Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-actions-marie-curie-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet OASIS (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2022)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Mineral carbonation is based on the reaction of CO2 with metal oxide bearing materials to precipitate insoluble carbonates, with calcium being one of the most attractive metals. While the development of industrial carbonation processes has been recommended to mitigate climate change, its natural occurrence in soils and its potential enhancement through management practices has received little attention so far. Since natural carbonation is commonly considered to be a slow process, spreading powder of non-carbonated, calcium-bearing minerals over soils, a strategy known as enhanced rock weathering (ERW), is a promising way to accelerate it. While humid tropical areas are generally regarded as having the greatest potential for ERW, recent evidence suggests that carbonation may also be significant in drylands, driven by water vapour adsorption (WVA) by soil at night, potentially representing an overlooked long-term carbon sink. The general objective of the OASIS project is to assess the potential of ERW in dryland soils. Its main underlying assumption is that optimizing WVA with amendment of highly adsorbent ground rock will maximize the carbonation process while reducing the dependence of phototrophic organisms on rainfall or irrigation. To tackle this objective, OASIS will implement field and mesocosm manipulative experiments using cutting-edge infrastructure to control environmental conditions and simulate climate change. These will be coupled to state-of-the-art measurements and isotopic tracing of soil-atmosphere water vapor and CO2 fluxes. This research will contribute to filling several gaps in our understanding of natural carbonation and its interactions with WVA, organisms, and climate change. It is also expected to provide solid arguments to implement conservation measures and sustainable agricultural practices in drylands or seasonally dry lands to protect and increase water and carbon resources, in line with several European and global guidelines.

Mots clés : biocrusts, carbonates, carbonation, carbon cycle, carbon dioxide, carbon sequestration, climate change, drylands, enhanced rock weathering, gypsum, soil respiration, water vapour adsorption

Participants :
- Université d'Alicante (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 261380.64 €
- Arizona's Public Universities (Etats-Unis) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet Top-AMPK (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2021)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The 5' adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is a master regulator of cell energy metabolism. AMPK (dys)regulation has been connected to metabolomic disease, conditions of the heart and viral infections. AMPK is fine-tuned through its structural features, which are dependent on mRNA isoform splicing, protein complexation, post-translational modification (PTM), and allosteric activation . AMPK’s diverse regulatory role is deeply connected to its post-translational modifications (43 known phosphorylation and 36 known other PTM sites). The result of this structural diversity is an extremely large combinatorial space of (1) unique covalently modified α-β-γ isoforms, the proteoforms, and (2) their unique non-covalent assemblies, the complex species. However, the structural diversity of AMPK is not well understood. The goal of this project is to to study the modifications and endogenous diversity of AMPK proteoforms and complex species from a "bird's eye view", depicting and mapping in parallel existing complete length AMPK forms, using denatured and native Top-down Mass Spectrometry (TDMS). -Outgoing phase, Ying Ge Lab, University of Wisconsin-Madison (UWM) (M1-24): Recombinant AMPK complex to study coded proteoforms (O1-2) and establish a strategy for purification of endogenous AMPK (O3). -Incoming phase (M25-36), Charlotte Uetrecht Lab, University of Lübeck (UzL): Transfer learned technologies and map endogenous AMPK proteoforms in different tissues (O4). Design endogenous-ike AMPK proteoforms (O2). -Non-academic phase (M37-42) Bruker Daltonics GmbH (BRUKER): Close gaps in data acquisition and get more out of AMPK with next-gen MS instruments (O2).  The aspired methodology and results will be important for the identification of AMPK biomarkers and, ultimately, for the advancement of precision medicine, where treatment is tailored for the individual molecular setup of a patient subgroup such as in metabolomic or heart disease.

Mots clés : top down mass spectrometry, ampk, proteoform

Participants :
- University of Lübeck (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 142265.52 €
- Université du Wisconsin (Etats-Unis) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Bruker (Germany) (Allemagne) — Partner, associated partner, Organismes privés (hors enseignement), subvention : 0.0 €
Projet KSHV-RBPome (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2022)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV), an oncogenic human γ-herpesvirus, is the cause of Kaposi’s Sarcoma (KS), primary effusion lymphoma and multicentric Castleman's disease with no effective therapies. Like other herpesviruses, KSHV has a latent cycle with limited gene expression and a lytic cycle with expression of most viral genes and production of infectious viral particles. RNA-binding proteins (RBP) play key roles in RNA biology, including expression, export, stability, processing and translation. Previous reports showed that RBPs can function as proviral or antiviral. Viruses also express viral RBPs. There are no reports investigating the role of RBPs during infection with DNA viruses. Here we aim to determine the scope of host and viral RBPs involved in KSHV latent infection and reactivation. To do so, we will employ a multidisciplinary approach that combines cutting edge methods of molecular biology and virology with next generation technologies to discover cellular RBPs that directly interact with viral RNA and regulate KSHV infection and tumorigenesis. We expect also to discover novel viral RBPs involved in KSHV infection and pathogenesis. The outcome of this project will be a comprehensive census of RBPs with antiviral, proviral and pro-oncogenic activities. In the short-term, the knowledge obtained will facilitate the development of biotechnological applications to exploit the function of RBPs in RNA biology, including RNA visualization, expression and translation. In the long-term, the proviral RBPs could be targeted to develop host-based antivirals. Therefore, this project contributes to the EU global challenge of Health and the EU Mission Cancer. To ensure the successful outcome of this project, I will contribute with my experience in molecular virology and my supervisors will train me in system-wide profiling of RBPs and cutting-edge methods in virology, ensuring the appropriate transfer of knowledge among the participants.

Mots clés : kshv rna binding proteins

Participants :
- Université de Glasgow (Royaume-Uni) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Hannover Medical School (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 189687.36 €
Projet DopaClock (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The internal daily rhythms of an organism are driven by the circadian timing system. The master clock is in the brain hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN). SCN rhythms are entrained to the 24h environmental light/dark cycle by retinal light input, but also respond to non-photic cues (e.g., food intake) transmitted via neuronal projections from other brain areas. Disruption of daily rhythms can lead to cardiometabolic diseases, but the underlying mechanisms are unclear. Recent evidence challenges the belief that the SCN is only sensitive to dopamine (DA) in early development; it appears that DA affects SCN function also in adults. In the brain reward system, DA is linked to binge-eating in animals on a high-fat diet. We hypothesise that DA acts as a non-photic cue in the SCN, providing feedback information on metabolic status which can be disturbed by diet-induced obesity. This project’s main aim is to delineate the cardiometabolic effects of DA in the central SCN clock. My objectives are to define the effects of DA signalling in the SCN on 1) energy metabolism, 2) glucose homeostasis and the cardiovascular system and 3) these cardiometabolic parameters under obese conditions. To achieve my goals, I will combine supervisor’s expertise in the central circadian control of energy metabolism, along with specialized techniques and equipment, with my knowledge in cardiovascular measurements using radiotelemetry. I will use rats expressing Cre recombinase in dopamine D1 receptor-neurons and targeted viral injections, an innovative technique to mimic DA signalling in the SCN (the secondment). Project findings will fill the knowledge gap in neural mechanisms behind the adverse effects of circadian disturbance on energy homeostasis and could help to improve lifestyles of patients with cardiometabolic diseases. This MSCA-PF-supported project will enhance my technical and transferable skills, facilitating my path to becoming an independent researcher in chronobiology.

Mots clés : central clock, suprachiasmatic nuclei, chronobiology, circadian system, dopamine, cardiometabolic diseases

Participants :
- Amsterdam University Medical Centers (Pays-Bas) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 203464.32 €
- Académie royale néerlandaise des arts et des sciences (Pays-Bas) — Partner, associated partner, Recherche, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet Mechanoimplantation (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The proposed research aims to understand biophysical embryo-uterine interactions during peri-implantation to identify factors that guide processes such as embryo orientation, egg cylinder morphogenesis, and embryonic axis formation. Recent studies on implantation have gone beyond the traditional biochemical approach to reveal that mechanical interactions at the embryo-uterine interface are abundant and indispensable for proper implantation and development. Due to difficulties in recreating embryo implantation ex-vivo setups and lack of in-utero accessibility, the physical forces and mechano-chemical feedbacks involved in embryo implantation, however, still remain unknown. In this proposal, I will study how mechanical interactions at the embryo-uterine interface during implantation affect embryo development by directly measuring physical force at the interface, identifying the role of major mechanotransducer pathways, and making in-utero observations. In Objective 1, I will build an experimental setup with 2D polyacrylamide (PAA) gels of varying mechanical properties to recapitulate the characteristics of the uterine surface in ex-vivo setups and observe how embryo development depends on the mechanical properties of the substrate. In Objective 2, I will combine traction force microscopy (TFM) and live imaging to quantify how physical forces affect molecular and cellular events during the mouse implantation process. In Objective 3, I will identify how the mechanical forces are transduced into biochemical cues through live-imaging and genetic/pharmaceutical perturbations. Finally, I will investigate the implantation process live in-utero using multiphoton intravital imaging to validate my findings from ex-vivo studies. I hypothesize that mechanical cues will be spatiotemporally linked with biochemical signaling to significantly affect embryo development.

Mots clés : traction force microscopy tfm , mechanotransduction, morphogenesis

Participants :
- Académie royale néerlandaise des arts et des sciences (Pays-Bas) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 203464.32 €
Projet Sukkar (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The European colonisation of the Atlantic brought about land-use change at a continental scale. As colonists invaded new regions, they dispossessed Indigenous populations and took advantage of their farming areas to build cash-cropping plantations. However, pre-colonial fields and their infrastructure had been designed according to different ways of organising production and were ill-suited for commercial agriculture. Thus, settlers were forced to partly accommodate the productive criteria of colonised societies. How the adaptation of Indigenous farming areas took place and how it both made possible and conditioned the development of colonial agriculture in the Atlantic remain unexplored. Sukkar aims to decisively tackle this issue by conducting comparative interdisciplinary research in the Canary Islands and the Dominican Republic. By combining the analysis of archival sources with the study of farming spaces and practices–through field surveying and GIS-based spatial analysis–, I will be able to explore the deep connections that four sixteenth-century Canarian and Dominican sugar plantations have with pre-colonial agriculture. Analysing the design and management of these plantations from a comparative perspective will allow me to identify their Indigenous cores and ascertain how colonial agriculture mutated through its interaction with different systems for organising production. Sukkar will be the first research project on the development of the colonial sugar industry to focus on the contributions made by colonised populations on both sides of the Atlantic. The Action's engagement with local knowledge will also highlight the cultural and ecological value of the agricultural landscapes and traditional practices of rural communities in the Canary Islands and the Dominican Republic and expose the pressing need to protect and nurture them.

Mots clés : settler colonialism landscape history agrarian archaeology agricultural change indigenous agriculture cash cropping sugar plantations sugar mills canary islands dominican republic

Participants :
- Académie royale néerlandaise des arts et des sciences (Pays-Bas) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 187624.32 €
Projet Epi-IBD (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2022)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

As the first line of defense against intestinal pathogens, gut epithelial cells are an essential part of the immune system. They may play an important role in immune-mediated diseases such as Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). IBD is a group of disorders characterized by chronic inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. IBD prevalence is high in Western countries (0.3% in 2018) and it is rising in newly industrialized countries. A prevailing model is that the interplay of two factors may cause IBD. First, a genetic predisposition weakens the gut immune system and causes high susceptibility to bacterial infection. Second, pathogenic bacteria infect the gut and trigger chronic inflammation. It is still unclear how the gut immune system may fail to repress bacterial infection in IBD. Historically, most studies have been focusing on immune cells of the hematopoietic lineage, such as macrophages and lymphocytes. However, the role of gut epithelial cells in controlling gut microbes is now gaining increasing attention. In this project, I propose to use organoids composed of differentiated intestinal cells to study how the intestinal epithelium responds to bacterial infection in the context of IBD. I will establish an in vitro model of IBD based on human small intestine organoids. I will infect the organoids with the bacterium Adherent-Invasive Escherichia coli (AIEC) and study how the differentiated intestinal cells respond to AIEC invasion. I will both test the relevance of a well-known IBD genetic predisposition (the mutation 1007fs in Nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain 2 (Nod2)) and explore novel mechanisms underlying the immune response of gut epithelial cells using RNAseq and CRISPR base editing. My project will dissect the molecular mechanisms of IBD. In addition, it will improve our understanding of the immune response of epithelial cells, which are an under-studied component of the immune system.

Mots clés : ibd epithelium immunity bacteria organoid

Participants :
- Académie royale néerlandaise des arts et des sciences (Pays-Bas) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 187624.32 €
Projet FungalHetEx (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2022)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The increases in antimicrobial resistance and infections caused by microbes, such as mucormycosis (black fungus disease) on Covid-19 patients, highlight the urgent need for new antimicrobial drugs. Most drugs approved for clinical use are based or inspired by natural products. The recurrent re-discovery of compounds when studying isolated microbes, declined the research on natural products in the last decades. However, isolated microbes represent a small percentage of the true microbial diversity living in the environment. Lichens are a microbial community formed by different partners (fungi, green algae, cyanobacteria, bacteria) and their metabolites present diverse biological activities including antimicrobial. Furthermore, many of these molecules have vibrant colours and can be used as natural colorants. Due their slow growth and difficulties in the laboratory cultivation, little is known about natural products biosynthetic genes of the multiple partners living in symbiosis. The improvement in high-throughput technology and the current affordable prices for multi-omics analysis (meta-genomics, -transcriptomics and -bolomics), are allowing a deeper study on natural environmental samples. This project aims to use the knowledge obtained in a recent multi-omics study and apply synthetic biotechnology, bioinformatics, chemistry and microbiology techniques to study novel metabolites from lichen. Polyketide synthase biosynthetic gene clusters have been selected and they will be cloned, transformed and heterologously expressed using Aspergillus oryzae. The optimisation of the polyketides biosynthesis by the heterologous host will be performed and different fermentation conditions will be tested. Novel molecules will be chemically and biologically characterized. During FungalHetExt, I will study novel molecules produced under symbiosis using a multidisciplinary approach with the focus to discovery new molecules and improve my science communication and leadership skills.

Mots clés : natural products, antimicrobial, polyketides, heterologous expression, lichen, fungi, drug discovery

Participants :
- DSM (Netherlands) (Pays-Bas) — Partner, associated partner, Organismes privés (hors enseignement), subvention : 0.0 €
- Académie royale néerlandaise des arts et des sciences (Pays-Bas) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 254330.4 €
Projet Soil Fauna MIND (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2022)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Increasing soil carbon (C) sequestration is critical to mitigate climate change while supporting food security and reversing land degradation. Soil microbial necromass, i.e. dead microbes, has received increasing attention as significantly contributing to stable soil C. The microbiome itself is controlled by soil fauna, through two main trophic groups: microbivores, directly affecting its size and composition, and litter decomposers, modulating its access to resources. However, on-going environmental changes are altering trophic relationships and how this will impact microbial dynamics and C persistence is highly uncertain. My novel contribution to science will be to integrate soil micro- and mesofauna as a dynamic modulator of the soil microbiome, controlling microbial necromass and C persistence. To achieve this, I will manipulate soil micro- and mesofauna in microcosms experiments following two complimentary approaches, i.e., manipulation based on (1) size or (2) trophic classes. I will track the incorporation of 13C-labelled root litter into microbial biomass and necromass and compare microbial growth and carbon use efficiency, in the presence or absence of different soil faunal groups. After one year of incubation, I will measure C stability indicators (mineral-associated and occluded C, bulk δ15N) as well as newly formed microbial necromass to estimate soil C persistence. The experiment will be carried out at two different temperatures (ambient vs 5 °C increase) in a full factorial design to determine how the faunal control of the microbiome might change under future climate conditions. My MSCA project will shed light on the importance of soil fauna and trophic interactions for microbial necromass and soil C dynamics, a crucial approach in harnessing the potential for soil C sequestration and implementing effective management strategies.

Mots clés : soil microbiome, soil microbial necromass, carbon persistence, soil fauna

Participants :
- Académie royale néerlandaise des arts et des sciences (Pays-Bas) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 211186.42 €
Projet TransWarSoldierWWII (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2021)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Over two million foreigners served in the ranks of the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS. They came from different occupied territories and war zones, or even from uninvolved and neutral countries. These men had a significant impact on the war itself and how it was experienced and conducted. How these men from more than 40 countries experienced the war in German uniform as transnational soldiers remains a black box. TransWarSoldierWWII will trace the experiences of these soldiers by focusing on those who originated from the Benelux to determine the framework of the European war experience from a new angle. This research will deepen understandings of individual biographies of foreign soldiers in WWII from a transnational perspective. This new angle will open up the academic and public discussion on the involvement of non-German soldiers and their entanglement in the war and aims at a profound and critical analysis beyond nation-state narratives. I will be hosted at the Netherlands Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies (NIOD) in Amsterdam, where Professor Ismee Tames will supervise and mentor me. The research is premised on Responsible Research and Innovation. It will result in a symposium on transnational war experiences, two scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals and dissemination activities in public lectures and a podcast. The project's overall aim is to strengthen my research capacity and skills to assist in securing a leading research position that will enable me to contribute my knowledge and make a crucial impact on this field in military and social history.

Mots clés : second word war soldier belgium netherlands luxembourg

Participants :
- Académie royale néerlandaise des arts et des sciences (Pays-Bas) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 187624.32 €