Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-actions-marie-curie-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ILLWILD (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : TERMINATED

Illegal wildlife trade (IWT) is increasing worldwide, with far reaching consequences for animal populations and ecosystems, as well as for human health and society. IWT is changing rapidly, and digital media has become one of its main channels. However, no systematic studies have characterized the magnitude and geographic range of IWT on digital media and the subsequent impacts on biodiversity conservation. Here, I will: (1) explore and quantify the global scale of IWT on digital media for endangered mammal and bird species; (2) identify geographic hotspots and explore the socio-economic drivers of IWT; and (3) identify top priority species for which the impact of individual offtake for IWT through digital media is higher in terms of population decline. To do so, I will focus on the digital trade of bird and mammal species included in Appendix I of CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora); since international trade for those species is not permitted. I will use state-of-the-art machine-learning algorithms to detect and quantify illegal trade of those species on several digital media platforms. I will integrate this information with potential geographic and socio-economic drivers of illegal wildlife trade to establish appropriate conservation planning strategies. Finally, I will carry out population models to understand the contribution of IWT to mortality rates and population trends. The proposed study combines artificial intelligence, social sciences and conservation science, thus providing a novel, multidisciplinary approach to understand the extent and patterns of IWT through digital media platforms and inform decision-making to ultimately help halt biodiversity loss.

Mots clés : illegal wildlife trade, e commerce, internet, social media, appendix i cites, population dynamics, birds, mammals, machine learning, spatial conservation planning, automated content analysis

Participants :
- University of Helsinki (Finlande) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 202680.96 €
Projet VISUAL (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Images are an important component of recognition between states: official photographs of high-level summit meetings, or images circulated by state representatives over Twitter, are used to visualise positive or negative interstate relationships that reflect, or challenge, established recognition dynamics. Despite the political importance of recognition, there are currently no studies on the visual politics of this process in International Relations. The purpose of the VISUAL project is to take the field a step further through the development of an innovative and original typology for the visual politics of recognition. In VISUAL we have the unique opportunity to advance our knowledge of the role images play in global politics. Using a theoretically-driven, exploratory analytical methodology employing a mixed-methods approach, the project theorizes and conceptualises successful and failed recognition by situating images within a process we know is politically significant: EU, NATO and G7 summit meetings and the acrimonious Iran-US relationship. In addition hereto, VISUAL explores the role of gender in the visual politics of recognition, developing a feminist visual methodology, the first of its kind in International Relations. Using the 'case plus study' methodology, VISUAL will address three main research questions across three sub-studies: 1) What are the visual modalities of recognition, successful and failed? 2) How are rival interpretations of recognition in the Iran-US relationship visualised? 3) How are gender norms reproduced or challenged in images signifying successful or failed recognition? I will significantly benefit from a placement at the Department of Political Science at the University of Copenhagen, under the supervision of Professor Lene Hansen, as it is the premiere international institution for the theoretical and empirical study of images in the field of International Relations.

Mots clés : recognition, images, digital diplomacy, visual content analysis, visual discourse analysis, discourse analysis

Participants :
- University of Copenhagen (Danemark) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 219312.0 €
Projet simpetmr (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Imaging of physiological functions in the living brain provides a unique possibility to study biological processes during disease or drug interventions. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and Positron Emission Tomography (PET) are important tools that enable brain imaging. Whereas PET enables determination of molecular target densities, fMRI provides information about brain hemodynamic responses to, e.g., a drug intervention. There are several research questions where the synergy between these modalities combined provides unique opportunities, including drug development and pharmacokinetic modeling. With the development of imaging systems that simultaneously acquire PET and fMRI signals, a need for analytical tools to interpret the recorded data has become paramount. My proposal focuses on the development of quantification schemes that use both signals. I will investigate two areas where simultaneous PET-MR can make a significant difference: 1) assessment of drug effects by coupling drug binding to a receptor to its downstream effect in tissue, 2) using cerebral blood flow estimates to inform modeling of PET data. I will develop models that serve for quantification of simultaneous PET- and fMRI data, validate them via simulations, and evaluate them using experimental data. The project will serve to leverage usage of simultaneous PET-MR, and assist in future studies with task- or drug-induced interventions. The project seeks to establish quantification methods that serve not only the imaging society, but specifically address the pharmaceutical companies' need to test their compounds prior to clinical trials. By transitioning to hybrid imaging, I have the possibility to use my strong background in PET to impact a young field under development. The host institution is world leading in applied simultaneous PET-MR studies, thus the MSCA fellowship presents a unique possibility for me to gain invaluable knowledge of the next generation of medical imaging.

Mots clés : simultaneous pet, pharmacokinetic modeling, functional neuroimaging

Participants :
- Capital Region of Denmark (Danemark) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Organismes publics (hors enseignement & recherche), subvention : 212194.8 €
Projet GammaDeltaTME (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Immune cells constitute a major component of the tumor microenvironment (TME) that influence several aspects of cancer progression and outcome. The host laboratory has identified two distinct γδ T-cell subsets with opposing roles in tumor progression: whereas interferon-γ (IFN-γ)-producing γδ T-cells stimulate anti-tumor responses, IL-17A-secreting γδ T-cells promote angiogenesis and tumor growth. However, the cellular and molecular factors controlling the critical balance between these antagonistic subsets remain unknown. The present proposal builds on subsequent relevant findings of the host laboratory, namely that neutrophils suppress IL-17A+ γδ T-cell proliferation, revealing an unanticipated neutrophil/γδ T-cell crosstalk in TME, and that on another side the metabolic resources may also play a critical role in γδ T-cell subsets. Based on these foundations, within the present proposal we will: a) identify TME cellular partners that determine the balance between IFN-γ+ and IL-17A+ γδ T-cells in several experimental models of cancer. b) study the metabolic pathways employed by γδ T-cell subsets and the impact of manipulating those pathways on their balance within the TME c) analyze the impact of immune crosstalk and metabolic resources on γδ T-cell subsets both at transcriptomic and epigenetic levels. Overall, this project will provide conceptual advances that will foster innovative strategies to promote anti-tumor γδ cell functions at the expense of their pro-tumoral activities.


Participants :
- University of Lisbon (Portugal) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 159815.04 €
Projet PaSION (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Immuno-oncology (IO) and specifically immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have recently shown significant clinical benefit in a growing number of different tumor types. However 60-90% of the patients experience immune-related adverse events (irAEs) associated with inflammatory or autoimmune responses that can affect any organ and system. Early recognition and treatment of these irAEs is crucial to reduce morbidity, organ complications and ultimately, mortality. Patient reported outcomes (PROs) result in earlier detection of symptom occurrence and severity compared to clinician reports, which tend to understate these experiences, and can serve as a reliable complementary indicator for AEs before their clinical manifestation. Although the use of PROs is highly recommended to be included as an endpoint in clinical trials, no IO-specific-PRO tool has been developed to date and the use of general cancer-specific instruments does not address the needs, concerns and specific symptoms experienced by patients undergoing ICI therapy. The overall objective of this project is therefore to gain a comprehensive understanding of patients’ experience over the immunotherapeutic treatment course based on qualitative interviews with patients, their caregivers and healthcare professionals. This will enable evaluating the need for adaptation or development of new IO-PRO measures. Furthermore, variations in immune-related biomarkers might predict the appearance and severity of symptoms and serve as surrogates for high-grade AEs risk stratification. Hence, this project will additionally investigate potential associations between symptoms and biomarkers over the treatment course in order to elucidate existing correlations. Results derived from this study will facilitate the development of more efficient and targeted care interventions based on the characteristics of the individual in the future, together advancing a patient-centered model of care in IO.

Mots clés : nursing, care, patient reported outcome, symptom, quality of life, patient experience, biomarker, cancer immunotherapy, immune checkpoint inhibitor

Participants :
- University Hospital of Lausanne (Suisse) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Organismes publics (hors enseignement & recherche), subvention : 175419.6 €
Projet PFC-AMY (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Impairments in self-regulation of emotions are a substantial aspect of neuropsychiatric disorders such as anxiety disorder, major depression, bipolar disorder, and borderline personality disorder. These disorders account for up to 40% of years lived with disability, with depression as the main cause. Key characteristics of these disorders are changes in emotion processing, i.e. emotion perception, emotion reactivity and emotion regulation. From a brain network perspective, these emotion processing alterations were found to be associated with reduced activity in the prefrontal cortex (dorsolateral and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex), while at the same time limbic areas (particularly the amygdala) are overactivated. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), a non-invasive technique for modulating brain networks, is a promising tool to cure patients suffering from affective disorders. Current approaches, however, use TMS targets based on generic anatomy coordinates from group-average studies. It is this lack of patient-specific targeting which most probably causes the modest response rates observed in TMS therapy. This project will use cutting-edge neuroscience methods to provide innovative ways for the treatment of patients with emotional dysregulation. We will systematically investigate different network properties underlying emotion perception, reactivity and regulation in healthy participants to develop a connectivity-informed process model of emotion processing that could be used for clinical research. We will use individualised brain targets based on activation and connectivity patterns obtained in the same subject to improve TMS application accuracy and achieve optimal therapeutic benefit in each and every patient. We will compare the performance of this precision-medicine approach with subject-specific stimulation targets to the current gold-standard procedure relying on group-average targets.

Mots clés : amygdala, fmri, prefrontal cortex, emotion regulation, affect regulation, emotion perception, emotion reactivity

Participants :
- Medical University of Vienna (Autriche) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 166156.8 €
Projet DDRR (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Important viral infectious diseases, such as dengue and chikungunya, are transmitted to humans by insect vectors. One of the key factors that modulates whether an insect is competent or not to transmit a given pathogen is its innate immune response. The major antiviral defense in insects is the RNA interference (RNAi) mechanism that is activated by the detection of viral double-stranded RNA (dsRNA). During antiviral RNAi a silencing immune signal is transported from one cell to another to set an antiviral state (systemic RNAi). To be primed, non-infected cells must sense this silencing signal and internalize it. Although dsRNA as a mediator of local antiviral immunity is well established in insects, the effectors of a systemic immune response are not identified. For instance, the identification of the dsRNA receptor in insects remains elusive. This proposal intends to dissect the mechanism of dsRNA uptake in insects with special focus on discovering its receptor. I propose to combine functional (genome wide RNAi screen, in vivo dsRNA oral uptake) with binding (electrophoretic mobility shift assay, surface plasmon resonance) and structural assays (expression, production and studies of complexes receptor/dsRNA) using Drosophila melanogaster as insect model and an array of viruses in order to identify and characterize the dsRNA receptor.To be found, the manipulation of this receptor could help control the insect vectors of emerging viral diseases. Understanding how the infection is controlled within the insect before crossover to the human host could generate new strategies to disrupt pathogen transmission.

Mots clés : viral immunity, rna interference, insects, dsrna receptor, emerging viral pathogens

Participants :
- Institut Pasteur (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 185076.0 €
Projet MixAmox (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Improving current biological wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) towards more reliable and resource-efficient solutions is a priority of the EU (Water Framework Directive). Successful biological treatments rely on the concerted activity of different microorganisms and thus optimized microbial community engineering strategies are required to achieve this goal. Processes based on anammox bacteria hold promise to reduce the energy and resource expenditures of WWTPs. However, our current knowledge of the different microorganisms involved and the environmental factors regulating their interactions in anammox-based microbial communities remains limited. The MixAmox project aims at advancing our fundamental understanding of the metabolic interactions and their implications for process performance in these communities through a multidisciplinary approach based on theoretical and experimental methods combined with cutting-edge molecular techniques and stable isotopes. The obtained results are expected to foster the implementation of anammox systems. Moreover, the developed methodological framework will be directly applicable for the study of any natural or engineered complex microbial community. Hosted at TU Delft, the researched (ML) will develop a strong theoretical background in thermodynamic analysis and mathematical modelling of microbial communities. He will also learn how to design and conduct short and long-term incubations, combined with stable isotopes, targeting the study of metabolic interactions and microbial competition dynamics. ML will spend the secondments at Aalborg University where he will be trained in high-throughput sequencing technologies for the phylogenetic and functional characterization of complex communities. This unique combination of expertise will significantly improve ML’s career perspectives towards his ambition to establish his own research group at the edge of environmental biotechnology and community systems microbiology.

Mots clés : anammox, dnra, denitrification, stable isotopes, functional genes, dna sip, microbial competition

Participants :
- Delft University of Technology (Pays-Bas) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 165598.8 €
Projet INSPIRE (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Improving energy efficiency, reducing emissions and increasing the share of renewables are among the primary targets of the EU. To achieve these goals, solid-state energy devices, including solid oxide cells (SOCs), have gathered significant attention. In recent years, advances in material design have opened up unprecedented opportunities for development. For example, compared with either single phase, heterointerfaces of transition metal oxides (TMOs) exhibit orders of magnitude faster ion exchange/diffusion kinetics in SOCs. However, there is continuous debate regarding the origin of these enhancements, mainly due to limited instrumental resolutions compared to the nanometre length scale of heterointerfaces. The underlying electrokinetic mechanisms must be understood and quantitatively determined so that we can rationally design interfaces with superior properties. This will open up new avenues in the low-temperature SOC (LT-SOC) applications. To this end, we propose an in-situ study of a range of heterointerfaces using both Low Energy Ion Scattering Spectroscopy and recently installed, one-of-a-kind and high-resolution Plasma Focused Ion Beam Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy. We will design strain-engineered vertically aligned composite nanostructures (VAN) of TMO heterostructures using Pulsed Laser Deposition. VAN design allows for strain tuning in electrodes with thicknesses reaching micrometre length scales, thus paving the way for potential commercialisation. The performance of these heterostructures will be investigated for LT-SOC applications, targeting higher outputs at lower operating temperatures (300-500°C). This project combines the candidate’s expertise in SOCs with the host institute’s unique surface characterisation capabilities. This work is expected to form a cornerstone in the researcher's academic career while significantly contributing to boosting European excellence by studying a highly topical research question.

Mots clés : solid oxide cells, vertically aligned nanocomposite heterostructures, heterointerfaces, transition metal oxides, leis, sims, in situ surface characterisation, impedance spectroscopy

Participants :
- Imperial College London (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 212933.76 €
Projet MCIATTP (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

In 2014, EU PLASTICS INDUSTRY accounted for 1.4MM jobs and contributed to high living standards of the EU citizens by enabling new and more affordable technologies. Most of the PROCESSING of POLYMERIC MATERIALS occurs under NON-ISOTHERMAL flow conditions. As a result, the COST/ENERGY REQUIRED to manufacture, recycle and dispose polymers is STRONGLY AFFECTED by the thermo-physical properties linkage to state variables such as temperature and stress. Experiments show that flowing polymers exhibit ANISOTROPIC THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY (ATC) (i.e. direction dependent). This phenomenon has been previously NEGLECTED in both the simulation of INDUSTRIALLY relevant flows and the development of a molecularly-based THEORY for thermal transport in polymers. This research targets THIS GAP IN KNOWLEDGE by: 1) EXTENDING molecular-based modelling techniques to include ATC; 2) TRANSFERRING the physical insights to macroscopic network models (MNM) by averaging the important physical processes; 3) VERIFYING the MNM predictions by comparison to experimental data; 4) IMPLEMENTING a robust MNM for ATC in finite element methods (FEM) to simulate prototype flows. This study will COMBINE the ER EXPERIENCE investigating THERMO-PHYSICAL properties of polymers with the expertise of the HI supervisor in the development MNMs and their APPLICATION to FEM. In addition, a SECONDMENT at an expert group in molecular simulation will provide the KNOWLEDGE needed to CONNECT the MICROSTRUCTURE to the MNM. This INTERDISCIPLINARY project will BENEFIT INDUSTRY through the OPTIMIZATION of FABRICATION processes and the assessment of the mechanical and thermal PERFORMANCE OF PLASTICS during use. At a more fundamental level, understanding how micro-structure couples with the macroscopic properties will allow us to TUNE POLYMERS to become BETTER THERMAL CONDUCTORS or INSULATORS. The materials derived from these outcomes will directly IMPACT SOCIETY through more ADVANCED AND AFFORDABLE devices and products.

Mots clés : anisotropy, thermal transport, finite elements, molecular dynamics, polymers

Participants :
- University of Burgos (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 170121.6 €