Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-actions-marie-curie-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet AptoGEL (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

It is estimated that about 0.5% of the world’s population will require an articular cartilage (AC) intervention at some point in their life. Current treatment options for osteochondral (OC) lesions are only marginally successful, and if left untreated, lead to osteoarthritic (OA) joint disease, one of the major sources of disability world-wide. Many of the common surgical approaches to treat cartilage lesions like, microfracture (MF), are dependent on the efficient migration of cells from the underlying subchondral bone (SB) to ensure successful regeneration of the tissue. However, the extent of cell migration and hence the clinical outcome, is highly variable. To overcome this critical limitation, a scaffold is proposed which uses two key mechanisms to induce stem cell migration. Firstly, the scaffold is composed of macroporous annealed particle (MAP) hydrogels, whose void space naturally facilitates endogenous the migration of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). Secondly, the microgels are modified with a specific aptamer, Apt19S, which has been shown to have high affinity to MSCs. Specifically in this project; hyaluronic acid (HA) will be triple-modified with methacrylate groups, transglutaminase (TG)-sensitive peptides and the Apt19S aptamer to produce AptoGEL, a new and exciting material with key properties needed for OC regeneration. We hypothesize this advanced, yet biocompatible material, will provide an ideal 3D environment for promoting cell migration and differentiation leading to a more fully functional OC repair

Mots clés : hydrogel

Participants :
- Board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology (Suisse) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 191149.44 €
Projet HIERARCHICAL FUNCOAT (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : SIGNED

It is estimated that nearly two-thirds of the entire coating materials suffer from wear and demand annual substitution. Even a modest few percent reduction in coating failures can significantly impact energy security, energy savings, and environmental benefits. Single-layer coatings fail to sufficiently protect components surface under harsh conditions. Recent progress in the field of “Materials-by-Design” open entirely new possibilities to “hierarchically” protect surfaces by designing functionally-gradient multi-layer coatings. ”. Multi-layer coatings have been a key advancement in extending the lifetime of the wear-resistant coatings for different applications. However, progress toward this scientific resolution has been slowly progressing on an empirical basis. Theoretical understanding and design principles for optimizing the performance of multi-layer coatings are very limited. This proposal aims to take a leap forward to understand and predict material removal mechanisms in multi-layer coatings using a complementary set of computer simulations and validating experiments. Specifically, the research seeks to hierarchically protect material surfaces by tailoring and optimizing the material gradient and layer architecture in a multi-layer coating setup. The main objectives of this research are summarized in three key headings; First, is to shed light on the fundamental understanding of the materials removal mechanisms of Functional Multi-layer Coatings (FMCs) across scales using complementary computer simulations and experiments. This theoretical understanding does not exit today and will be pioneered as the final goal of this proposal. Second, is to establish "design principles" for optimizing functionally-gradient and layer-architecture coatings for ultra-low wear and self-healing capacities. Last but not least, is to link and correlate the potential industries with the prospective results.

Mots clés : multi layer, surface and coating technology, wear, computational solid mechanics, mechanics of thin films, creep, molecular dynamic simulation, tribology, nan scale

Participants :
- Aarhus University (Danemark) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 219312.0 €
Projet SKIN SUBSTITUTE (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

It is estimated that the incidence of diabetes in Europe will affect 43 million people by 2030. 15% of diabetic patients develop a diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) with 14-24% of these patients requiring amputation. Mortality following amputation of 50–68% is comparable or worse than for most malignancies. My strategy will develop for the first time a skin substitute which combines a biopolymer and a functionalized synthetic FDA approved polymer incorporating bioactive components and AgO and ZnO nanoparticles as antibacterial agents. The cellular compatibility of the hybrid skin substitute will be assessed on fibroblast, keratinocyte and hMSC in a 3D cell culture model. The antimicrobial efficacy will be assessed in vitro and in vivo. The optimised scaffold will be assessed in an alloxan-induced diabetic rabbit ulcer model with gold standards Integra® and Alloderm® skin grafts acting as commercial controls to validate the commercial potential of the technology. Progress to completion will be reviewed by a Research and Professional Development Plan which will provide both discipline-specific and complementary technical training (molecular biology, diabetic wound healing in vivo models, and histological and stereological techniques) and generic and complementary transferable skills training (e.g. intellectual property, leadership skills, motivation skills, communication skills, leveraging non-exchequer funding, regulatory affairs, clinical trial design, reimbursement strategies, medical device evaluation and regulatory affairs). I will benefit from Prof Pandit’s and Prof Dulce Papy-Garcia (secondment) international collaborative network in the field of diabetic wound healing. This training will facilitate me to achieve my future career goals of achieving a position of professional maturity, diversity and independence by establishing my own research group at a leading European institution and enabling me to translate innovative therapeutic interventions to the clinic setting.

Mots clés : functionalised biomaterials, tissue engineering, biomedical engineering, scaffolds

Participants :
- National University of Ireland (Irlande) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 187866.0 €
Projet SYBAWHEY (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Staff Exchanges
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

It is more efficient to maximise the value of food waste and by-products than reducing the cost of its management and disposal. Applications in this direction require intersectoral and intrasectoral synergies for maximising utilisation of complementary waste resources and multidisciplinary approach to research innovation and skills. SYBAWHEY aims a trans-national partnership between Europe and Africa for promoting area-wide sustainable supply network for the generation of innovations in the direction of food waste management and valorisation. The main focus will be on exchange of material (waste and by-products) and non-material based resources (knowledge and transferable skills) via international as well as intersectoral mobility between Africa and Europe. Methodologically, it draws on a case study of high volumes of underused by-products and wastes from banana production in Uganda and the environmentally toxic cheese whey produced by Cyprus dairies. Compared to other regions, whey from Cypriot dairies presents high lactose content and therefore great potential for product-driven biorefining. Moreover, banana flavour is one of the most preferred flavours in dairy products. SYBAWHEY aims a multidisciplinary approach to the network including assessing the feasibility and impact of whey and banana waste and by-product valorisation into useful products with high input to the same or different industrial plants; development of innovative technologies for aroma extraction from banana pulp and peel to be used in dairy products; characterisation of whey and banana pulp and peel and development of bioprocesses for their utilisation in health-promoting fermented whey-based novel foods; assessing the sustainability of banana flour in terms of energy and resource use as well as assessing the sustainability of the proposed valorisation processes by evaluating their economical, environmental and social impact.

Mots clés : hallumi cheese whey, banana peel, banana pulp, product driven refining, bio based products, yogurt like products, sustainability assessment, industrial symbiosis

Participants :
- Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Grèce) — Partner, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 184500.0 €
- University of Birmingham (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 36000.0 €
- Afribanana products limited (Ouganda) — Partner, organization partner, Autres, subvention : 0.0 €
- Kyambogo University (Ouganda) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Cyprus University of Technology (Chypre) — Partner, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 27000.0 €
- Lefkonitziatis dairy products ltd (Chypre) — Partner, beneficiary, Organismes privés (hors enseignement), subvention : 45000.0 €
- Eptes sarl (Suisse) — Partner, beneficiary, Organismes privés (hors enseignement), subvention : 18000.0 €
Projet IRS-CESC (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Economic Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

It is widely recognized that waste recycling can reduce both natural resource scarcity and negative environmental impacts of increasing trash production. Expanding the waste recycling is a key to construct Circular Economy (CE) approaches, contributing significantly to the global climate-change mitigation effort, at both local and national scales. Integrated Sustainable Waste Management (ISWM), of which waste recycling encompasses one part, is essential on a global scale. Innovative, low-cost methods of waste recycling was developed by vulnerable and marginalized waste pickers , which have led to the creation of an informal waste recycling sector (IRS) which are currently being used in Brazil and others LMIC, and have the potential to be more widely deployed. The IRS has developed work procedures that diverge from those deployed in EU recycling, setting a social technology (ST). This IRS ST is beneficial to ISWM, as it diminishes overall costs and amplifies quantities recovered, besides providing income to a poor, jobless population. This research will validate the possible gains from disseminating the Brazilian IRS ST to other LMIC countries as an ISWM policy and in support to CE strategies, which will involve a comparison of the Brazilian IRS with the EU recycling model; as such, it will consider how to make social and ecological value visible in value-analysis methods. The research will be carried on by the ER, whose ten years’ research has driven to a crossing point of economics, engineering, and environmental disciplines, the same scope of University of Leeds’ Cities theme. These will enable the ER to acquire the new skills and experience to achieve a position of an independent and professionally mature researcher in the field of CE at international level, leading interdisciplinary action-research groups to support international organizations on initiatives to more sustainable and inclusive cities, in direction to a Green Economy.

Mots clés : waste recycling, informal recycling sector, resource recovery, inclusive waste management, sustainable cities

Participants :
- University of Leeds (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 146591.1 €
Projet JHSIGNAL (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Juvenile hormones (JHs) are lipophilic signals of vital importance to insects and related arthropods, representing the most successful group of animals on our planet. Among species relying on regulation by JH are beneficial pollinators and crustaceans, as well as agricultural pests and disease vectors. Manipulation of JH signaling is a good target for insecticide control. Therefore, knowledge of JH signaling is important both for fundamental science and for practical use. The intracellular JH receptor has been identified, largely through work in the host laboratory, but its action is still poorly understood. Current evidence suggests that activity of this JH receptor is modulated by JH-induced phosphorylation. The objective of this proposal is to identify the phosphorylation target sites and to determine their significance for the JH receptor function. To achieve this goal, the status of amino acid residues potentially phosphorylated in response to JH will be determined using mass spectrometry of the JH receptor protein expressed in insect cell lines. The key residues will be mutated either to prevent phosphorylation or to mimic a constitutively phosphorylated state, and the mutant receptors will be examined for capacity to bind JH, induce JH-response genes, and sustain normal insect development in vivo. The approach thus ranges from protein biochemistry through cell-based assays to developmental genetics employing the Drosophila model. The goals are achievable through the combined expertise of the Applicant, extensively trained in protein chemistry and molecular biology at the top-ranking US universities, and the host laboratory of Dr. Marek Jindra, who is among the leaders in insect developmental endocrinology and JH research in particular. This project will enable the Applicant to fully expand her potential and learn insect developmental genetics while permanently integrating to European science.

Mots clés : lipophilic hormones, juvenile hormone, intracellular hormone receptors, bhlh pas proteins, transcription factors, protein phosphorylation, insects, development, drosophila, tribolium

Participants :
- Czech Academy of Sciences (Rép. Tchèque) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 154720.8 €
Projet VulneraBAP1 (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Kidney cancer is among the ten most prevalent cancers arising in Western countries, with clear-cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) being the most frequent subtype (75%). About 30% of ccRCC patients present with metastatic disease at diagnosis, and another 30% will develop metastases after surgery. When metastatic, ccRCC remains largely incurable. I recently discovered that the tumor suppressor BAP1 (BRCA1-associated protein 1) is inactivated in 15% of ccRCCs (Peña-Llopis et al. Nat. Genet. 2012). Notably, I found that mutations in BAP1 are mutually exclusive with mutations of the tumor suppressor gene PBRM1, and loss of BAP1 was associated with higher tumor grade, activation of mTORC1, and poorer overall patient survival, whereas tumors with PBRM1 loss were associated with lower tumor grade and better overall survival. This first molecular genetic classification of ccRCC may have tangible clinical implications, since tumors with BAP1 loss display in general more aggressive pathological features and are more prone to metastasize. However, the molecular mechanism through which BAP1 loss induces metastasis and tumor aggressiveness remains elusive. In this study, I aim to investigate the molecular mechanism of repression of a miRNA cluster involved in metastasis by BAP1 and identify therapeutic opportunities. Specifically, I will (1) supervise a PhD student (supported by a grant I was recently been awarded) in the identification and characterization of the BAP1 protein complex that binds at the miRNA cluster promoter; and (2) I will uncover the genetic vulnerabilities of BAP1 loss by a synthetic lethality strategy. These studies will facilitate attainment of my long term career goal to become a group leader and a fully independent investigator.

Mots clés : metastasis, micrornas, functional genomics, epigenetic genes, synthetic lethality, cancer genomics

Participants :
- German Cancer Research Center (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 171460.8 €
Projet FASTKiT (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Mathematics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Kinetic models are omnipresent in a wide range of scientific and engineering applications. They are derived from the evolution of a particle distribution in position-velocity phase space, and appear, for instance, in the modeling of fusion energy reactors and atmospheric reentry of spacecraft, where classical fluid equations are inaccurate. Further technological progress of these applications requires significant advances in modeling and simulation of kinetic models. The underlying kinetic equations pose severe simulation challenges, due to their inherent high-dimensionality and the presence of a wide range of time scales. The increased dimensionality in velocity directions can be addressed by an extended set of fluid quantities via moment models or the maximum entropy method. To deal with the stiffness of the equations, asymptotic-preserving time discretization methods need to be used. Since both the stiffness and the accuracy of a kinetic model depend on space and time, the design of numerical methods incorporating fully integrated space-time adaptivity is crucial to allow these methods to be efficiently used in real-world applications. In this action, the applicant will integrate his expertise on moment models with the experience on projective integration schemes available at the host institution, and extend their applicability towards a wide range of kinetic models hereby achieving the following objectives: - Develop fully space-time adaptive numerical scheme for kinetic models - Implement software for space-time adaptive solution of kinetic models - Compute numerical solutions for real-world applications The results of FASTKiT will constitute a major step forward in the adaptive simulation of kinetic models. FASTKiT will contribute to the development of technologies for next generation reactors and space exploration efforts, in line with Horizon 2020, while the applicant will benefit from an innovative environment to receive training and transferable skills.

Mots clés : kinetic theory, time integration, adaptivity, multi scale, asymptotic preserving, moment method

Participants :
- KU Leuven (Belgique) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 166320.0 €
Projet TMCKyrgyz (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Kyrgyz is a bridge language in terms of historical-comparative linguistics, the geographical territory of which is located between different groups of Turkic languages on the one side, and Turkic and Mongolian languages on the other. From the perspective of Turkic-Mongolian linguistic contacts, the Kyrgyz language is unique in that it has not only simple vocabulary transfers represented by lexical borrowings which in varying degrees can be seen in other Turkic languages, but it also shows influences from a Mongolian substrate. This substrate influence, usually defined with the terms “interference” or “imposition”, reveals itself not only in the phonological, morphological and syntactic levels of Kyrgyz but also in regional borrowings, something that is rarely the case in other Turkic languages. The question of the influence of Turkic-Mongolian language contacts on the formation of these two language groups has already been discussed in relevant linguistic and historical studies. However, the subject of borrowings and/or Mongolian-based contact-induced change in Kyrgyz has never been studied in detail, even though the existence of large-scale Mongolian influence on Kyrgyz vocabulary has sometimes been commented upon in certain studies. The project aims to determine the degree and depth of influence of the Mongolian languages on the formation of Kyrgyz owing to the age-long, intense linguistic contact among the Turkic- and Mongolian-speaking tribes that eventually formed the basis of Kyrgyz ethnicity. The project seeks to expand our knowledge about the nature, scope, and mechanisms of linguistic contacts in general and of Turkic and Mongolian languages in particular. These aims will be achieved by studying not only borrowings but also those features in Kyrgyz that appeared through the influence of the Mongolian substrate. The research will be mainly based on the comparative-historical, comparative-typological and etymological methods of linguistic analysis.

Mots clés : altaic studies, turkic languages, mongolic languages, kyrgyz, language contact, code copying, borrowing

Participants :
- Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 174806.4 €
Projet LORD (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

LANDs (Liquid scintillator Anti-Neutrino Detectors) have been for decades in the forefront of reactor neutrino fundamental research, yielding groundbreaking results. Despite success, LANDs are known to have a rather poor event-wise background rejection capability. LiquidO is a novel neutrino detection technology which, while inheriting much from LANDs, relies, in total opposition, on the unique exploitation of an opaque liquid scintillator to yield a breakthrough performance in terms of background rejection. Our project deals with first LiquidO R&D (LORD) steps to demonstrate LiquidO's unprecedented ability in terms of physics detection performance with reactor antineutrinos, where a positron is to be uniquely identified as the signal (via Inverse Beta Decay reaction), thus rejecting most (or all) the backgrounds known so far. The goal is to exploit LiquidO's effective light confinement to reach a unprecedented spatial resolution (order 1cm), as compared to LANDs (typically >10cm). The researcher will thus develop and tune a high accuracy simulation using data-driven results obtained from two dedicated table-top prototypes. Then, he will demonstrate that LiquidO can be both (a) an effective background-less and (b) IBD directionally sensitive detector, among the most challenging (so far impossible) detector capabilities for any reactor neutrino detector today. The researcher will design and optimise a hypothetical LiquidO detector (via the tuned simulation) studying those capabilities, both relying on the same exploitation of the now resolvable non-point-like positron energy deposition caused by the annihilation gammas, thus discriminating from any other background final state (electron/gamma/proton-recoil). Such experimental capabilities so far impossible will provide a breakthrough training scenario for the researcher to culminate his preparation as a mature researcher in fundamental physics beyond today's state of the art detector technology.

Mots clés : neutrino, antineutrino, reactor, randd, detector, liquid scintillator, ibd directionality, background rejection

Participants :
- Centre national de la recherche scientifique (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 185076.0 €