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

Biodiversity policy is a fundamental component for sustainable development and actions to mitigate and adapt to climate change. For efficient and effective policy implementation it is crucial to understand where policy interventions can generate greatest ecological and socio-economic benefits. However, accurate spatial information about public good values of biodiversity is missing. The Spatial non-market VAluation for Biodiversity (SVAB) project aims to address this gap through four objectives. It will: 1) develop a novel spatially explicit survey valuation methodology to improve the accuracy of non-market valuation of biodiversity; 2) develop a spatial sampling methodology to improve the efficiency of sampling in spatial valuation surveys; 3) use these methodologies to assess the non-market values associated with nature restoration and extension of the nature protected areas network (Natura 2000) in the Czech Republic; 4) engage with policy-makers and citizens to enhance the relevance of the methods and outcomes and inform decision making in policy and public spheres. SVAB will develop an individualised choice maps approach for stated preference research that enables testing the impacts of a wide set of spatial factors on public preferences for policy changes, test a spatial sampling strategy that will decrease survey costs in valuation and broader research, and improve the reliability of biodiversity valuation to inform spatial targeting of biodiversity policy. SVAB will enable the applicant to innovate spatial non-market valuation methods, develop new analytical and transferable skills, create new knowledge on societal benefits of nature, and publish the excellent research in leading journals in order to become an independent researcher. The project is highly interdisciplinary, combining economic and econometric methods, spatial analysis approaches, and biodiversity and ecosystem sciences.

Mots clés : non market valuation, stated preference methods

Participants :
- Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Pays-Bas) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 187572.48 €
Projet MATBFOB (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Mathematics
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Biofilms play a pivotal role in healthcare-associated infections, especially those related to indwelling medical devices, such as intra-vascular and urinary catheters, cardiac pacemakers and orthopaedic implants. Many mathematical models have been developed to simulate and elucidate the main processes characterizing biofilm growth. Biofilm models have been widely acknowledged as a tool for fundamental understanding of wastewater treatment processes, the morphology of biofilm structures and for deciphering the manner in which they originate through the interaction of a couple of factors like: mass transfer, nutrient availability, detachment forces etc. However there has been very little or no endeavour to develop a suitable model for understanding the exact stages of microbial adhesion on biomaterials and the process of gradual establishment of microbial colonies on medical devices, considering the effect of substrate-microbe interactions . The proposed project consists of a brief and precise experimental part for investigating the initiation and progression of biofilm formation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a nosocomial pathogen, on implant surfaces through real-time monitoring. The experimental observations will be used to mathematically model the process of growth of biofilm on a biomaterial surface, considering the effect of interactions of microbes with a specific substrate and the rate of nutrient uptake.The project will employ currently used mathematical tools to model the spatio-temporal dynamics of biofilm formation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa on different biomaterial surfaces.The model will help in visualising the manner and the rate at which bacterial infections can spread on a particular surface and correlate it with the surface properties. This will be the initiation of - model guided substrate design of implants- a brand new concept for implant manufacturers, orthopaedic surgeons, biomaterial scientists, microbiologists and biofilm modellers.

Mots clés : biofilms, implants, individual based modelling

Participants :
- University of Exeter (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 337400.64 €
Projet NOTE (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Biological nanopores are nanometre-scale holes in membranes created by transmembrane proteins. In nature, nanopores come from pore-forming toxins or exist as transporters in bacteria. To date, they have been successfully used for an impressive variety of applications ranging from DNA sequencing through to the measurement of function-related motions of enzymes. Planned developments using nanopores include their integration into biosensors for the detection of analytes from blood. However, to reach their potential, miniaturisation and parallelisation of electrophysiology setups and an in-depth understanding of how nanopores exert forces on their substrates during trapping and translocation are required. There are currently no experimental techniques which provide access to this information. Single molecule studies using the optical tweezers (OT) have, over the past decade, become the gold standard in high resolution measurements of forces in biological systems, including observations of sub-nanometre enzyme kinetics, protein folding and protein degradation machinery in action. I propose the development of low-cost, microfluidic-based tools for the study of biological nanopores using OT. The technologies arising from this work will provide an unprecedented insight into the function of biological nanopores and will enable studies of any other transmembrane protein system, many of which are also of great medical importance. The findings will also lay the groundwork for peptide-sequencing and biosensor technologies for personalised medicine. The combination of my skills in single molecule biophysics and Prof. Maglia’s expertise at the forefront of biological nanopore technologies is ideal for the successful completion of the research objectives. Through the planned interdisciplinary work and high-quality training, I will increase both my research- and transferable skill sets enabling me to reach my goal of establishing a leading independent research group within the EU.

Mots clés : single molecule, optical tweezers, biological nanopores, electrophysiology, microfluidics, personalised medicine

Participants :
- University of Groningen (Pays-Bas) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 175572.48 €
Projet ECogNeT (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Biological neuronal networks allow humans and animals to build representations of objects, complex scenes, and temporal sequences and to use these representations to plan and execute goal-directed actions, learn new skills, and constantly adapt to changing situations. Neuronal systems have evolved to be extremely powerful in perceiving and acting in complex and dynamic real-world environments. The field of neuromorphic engineering is realising neuronal computation in a new generation of hardware systems, aiming to enable computation with high efficiency and low energy cost, comparable to biological neuronal networks. In order to use this hardware to implement systems that can solve perceptual, motor, and cognitive tasks, cognitive architectures have to be developed, which integrate elementary cognitive processes in a coherent computational framework. The ECogNeT project aims to develop such a computational framework by realising neural-dynamic models of embodied cognition in neuromorphic hardware. In particular, the computational and conceptual framework of Dynamic Neural Fields will be used to create cognitive computational primitives in neuromorphic hardware, which will organise the hardware neurons in attractor-networks, capable to generate discrete, cognitive representations from sensory inputs. The developed neuromorphic cognitive architecture will be integrated with sensors and motors of a robotic agent and its capability to represent environmental situations and temporal sequences of events will be validated in benchmark scenarios, exploiting the potential of this new technology in development of novel, low-power, fast, and smart devices capable to work in real-world settings in order to advance future prosthetic systems, smart environments, and assistive robots.

Mots clés : neurally inspired computing, neurorobotics, cognitive systems, neuromorphic engineering

Participants :
- University of Zurich (Suisse) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 187419.6 €
Projet POLAR (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Biological self-organisation through spontaneous symmetry breaking is essential for the emergence and maintenance of life. Cell polarity, where an asymmetric distribution of molecules is achieved within a cellular compartment, is one of the simplest and most studied examples. However, due to the diversity and complexity of nature, and despite the many known pathways and theoretical models, the fundamental mechanisms are still poorly understood. I propose a ‘bottom-up’ synthetic biology approach to build a synthetic system capable of mimicking cellular polarisation in an artificial compartment. Modular fusion proteins will be engineered from small, well-characterised protein domains and reconstituted into artificial membrane-bound compartments such as Giant Unilamellar Vesicles (GUVs) and microfluidic water-in-oil droplets. The self-organisation of these proteins through autocatalytic membrane-recruitment will be monitored with a variety of fluorescence microscopy techniques. In doing so, I will create a minimal, defined system in which to test general principles of biological self-organisation, abstracted from the ‘noise’ of natural systems. Further, orthogonal synthetic systems could be introduced into living organisms to control morphology and other functions, or be used to build higher-level mimics of life such as proto-cells.

Mots clés : cell polarity, self organisation, proto cells, bottom up synthetic biology

Participants :
- Max Planck Society (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 171460.8 €
Projet H2O-SurfaceProbe (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Biological surfaces are essential for life. Nature employs them as a hub for chemical signalling, active and passive transport of substances, and specialized compartmentation in the building block of life, eukaryotic cell. As such it has been in the main focus of chemist, physicist, and biologist to probe these surfaces with a wide variety of different techniques; from NMR to STORM. This, in fact, is not an easy task since obtaining selective information only from surfaces generally requires to introduce some reporting molecules (chromophore). However, the response of a dye molecule is not always, report on the changes on the biological surface. In this IF proposal, the aim is to enable the probing of biological surfaces, free-floating model membranes, label-free, and non-invasive from the response of interfacial water molecules with second harmonic (SH) response. First, a new high-throughput SH setup will be introduced. The proposed ~3 orders of magnitude enhancement in the SH response will enable to probe at biology relevant (~100 mM) salt concentrations. A big accomplishment for the SH research field. Second, by using this new high throughput setup, two different biological membrane systems and reactions occurring there at will be elucidated, biomimetic lipid droplet organelle, and liposomes, two free-floating membrane model system. Due to its novel aspects, a significant impact is expected from the deliverables of this proposal not only for the scientific field, but also possible intersectoral collaboration prospects as well as opening opportunities for the researcher to achieve a permanent position.

Mots clés : molecular structure of lipids, biointerfaces, surface chemical reactions

Participants :
- Bilkent University (Turquie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 157355.52 €
Projet NanoMedPhD (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Cofund Doctoral programme
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Biomedical research is one of the most important factors of economic development in modern societies, and a strategic element of major importance for the economic growth of the European Union. In particular, according to the White Paper to the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation of the Nanomedicine European Technology Platform, nanomedicine underspins a strong research and emerging industrial healthcare sector in Europe. Based on excellent academic research and innovative SMEs, nanomedicine will actively contribute to the three pillars of the Framework Programme Horizon 2020. It is known that the talent of people working in research is the headstone of any Science and Technology System. In this framework, Bionand has designed the Nanomedicine Doctoral Programme (NanoMed PhD), a new strategic programme to provide trans-national mobility for early stage researchers and offer them training activities that lead to the award of a doctoral degree in the emerging field of nanomedicine. The academic supervision will take place through tutors from the PhD programs of University of Málaga, and the scientific supervision of the research activity will take place in Bionand through its Principal Investigators. Bionand is the first national centre in Spain devoted to research in nanotechnology applied to health. Regarding the academic formation, the fellows will be enrolled in one of the four Doctoral Programmes related to this discipline, offered by the University of Málaga (UMA), which is the academic partner of this proposal. NanoMed PhD will last for a period up to 60 months and will launch an open call for fellowships for a total number of 8 incoming fellowships, aiming at hosting and tutorizing early-stage researchers within BIONAND in order to obtain a doctoral degree, since one of the main objectives as benchmark centre in nanomedicine, is to develope and support the research in this field throughout the Autonomous Region of Andalusia.. Researchers applying for NanoMed PhD incoming grants will be included into experienced research groups where they will be able to start a research career in one of the most emerging discipline.

Mots clés : nanomedicine, nanodiagnostic, therapeutic nanosystems, regenerative nanomedicine

Participants :
- Regional Government of Andalusia (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 627840.0 €
Projet GlucOrigami (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Biosensors play a crucial role in our everyday lives from health monitoring to disease detection. The rapid advancement of sensing technologies dictates an ever growing need for improved biosensors which are capable to continuously monitor analytes in a single-step process and yield low-cost devices. The performance of many biosensors is, however, limited by the binding strength of their molecular recognition unit which dictates the dynamic range of the sensor and is often tightly connected to the signal transduction unit, i.e. its signal output. In this project, I propose to globally solve this limitation by decoupling the molecular recognition and signal transduction units of the biosensor by exploiting self-assembled and programmable DNA origami nanostructures. This fundamental approach will be demonstrated by the design of a sensitive and tunable biosensor for glucose, whose sensing is of utmost importance for the disease monitoring of diabetic patients. DNA origami will be utilized to precisely position all biosensor elements: multifluorophore FRET pair, which will serve as a signal transduction and amplification unit as well as glucose/galactose binding proteins and glucose functionalities, which will provide a molecular recognition unit. Different biomimicry strategies to tune the useful dynamic range of the biosensors will be evaluated aiming to achieve sensitivity at a physiologically relevant glucose concentration. Finally, the potential to combine these advanced glucose biosensors with low-cost read-out instruments (such as smartphone cameras) will be assessed. The DNA origami glucose sensor proposed here is of great promise for the development of wearable and low-cost glucose sensing devices for diabetes monitoring, which will grow into a large demand in our society. Moreover, it will allow me to merge DNA nanotechnology, molecular biology, spectroscopy and chemistry research, laying the foundations upon which to build my future career in Europe.

Mots clés : dna origami, biosensors, fluorescence imaging, dna nanotechnology, glucose sensing

Participants :
- Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 162806.4 €
Projet PhoticEdge (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Biotic and abiotic factors determine species distributions, and organisms use abiotic cues, such as the diel and annual changes in available light, to synchronize their biology to the environment. Temperature is a dominant factor determining species distributions, and under global climate change, global temperature gradients are shifting polewards, away from the equator. In contrast, the photic environment is fixed by latitude and date, and is a dominant factor in determining ecological interactions and physiology. We, however, know little about whether these static photic cues determine species distributions. I aim to elucidate the relationship between species distributions and the photic environment by studying four species of migratory flycatchers (songbirds) breeding along a latitudinal gradient spanning from 56 degrees North latitude to above the northern polar circle (66.6 °N) in Sweden. Migratory flycatchers are excellent models to test hypotheses regarding the interaction between species distributions and the photic environment, because they use photic cues for determining breeding, migration, and compass bearings. The selected species also have different breeding and migratory ranges that span the polar circle and cross the equator, thus providing an excellent comparative system for understanding constraints on the northern and southern edges of their distributions. I will bring individuals into captivity to investigate experimentally how the photic environment associated with their breeding and wintering ranges affect their ability to track the diel and annual cycles. This project will provide novel insight into the interaction among species distributions and photic environment, insight required to predict properly whether species could successfully track their optimal thermal environment to new latitudes and photic environments. This new insight allows us to understand better the changes to biodiversity under global climate change.

Mots clés : chronobiology, annual rhythm, diel rhythm, migration, species distribution, avian

Participants :
- Lund University (Suède) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 191852.16 €
Projet RECOMBINE (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Biotic interchanges are invasions of species from one biota to another. During the Cenozoic, tectonic and glacial dynamics led to subsequent large-scale biotic interchanges that are considered key events for shaping the current global biodiversity. Here I propose to study the migration, speciation and extinction of terrestrial vertebrates at global scale to understand the reassembly of communities as landmass connectivity changed. I will use recently available data (such as comprehensive phylogenies calibrated with the fossil record and tectonic reconstructions) with new methods in macroevolutionary analysis. I propose this MSCA as a 3-year GF. One of the most cited research groups in the study of biogeography and evolution of vertebrate diversity (ANU, Australia) will host me during the outgoing phase, where data preparation, analyses and training in macroecology will be conducted. A secondment at the beginning of the outgoing phase, and the third year of return to the host organisation (ENS, France), with a leading group in macroevolution, will be devoted to training me in phylogenetic inference methods. I will gain expertise in macroecology and macroevolution, complementing my background in community ecology, ecophysiology and phylogeography, opening up the best career possibilities for me in the fields of biodiversity research and providing new collaboration opportunities for the host organisations. As my proposed approach is novel and the questions addressed are of high concern, the MSCA is expected to provide important advances in our understanding of biodiversity patterns as well as to promote new scientific pathways in the fields of macroecology, macroevolution and historical biogeography. A series of outreach activities will also contribute to public education and awareness of the unique biodiversity that we have in every continent and how historical invasions contributed to it.

Mots clés : macroevolution, phylogenetics, invasion ecology

Participants :
- Australian National University (Australie) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- École normale supérieure PSL (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 263827.2 €