematic notion of prediction with an empirically underpinned biological notion of anticipation that does not involve semantic content, and which does fit within the boundaries of the causal-mechanistic framework. With RO2, this notion of anticipation-without-prediction will be applied to the neuroscientific findings the PP theorist explains in terms of prediction. RO3 will be dedicated to further study anticipation-without-prediction at the microbiological level via lab experiment. Overall, the project aims to present an alternative to the computationalist view of the brain, which identifies neural activity with information processing. In this sense, the project has paradigm-shifting potential.

Mots clés : brain as information processor, predictive processing, anticipation, embodied cognition, enactivism, neuroscience, cognitive science, microbiology

Participants :
- Sorbonne Université (France) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Université d'Anvers (Belgique) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 175920.0 €
Projet C-BRIGHT (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) possess uniquely diverse optoelectronic properties that depend critically on their exact diameter and chiral structure. Their quasi one-dimensional structure, high carrier mobility, photochemical and mechanical stability, combined with extremely narrow and tunable emission in the near-infrared (NIR), make them interesting candidates as active material in NIR organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) or light-emitting transistors (LETs). The integration of SWCNTs in OLEDs and LETs has so far been limited by their typically low intrinsic emission quantum efficiency. Enhancing the SWCNTs emission efficiency, therefore, requires an in-depth understanding of the complex exciton photophysics, in particular, that of the multiple dark excitons. In this project, we will investigate the filling of the SWCNTs inner hollow core combined with functionalizing their outer wall with particular triplet sensitizers. This provides two orthogonal degrees of freedom to enhance intersystem crossing to the triplet state and at the same time to make the triplet excitons bright, aiming for highly efficient SWCNTs triplet phosphorescence as a NIR emission source. To investigate the particular effect of the functionalization on the triplet exciton photophysics, we will make use of a unique technique that combines optical spectroscopy with the spin-selective magnetic resonance technique, namely optically-detected magnetic resonance (ODMR). Finally, as a proof-of-principle, these functionalized SWCNTs will be integrated in LETs and OLEDs. In operando characterization through, amongst others, electrically-detected magnetic resonance (EDMR) will be performed to determine the role of the spin-dependent electron-hole recombination processes in the devices, opening new avenues to highly emissive NIR-OLEDs/LETs, essential for a wide range of biomedical and biosensing applications.

Mots clés : carbon nanotubes, organic light emitting devices, triplet excitons, magnetic resonance spectroscopy, optically detected magnetic resonance, electrically detected magnetic resonance

Participants :
- Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft (Allemagne) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Université de Hasselt (Belgique) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Université d'Anvers (Belgique) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 191760.0 €
Projet AMFAGPW (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

A recent fingerprint of climate change is the increasing persistence of weather patterns, which implies that average weather is making way for anomalously long periods of dry or wet meteorological conditions. This shift in climate regimes is likely to negative affect ecosystem functioning, yet scientific knowledge on this is still scarce as much research has focused on unidirectional changes (e.g. only an increase in dry periods). In the current project, we will fill part of this knowledge gap by studying impacts of increasingly persistent weather in agricultural grasslands. Using a state-of-the-art experimental platform, we will test how a sequence of dry, wet, or alternating dry and wet growing seasons affects grasslands relevant in Flanders, and whether plant community composition (which grasses are present in which numbers) can modulate the outcome. Furthermore, we will evaluate the importance of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in potentially altering impacts of increasingly persistent precipitation regimes, identifying AMF colonization in relation to plant performance and how AMF regulate biochemical and molecular pathways in different grassland species. The UN has recently called for more attention for nature-based solutions in the fight against negative climate change impacts. This project contributes to that by elucidating the importance of plant community composition and AMF in safeguarding grassland ecosystem functioning under increasingly persistent weather.

Mots clés : plant ecology agricultural plant production not elsewhere classified ecosystem services soil biology plant physiology

Participants :
- Université d'Anvers (Belgique) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 191760.0 €
Projet PoliS (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2021)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Species and ecological interactions are disappearing at alarming rates with unknown effects on key ecosystem functions basic for human well being, as pollination. Project PoliS (comprehensive assessment of stability in pollination communities) aims to combine the forces of an expert in the study of stability in complex networks (researcher) and a world leader on pollination services (supervisor) to address one of the most relevant problems in ecology nowadays: how plant-pollinator communities respond to environmental changes. By bridging the classical divide between the empirical and theoretical frameworks to study ecological stability, and using as case study detailed data on 12 communities in the Doñana natural reserve (southern Spain) across a gradient of landscape fragmentation monitored over seven years, this project put forwards solutions to comprehensively quantify the response of pollination communities to environmental perturbations, and elucidates the mechanisms by which pollination communities withstand global change pressures and achieve different axes of stability. The novelty and high transferability of the methodology, in addition to the relevance of the question, make of this project an unique opportunity to advance in the prediction of how pollination communities will respond to a changing world.

Mots clés : ecological stability, climate change, landscape fragmentation, ecosystem functioning, plant pollinator communities

Participants :
- Conseil supérieur de la recherche scientifique (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 165312.96 €
Projet RADBLOCK (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The aim of RADBLOCK is to improve nanocarrier-based radionuclide delivery by enhancing targeting and overcoming problem of non-specific uptake of nanoparticles by macrophages in liver and spleen. For this purpose, two approaches will be used simultaneously: 1) modification of radionuclide-loaded nanoparticles with targeted scaffold proteins, recognizing HER2 receptor expressed by malignant cells; 2) temporal blockade of the cells of the mononuclear phagocyte system (MPS) to decrease elimination of the nanocarrier. The results of the project will be beneficial to the diagnostics and treatment of tumours with overexpression of HER2 receptors, such as human breast and gastric/gastroesophageal carcinomas. This project is novel and innovative, since presents first application of macrophage blockade technology for improving of radionuclide delivery with nanoparticles. RADBLOCK is a multidisciplinary project and combines modern chemical methods of nanocarrier preparation, physical methods for the material analysis and its comprehensive biological evaluation at the animals, bearing human xenografts. The applicant will conduct research in Uppsala University under supervision of Prof. Vladimir Tolmachev, expert in radiopharmaceutics and clinical applications of targeted scaffold proteins. As a two-way knowledge transfer fellow will be trained in methods of radiochemistry and radiopharmaceutics and will bring experience with nanomaterials chemistry and macrophage blockade techniques to the host organization. RADBLOCK is expected to increase radionuclide blood bioavailability in mammals and enhance specific tumour delivery, which will have positive effects on targeted diagnostics and therapy of malignant tumours with radionuclides.

Mots clés : nanoparticles radionuclides drug delivery macrophage blockade her2 targeting

Participants :
- Université d'Uppsala (Suède) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 252180.0 €