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

Due to increasing global mobility, research into how immigrants acquire and use multiple languages has become a major topic in the past few decades. However, comparatively little is known about how the developmental trajectories of native minority languages (i.e. heritage languages (HLs)) are shaped alongside the societal languages in their children who are heritage speakers (HSs). The CLICK project, as the first study to investigate how different societal languages leave their traces on the developmental trajectories of the same HL, will make a significant contribution to an emergent subfield of bilingualism, namely Heritage Language Bilingualism (HLB). This will be done by studying HSs of Persian/Farsi in contact with two societally dominant languages in France and Spain. We will innovatively combine offline and online methodologies to explore whether or not the syntactic status of pronominal subjects (null and overt subjects in the case of Spanish versus overt subjects only as in French) affects the development and maintenance of related properties in Persian as a HL. Additionally, we will strive to establish if a novel co-registered methodology which combines online and offline measures in the same task offers a promising test battery to better capture underlying grammars of HSs in different language contact situations. Ultimately, CLICK will generate substantive, empirically informed hypotheses about human language, which within the present context of globalization and increased bi-/multilingualism are likely to achieve a marked scientific impact. Accordingly, the findings of this project will be of interest not only to psycholinguists, sociolinguists and psychologists but also to teachers, speech pathologists, education policy makers and immigrant parents. In addition, the emphasis given to non-standard languages promotes linguistic diversity, concordant with the EU’s efforts to raise awareness about minority languages.

Mots clés : bilingualism, heritage speakers, cross linguistic influence, societal languages, language processing, anaphora

Participants :
- UiT The Arctic University of Norway (Norvège) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 202158.72 €
Projet SEARCh (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Due to the intermittency of renewable electricity, conversion to chemical fuel is a necessity for the success of the transition to sustainable energy. A simple and attractive candidate for climate-neutral fuel is hydrogen, which can be produced directly through electrolysis. But substantial market penetration by commercial electrolysers has been hindered by the absence of high-activity, stable, inexpensive, and earth-abundant, catalytic materials. To develop and exploit these materials, a detailed understanding of the underlying relationships between catalytic activity and atomic-level surface structure is required, which has so far been unattainable due to often-case undefined surface areas and structures, as is the case for today’s record-performance electrocatalysts, i.e. Ni-Fe (oxy)(hydr)oxides. Therefore, epitaxial, atomically defined Ni-Fe-based perovskite thin film catalysts will be investigated with advanced operando characterization tools (including synchrotron-based scattering and spectroscopy, and scanning probe approaches) to achieve the following objectives: - Revalidate activity trends found for polycrystalline and amorphous structures, disseminating the influence from the bulk electronic structure (composition), bond lengths, crystallographic orientation and surface termination - Derive an atomistic understanding of the catalysis reaction and degradation mechanisms - Deduce design rules for beyond-state-of-the-art electrocatalyst materials and communicate them to the catalyst research and production communities for exploitation in “real-world” catalyst materials The results of SEARCh will thus contribute to the goals of development and deployment of low-carbon technologies in line with the EU’s Strategic Energy Technology Plan and the experienced researcher will receive training in innovative, cutting-edge techniques and attain transferable skills, benefitting from a multidisciplinary, international collaboration.

Mots clés : renewable electricity, electrolysis, electrocatalysts, perovskites, epitaxial, thin films, surface structure, catalytic activity, stability

Participants :
- RWTH Aachen University (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 214828.2 €
- Stanford University (Etats-Unis) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet TRANSLIGHT (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Due to their sessile nature, plants have evolved very sophisticated mechanisms to respond and adjust to the changes in environmental conditions. They do so through interconnected signaling pathways that trigger global changes in gene expression. Information about transcriptional regulation in response to different stimuli in plants relies mostly on the identification of the signaling pathways and transcription factors involved in a particular response. Importantly, investigations in yeast and humans indicate that the activity of the RNA Polymerase II (RNAPII) complex itself is subjected to a tight regulation by multiple interacting factors that respond to endogenous and exogenous stimuli. Therefore, environment-dependent changes in the activity of this transcriptional machinery seem a plausible new layer of regulation to fine-tune the transcriptional response to external stimuli in plants. In this proposal, we aim to use two complementary approaches based on quantitative mass spectrometry to isolate protein complexes in plant cells at different phases of the transcription cycle and, more important, in response to a major environmental stimulus, light. The first approach relies on the use of deactivated CRISPR/Cas9 to target proximal promoter regions and isolate proteins complexes involved in early events of light-induced transcription. In the second approach, we will identify RNAPII-associated complexes specific of transcription initiation and late elongation/termination. It relies on the use of antibodies that recognize Ser5P and Ser2P marks in the RNAPII, hallmarks of transcription initiation and termination, respectively, to isolate the region-specific RNAPII-associated complexes. Together, these two approaches will allow us i) to identify region-specific transcription machinery components in plants, both conserved and likely plant-specific ii) to study the dynamic composition of these complexes during the response to light.

Mots clés : transcription, light response, arabidopsis, proteomics

Participants :
- Spanish National Research Council (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 160932.48 €
Projet DIFTERIA (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

During 1990s, there was an epidemic of diphtheria in Russia and other countries of the former USSR affecting about 200, 000 people with 5000 deaths. Although diphtheria incidence in Russia has declined substantially, recent reports from several EU countries indicate circulation of toxigenic C. diphtheriae among migrants from Asia and Africa as well as children’s deaths among indigenous population. Toxigenic C. diphtheriae poses a serious risk for unvaccinated persons and persons with low level of immunological protection, the number of which in recent times in Europe has increased. The International system of quality control revealed poor state of laboratory diagnosis of diphtheria in EU countries, which means we are not prepared for the possible outbreaks. This is mostly due to the absence of simple, standard and reliable diagnostic methods. The leading element in the diphtheria laboratory diagnostic approach is a detection of the bacterial toxin. In this regard, it is proposed to develop non-apparatus immunochromatographic strip (ICS) test for diphtheria toxin (DT) indication. In addition a liquid selective medium for the clinical sample cultivation will be designed. A combination of the ICS test and the medium will represent a novel assay for early diphtheria diagnosis. The reagent kit will be commercially produced. The availability of simple, reliable and affordable ICS assay for DT detection will increase the accuracy of diphtheria diagnosis in EU and other countries and reduce the duration of its execution up to 6 hours (instead of 5-7 days as recommended by the WHO manual). The efficient early diphtheria diagnosis will enable timely initiation of anti-diphtheritic treatment that will save lives, prevent the development of complications (heart failure, paralysis), as well as stop the spread of the disease through initiation of preventive measures (vaccination and antibiotic prophylaxis) in case of disease outbreaks.

Mots clés : diphtheria, early diagnosis, corynebacterium diphtheriae, corynebacterium ulcerans, diphtheria toxin, immunochromatographic assay, liquid nutrient medium

Participants :
- Senova gesellschaft fur biowissenschaft und technick mbh (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Organismes privés (hors enseignement), subvention : 174806.4 €
Projet NPCChr (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

During differentiation, cells undergo large-scale chromatin rearrangement, notably with the establishment of heterochromatin blocks at the nuclear periphery during the epiblast stage of development. Concomitantly, hundreds of genes are relocated to and from the nuclear periphery and their position is correlated with their expression levels. Most of these genes are associated with regulation of pluripotency, suggesting that the association of fLADs to the NL is a key parameter for proper embryonic development. Recent work of the host lab using synthetic activators showed that the chromatin rearrangement is responsible for the relocation of these genes. However, the mechanisms that govern this chromatin rearrangement are largely unknown. Here I propose to test whether a modulation of nuclear pore density allows chromatin reorganization during differentiation of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) into epiblast stem cells (EpiSCs), laying the groundwork for future analysis in vivo during embryonic development. As a complementary approach, I will determine the mechanisms that prevent heterochromatin formation at nuclear pore complexes. The use of state of the art techniques such as super-resolution microscopy, genome mapping and a multidisciplinary approach combining biology and physics will allow me to understand the role of nuclear pore complexes in the regulation of genome organization.


Participants :
- University of Edinburgh (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 195454.8 €
Projet PhenoDim (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

During over 100 years of ecological and evolutionary research, the study of colour polymorphisms has helped to improve our understanding of phenotypic diversification in nature. Polymorphisms are typically expected to be maintained within local populations by evolutionary processes, such as negative frequency-dependent selection. Yet there are only few studies that have quantified multiple axes of correlated phenotypic variation in addition to colour, which limits our current understanding of the emergence and evolutionary maintenance of genetic colour polymorphisms, for example, via correlational selection, linkage or pleiotropic effects. To address this long standing issue, I here propose a series of research projects that use computer-driven high throughput phenotyping to conduct comprehensive phenotypic analyses (phenomics) of a sexual dimorphism and female-limited colour polymorphisms in damselflies (Odonata; Zygoptera). The overarching goal of these projects is to investigate if and how much female damselfly colour morphs that mimic male colouration to increase their fitness (androchrome females) also vary in other, potentially correlated phenotypic traits, such as morphology, behavior and development. First, I will analyze an existing image data set of evolutionary time series data of Swedish damselfly populations, using a combination of classic computer vision and deep learning algorithms to quantify axes of phenotypic variation that have not yet been investigated. Second, I will conduct a mesocosm experiment using individuals from the same local Swedish damselfly populations to investigate whether androchrome females show alternative developmental trajectories. Third, I will conduct in-depth phenotyping of an existing image dataset of different damselfly species to investigate the prevalence of androchromatism and male mimicry in other traits across a large damselfly phylogeny.

Mots clés : sexual polymorphism, sexual conflict, correlational selection, developmental plasticity, phenomics, computer vision, machine learning

Participants :
- Lund University (Suède) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 191852.16 €
Projet GRAMADIF (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

During the 4th-3rd millennia B.C in Mesopotamia, communities previously living in small egalitarian villages progressively grew into large cities, ruled by political, religious and economic institutions. Cultural expansions and climate change contributed to socio-economic transformations and adaptations including in crop production. The development of an intensive irrigated farming system in southern Mesopotamia enabled the rise of early cities there; simultaneously, in rain-fed northern Mesopotamia, an extensive, low-input farming system supported early cities. But while agriculture appears to be one of the main drivers behind the emergence and development of the first Near Eastern cities, the evidence mostly consists of indirect sources such as 3rd and 2nd mill. BC cuneiform texts. The study of charred macrobotanical remains (seeds, fruits, chaff) recovered from nine newly excavated archaeological sites, located in northern and southern Mesopotamia, offers a unique opportunity to reconstruct the evolution and regional variability of plant production between the 7th and the 1st mill. BC. This project will study the role and the impact of the development of agriculture in the emergence of the urban centres. With this aim, the project will 1) identify macrobotanical remains through taxonomic and morphometric analysis to reconstruct plant assemblages; 2) create a database integrating botanical results and contextual information; 3) apply stable isotope analysis (carbon and nitrogen) to crops and functional weed ecology to document growing conditions of plants; 4) use multivariate analyses for comparisons and literature review for supra-regional synthesis. The results will allow us to define the northern and the southern Mesopotamian agriculture and to redraw their evolution along with the urbanisation of societies. The ultimate goal is to clarify how different agricultural systems (intensive vs. extensive) have resulted and supported the raise of the first cities.

Mots clés : archaeobotany, agriculture, irrigation, ecology, stable isotope

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

During the last decade, homogeneous gold catalysis has witnessed rapid growth for C–C bond forming reactions mainly due to the soft carbophilic Lewis acid properties of gold complexes toward C–C triple bonds. Compared to Lewis acids and other transition metals, gold catalysts are very active under mild conditions, can tolerate moisture and oxygen and are compatible with diverse functional groups. Gold catalyzed tandem and multi-component reactions allow the efficient transformation of simple starting materials in complex molecules, which have been used for the synthesis of numerous biologically active targets. GOLDCLUSTER aims at advancing the field of gold chemistry by the development of new superelectrophilic small gold (I) clusters (Au3, Au6 and Au8). These complexes will be used as catalysts in the retro-Büchner reactions of cycloheptatrienes to form in situ gold carbenes, leading to the formation of complex molecules using milder conditions (lower reaction temperature, more efficient catalysts, and better yields). In addition, the new catalysts will also be tested in the catalytic activation of small molecules, such as methane. GOLDCLUSTER will contribute greatly to the advancement of gold chemistry by exploring new directions in the area and providing new tools to further enhance the development of efficient synthetic methods that could be later adapted by the Chemical Industry, making the European economy more competitive and better aligned with the Horizon2020 growth strategy.

Mots clés : homogeneous catalysis, gold clusters, retro b chner reactions, gold carbenes, synthetic methods

Participants :
- Institut Català d'Investigació Química (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 158121.6 €
Projet WildE (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

During the last two decades, there has been a huge increase in our knowledge of microbial diversity, phylogeny and genomics. However, we have limited knowledge on microbial population genetics and microevolution of wild microbes. Knowing the rate of evolution of wild microbes in the natural environment is crucial if we are to understand and predict how ecologically important marine microbes will cope as the oceans continue to change under global climate change. Laboratory experiment have been been useful for exploring the mechanisms of evolution in microbes. Yet, as a consequence of complex and variable biotic and abiotic interactions, the evolutionary process in ecosystems may be substantially different from what has been observed in lab experiments featuring relatively constant and simple environments. The next step to increase our understanding of microbial evolution is to investigate evolution of wild microbes in the natural environment. WildE aims to quantify the rate of evolution in wild marine microbes, using metagenomic time-series data (monthly samples over 7 years: 2009-2015). In addition, WildE will quantify the rate of evolution in natural assemblages of marine microbes, under selection pressure (elevated temperature) and measure how environmental selection changes population structure using an enclosed mesocosm experiment. Using both field investigations and mesocosm experiments will strengthen our understanding of evolutionary dynamics of wild populations. Exploring wild microbes will most likely reveal novel evolutionary patterns emerging as a consequence of ecosystem complexity, providing hints on the impact of horizontal gene transfer, recombination and viral infections on the genome composition of different species. The data produced here will be of interest to both scientists and policy makers and will increase our understanding of how ecologically important marine microbes will respond to future global change.

Mots clés : marine microbial community, picoeukaryotes, prokaryotes, evolution, mesocosm, metagenomics, metabarcoding, high throughput sequencing, metagenome assembled genomes  mags

Participants :
- Spanish National Research Council (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 172932.48 €
Projet HES-PSC-FCTL (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

During the past years, photovoltaic technology has shown its greatest potential to be scaled up to meet future energy requirement. Perovskite solar cell (PSC) as a promising next-generation photovoltaic technology has attracted great attention, but its performance is still limited by charge carrier collection efficiency and long-time stability. In this project, the applicant aims to employ novel all-inorganic charge transport layers to fabricate high efficiency and stable inverted planar perovskite solar cells (power conversion efficiency > 23%), based on a functionalized charge transport layer- a Lanthanum(La)-doped BaSnO3(LBSO)/graphene bi-layer. LBSO has a cubic perovskite structure which provides an opportunity to further improve the quality of the interface between the electron transport layer and the perovskite film in conjugation with atmosphere annealing process, which we term “LBSO-template induced perovskite re-nucleation and crystal growth”. A compact conductive graphene layer inserted between the LBSO layer and the metal contact can act as a spacer layer to block the mobile ion and moisture penetration. That will not only improve the device stability (maintain initial efficiency > 90% after 1000 h illumination), but also give a chance to reveal the device degradation mechanism in depth.deeply.

Mots clés : perovskite solar cell, charge collection, passivation, stability

Participants :
- University of Surrey (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 224933.76 €