Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-actions-marie-curie-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet ARTEMIS (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The future of our society is intimately bounded to the development of smaller, faster and cheaper technologies, which can promote the ability to read, store and manipulate data. Spintronics addresses the issue by encoding information into the spin degree of freedom of electrons, in alternative or in addition to the charge. Currently, the progress of spintronics depends on the engineering of new advanced materials, which can promote the injection and transmission of the spin of electrons into the condensed matter. ARTEMIS will tackle the problem through the fabrication and study of graphene/molecule hybrid interfaces, taking advantage of both the exceptional physical properties of graphene and the additional degrees of freedom provided by molecular complexes. ARTEMIS focuses on the design of graphene/molecule interfaces in which a selection of molecules deposited on the graphene film will allow the spin scattering mechanisms of the material to be probed and manipulated as a consequence of charge transfer and magnetic coupling effects. The interfaces will be incorporated into spin valve devices realized with state-of-the-art nanofabrication techniques, in order to characterize their properties as a function of external parameters, such as electric field, magnetic field, temperature and optical excitation. The data analysis will allow meaningful spin transport quantities, such as the spin relaxation time, spin relaxation length, spin-orbit-coupling strength and spin-to-voltage conversion ratio, to be extrapolated in order to determine the actual device performance and compare it to the behaviour of pristine graphene films. ARTEMIS will shine light on the spin transport mechanisms in graphene and test the benefits of adopting graphene/molecule interfaces as building blocks of competitive spin-based technologies. Finally, ARTEMIS will promote the career of a young female researcher with a hands-on training on a promising interdisciplinary field of physics.

Mots clés : graphene, organic molecules, interfaces, nanotechnology, nanofabrication

Participants :
- CIC nanoGUNE (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 158121.6 €
Projet NAPANODE (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The future of widespread clean energy relies heavily on understanding, developing, and optimizing materials for electrochemical energy storage. To date, a limited understanding of how short-range structures influence macroscopic device properties during operation has hindered implementation of promising technologies such as sodium-ion batteries. Here, we aim to use NMR spectroscopy to provide molecular-level insight into the chemical mechanisms underpinning structural and dynamic changes in novel phosphorus- and phosphide-based anodes and correlate these changes with sodium-ion performance figures or merit, including capacity, retention, charging rates, and lifetime. The impact of anode structure and dynamics on electrochemical properties in batteries will provide insight into new materials that can achieve high performance for electrochemical energy storage.

Mots clés : sodium ion battery, anode, nmr spectroscopy, energy, in situ, phosphorus, metal phosphide

Participants :
- University of Cambridge (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 183454.8 €
Projet MUC (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The gastrointestinal tract is colonized by a community of microbes, the microbiota, which has a significant impact on human health and nutrition. The mucus gel layer structure provides the barrier between the microbiota and the intestine preventing the occurrence of the inflammation process. Indeed, an altered microbiota (towards mucus degrading bacteria) and defects in the mucus structure have been shown to be associated with inflammatory bowel diseases, such as ulcerative colitis. Understanding how members of the microbiota can alter mucin composition, can, potentially, be deployed to ensure that the structure of this ecosystem maximizes human health. This approach, however, is limited by a lack of understanding how mucins are metabolized by the microbiota. Significantly, available genomic/metagenomics sequence data of the microbiota presents an exciting, but so far, unfulfilled, opportunity to make decisive advances in our understanding of mucin degradation by members of this ecosystem. In this project I will seek to combine this genomic information with in vivo studies to understand the mechanisms of mucin utilization by the human microbiota and the impact on UC development. The data from the research programme will underpin the development of future therapeutic strategies to improve human health. The fellow is Portuguese and is now completing her PhD at the Newcastle University, UK. The fellow has experience in enzyme activity screening, enzymatic characterization and structural biology. In this fellowship she will have the opportunity to develop skills in genetic manipulation of anaerobic bacteria, microbiota in vivo (mouse) studies and structural analysis of O-glycans. This fellowship will enable the fellow develop her current skill set to include methodologies and approaches so that the molecular analysis of the target enzymes can be placed within a biological context.

Mots clés : human microbiota, mucin, o glycan degradation, sulfatases, glycosidases, ulcerative colitis

Participants :
- University of Michigan–Ann Arbor (Etats-Unis) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- University of Gothenburg (Suède) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 247059.0 €
Projet LIPID IMMUNITY (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The gastrointestinal tract is continuously exposed to multiple antigens from commensal bacteria, food and pathogens. The mechanisms by which the gut mucosa tolerates trillions of commensal bacteria without developing inflammation remains poorly understood. It is increasingly appreciated that commensal bacteria-derived products regulate the homeostasis and/or function of many immune cell populations. Commensal bacteria-derived lipids are recognized by a population of unconventional T cells, called NKT cells. NKT cells specifically recognize through their T cell receptor lipid antigens presented by the MHC-I-like molecule CD1 which is expressed by a variety of immune cells within the intestinal tissue. Importantly, commensal-derived lipids modulate the numbers, phenotype and function of intestinal NKT cells. Conversely, dysregulation of NKT cell activation and/or CD1 expression have been associated with the development of colitis in mice and humans. Despite the abundance and diversity of microbial-derived lipids present in the gut, the molecular and cellular mechanisms that mediate their recognition by immune cells and the identity of the antigen presenting cells involved in this process remain unknown. By using a combination of multiparametric flow cytometry, genetic engineering and in vivo experiments this proposal aims to unravel the mechanisms and functional consequences of lipid-presentation in the mucosa. These studies will provide a better understanding of the factors that modulate intestinal immunity, with the potential to improve therapies for patients suffering from intestinal inflammatory diseases and possibly a broader range of disorders.

Mots clés : nkt cells, lipid recognition, mucosal immunity

Participants :
- University of London (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 195454.8 €
Projet GEWADI (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Economic Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The gender wage gap has narrowed from the 1960s, mainly due to the increase of female education, work experience and female workforce participation, however, it still remains. Across EU countries, in 2015 women earned on average 16.3% less than men, and this gap has only marginally declined from 18.6% in 2000 . In the US, women working full-time earn just 81.9% of men’s salaries in the same period. The gender wage gap literature can be divided according to their findings at the entry level and along the career path. While the literature agrees that wages grow faster for men than for women throughout their careers, evidence of wage differences at the entry level is mixed. Conclusive evidence about the existence of early wage differences will improve our knowledge of how labor markets work, will help identify the sources of wage discrimination, and will guide policy decisions towards reducing gender differences along the career path. Despite their impact on early-career wage differences, countries’ distinct educational systems and ages of the studied cohorts have not been taken into account in earlier analyses. The aims of this fellowship consist in (a) answering whether gender wage discrimination is present at early career stages, and (b) investigating the role of the educational systems on early wage discrimination. We will estimate the structural parameters of initial wages (intercepts) and their growth rate (slopes) for men and women considering the potential future investments in HC. Using some of the best longitudinal data sets currently available for the US (National Longitudinal Survey of Youth - NLSY) and Switzerland (Swiss Household Panel – SHP, and Longitudinal Analysis in the Field of Training - LABB), we will compare entry level wages and their evolution from two countries with different educational systems (VET and Academic Track).

Mots clés : wage discrimination, wage inequality, gender discrimination

Participants :
- University of Lausanne (Suisse) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 167775.0 €
- University of California System (Etats-Unis) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet HELPHERGEN (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The genetic architecture of behavior is a major topic in biology, but remains poorly understood. The behaviors with the most dramatic effect on animal fitness are those involved in mate attraction and courtship, which are directly related to reproductive success. Males and females share a genome but have idiosyncratic roles in courtship rituals; mating traits thus experience sex-specific selection regimes. Variation at the gene expression level can facilitate sex-specific trait evolution to some degree. However, sex-specific traits inevitably covary, leading to correlated evolutionary responses (pleiotropy). Here I propose an innovative and multidisciplinary framework integrating a quantitative genetic approach to multivariate phenotypic evolution with functional genetic experiments. The key objective is to reveal how genes controlling traits involved in mating behavior can have widespread phenotypic effects across sexes by quantitative genetic measurements of pheromone communication variation in wild-type and knock-out lines of noctuid moths. I will examine the correlated evolution of pheromone signals in male and female moths and identify candidate genes using differential expression analyses. Then, I will examine the phenotypic effects using the cutting-edge CRISPR/Cas9 system and a quantitative genetic framework to test behavioral effects. The proposed research combines behavioral, quantitative genetic, and gene editing techniques and will make headway towards understanding the genotype-phenotype map of mating behavior. I will be based at the Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED), an excellent interdisciplinary research institute focusing on functional biodiversity at the University of Amsterdam (UvA). Via training-through-research and a secondment at a collaborative lab of the host supervisor, I will learn essential, state-of-the-art skills including genetic engineering, gene expression assays, and advanced bioinformatic scripting.

Mots clés : sexual selection, olfactory mate choice, behavioral genomics

Participants :
- University of Amsterdam (Pays-Bas) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 177598.8 €
Projet NEW URBAN UNIVERSITY (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The global impact of urbanization presents unprecedented opportunities and profound challenges for universities. It significantly impacts the expectations placed on universities and where in the world – and the city – they need to adapt their institutional infrastructures, pedagogical practices and ways of operating. The multiscalar networks of global urbanization mean urban universities must be understood as being more than simply located ‘in the city’. The ‘new urban university’ is regionalizing and globalizing in dramatic, chaotic ways. What capacities do universities have as urban leaders in a globalizing world? How can universities better mobilize in, and for, extended city-regions? How can marginalized urban communities inform universities’ spatial and strategic actions? Situating the New Urban University responds to the challenges of global urbanization by illustrating how higher education providers can better serve people in places, versus drawing people to a place. By taking stock of the influence major sociospatial changes in urban regions have on universities (e.g. globalization, neoliberalization), the project: (1) provides an international assessment of universities’ engagement practices and impacts; and (2) presents a major comparative examination of higher education systems at the city-regional scale. In-depth studies of universities’ spatial strategies in the London and New York global city-regions will speak directly to best practices in creating and sustaining reflexive, resilient university-society networks for diverse communities in urban contexts. Stakeholder involvement from the initial phases of the research allows the project to integrate direct input from in the research design and outputs. Situating the New Urban University deepens academic and policy understandings of how knowledge transfer takes place in global city-regions, enabling higher education and urban policymakers to optimize universities’ contributions and societal impact.

Mots clés : higher education institutions, universities

Participants :
- University of London (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 195454.8 €
Projet IMSquared (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The goal of IMSquared (IM2) is to develop and validate a repository of immersive metaphoric experiences (IMMEs) aimed at restoring physical and emotional wellness in tandem and to provide a brain-body-media computer interface (BBMCI) and toolkit that facilitates visual-gestural interaction, neural-behavioral analysis, generation and optimization of IMMEs with implications for physical therapy (neurorehabilitation) and commercial therapeutic applications. The development and validation of IMMEs will draw on state-of-the-art research across cognitive science/AI, cognitive neuroscience, and computational linguistics looking at the embodiment, neural coding, and the psychological reality of various conceptual metaphors relating to wellness and health. According to conceptual metaphor theory, abstract concepts are structured through cross-domain mappings with more concrete domains due to co-occurrences between these concepts during development. For example, our experience with upward motion becomes associated with well-being (e.g., getting up in the morning), while downward motion becomes associated with ill-being (e.g., lying down when sick), leading us to conceptualize good and bad things in terms of verticality (e.g., “lifting her spirits”, “feeling down”). Growing behavioral evidence suggests that much of thought may be metaphorical in nature and that the relevant physical experience can have consequences for emotion and behavior, yet the systematic investigation of conceptual mappings and their embodiment within HCI, particularly involving media-gestural interfaces, in wellness research is lacking. In summary, IM2 paves the way for more neurocognitively-inspired HCI-wellness research influenced by our understanding of minds, brains, machines, and our new abilities to interact with virtual semantic content, transforming our approach to addressing wellness and health during recovery.

Mots clés : interactive machine learning, media gestural computer interfaces, brain computer interfaces, human computer interaction for wellness research, affective computing, positive computing

Participants :
- University of London (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 212933.76 €
Projet InjectableLasers (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The goal of InjectableLasers is to make for the first time biocompatible and biodegradable/resorbable microlasers, which could be injected into human body. The lasers proposed here will be made completely out of substances approved for medical use or already present in the human body. The size of the lasers will be in the order of tens of micrometres, small enough to be injected with a standard hypodermic needle into the bloodstream, bodily liquids and tissues without large impact to the host. After few days, weeks or months, depending on the material used, the lasers will be completely degraded and absorbed by the body without any side effects. The gain material will be composed of a nontoxic dye and the lasers will be pumped directly by an external laser or through a biocompatible hydrogel optical fibre. Their operation will be demonstrated both in cell cultures and inside skin tissue. The biocompatible microlasers that will be developed here have a great potential in medical therapies and diagnostics.

Mots clés : laser, biocompatible, biodegradable, sensor, medicine, injection, implantation

Participants :
- Jožef Stefan Institute (Slovénie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 157287.6 €
Projet MS4Plastics (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The goal of MS4PLASTIC project is to open up new frontiers in the sample pre-treatment and pre-concentration protocols, as well as characterization of low µm-range microplastics and nanoplastics (1nm-20µm) in edible fish and shellfish samples by new, cutting edge methods being ICP-mass spectrometry operated in (i) single-event mode for the ultra-fast monitoring of transient signals and (ii) smart hyphenation strategies, combined with size-based fractionation techniques, such as size exclusion chromatography and field flow fractionation, as well as pyrolysis–gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. The achievement of these goals requires a multidisciplinary and complementary approach including analytical chemistry, instrumental methods, and nanometrology – all of which are part of the research conducted at the Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Belgium, who will readily engage all its resources and mobilize its international partnerships. This fellowship will focus on a wide range of transferable and scientific skills and involve carefully planned dissemination, exploitation and communication activities that will reinforce the fellow, the host institution, the scientific community, regulatory agencies, industry, and public worldwide. Importantly, this project will provide fellow the interdisciplinary expertise and allow her to be in a strategic position of maturity to design, lead and deliver high-impact future research projects; and be recognized as a leading expert for academic and non-academic sector.

Mots clés : single particle  inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, pyrolysis gas chromatography mass spectrometry, microplastics, nanoplastics, analytical separation and detection techniques

Participants :
- Flemish Institute for Technological Research (Belgique) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 178320.0 €
Projet MesuR (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Mathematics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The goal of MesuR is to deepen our knowledge of geometric and dynamical properties of a class of metric-measure spaces, called sub-Riemannian (sR) manifolds. These are generalizations of Riemannian manifolds, naturally arising in the frame of control theory and hypoelliptic operators. SR geometry is a theory in expansion, and it recently received a great impulse thanks to two ERC-StG on this topic: “GeCoMethods” (2010-2016, PI: U. Boscain), and “GeoMeG” (2017–now, PI: E. Le Donne). In this action we focus on sR manifolds endowed with intrinsic measures. These have been introduced in the frame of geometric control theory: as a key novelty, they are allowed here to have singularities, opposite to the smooth measures usually employed in the existing literature on geometry and analysis in sR manifolds. In this framework, we aim at proving: (1) sR isoperimetric inequalities for singular measures, and investigate relations with the standing Pansu’s conjecture about the shape of isoperimetric sets in the Heisenberg group; (2) Essential self-adjointness and stochastic completeness of the intrinsic sR Laplacian, amounting to prove the conjectured confinement of the heat and of quantum particles to the non-singular region; (3) Heat kernel estimates, i.e., qualitative informations on the solutions to the Heat equation for the intrinsic sR Laplacian. Our objectives will follow by proving suitable functional inequalities encoding geometric properties of the underlying space, that we call metric-measure inequalities. This will be done thanks to an original interaction between variational and control theoretic techniques, respectively typical of the backgrounds of the applicant and of the Supervisor. Through this innovative point of view, we will obtain new results in the context of sR geometry and provide new techniques to study geometry and dynamics on metric-measure spaces presenting singularities.

Mots clés : sub riemannian geometry, intrinsic measures, functional and geometric inequalities, isoperimetric inequalities, heat and schr dinger equations

Participants :
- Sorbonne Université (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 173076.0 €