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

Light limitation caused by vegetation proximity is an important threat to plant survival in natural and agricultural environments. In order to adapt the growth and development to high plant density communities, plants reacts with a set of responses named Shade Avoidance Syndrome (SAS). The objective of the current proposal is to investigate the transcriptional regulation of the SAS response by relating the activity of the transcription factor PIF7 (as a major SAS transcriptional regulator) with the chromatin status (particularly the transcriptional activator or repressor role of histone acetylation and methylation). The main goal of the EpiShade proposal is to elucidate if the chromatin landscape modulates PIF7 activity and/or PIF7 attracts the chromatin remodellers that leads to changes in the chromatin status. Since it seems likely that different PIF7 targets presents different regulation, the use of the genome-wide approaches included in EpiShade will be crucial. For the success of the proposal, EpiShade combines the expertise of the hosting group in the study of light response (phenotypic, biochemical, transcriptional) with that of the applicant in epigenetic marks profiling (combining chromatin immunoprecipitation and bioinformatics). To include the epigenetic level in the regulation of transcription is a novel approach and SAS an ideal model to address its complexity. The Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowship will enable the candidate to develop his career improving his expertise in light response and to build an independent research program in Europe in the CRAG, a top-leading plant research centre.

Mots clés : arabidopsis thaliana, shade avoidance, epigenetic marks, histone acetylation, polycomb group activity

Participants :
- CERCA Institution (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 170121.6 €
Projet AMUSIC (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Light propagation in multimode (MM) and multicore (MC) optical fibers is rapidly emerging as one of the most exciting topics in optical physics. These fibers are employed in several fields, spanning from telecommunications to spectroscopy and astronomy. In addition, they support a complex nonlinear spatiotemporal dynamics that is the subject of intense research and the understanding of which is far from being complete. It is in this framework that the project AMUSIC arises: it aims to advance the state-of-art understanding of nonlinear effects in MM and MC fibers and to investigate some promising devices where these effects are exploited in view of important applications in several key-areas. The first part of the project is dedicated to the development of an optimized numerical platform for the analysis of nonlinear effects in MM and MC fibers. In the second part we target the investigation and experimental implementation of the following fiber based devices: 1)MM fiber optical parametric amplifiers and oscillators supporting the simultaneous amplification/generation of several modes in an extremely broad and tunable band. 2) High power MC- and MM-doped fiber lasers, where nonlinear effects are exploited to promote phase-synchronization and multimode soliton mode-locking. AMUSIC is aligned with the key-drivers and focus areas of Horizon-2020 Work program (WP) . The project goals will be achieved in the framework of international academic and industrial partnerships (WP key-drivers : "Leverage and boost engagement of industry" and "Supporting strong partnership with Member States"). In addition, the envisaged devices may find application in several fields, among which molecular fingerprinting techniques for personalised detection of disease by breath analysis (WP focus area : "Personalising health and care") and Spatial-Division-Multiplexing schemes for new smart and sustainable digital infrastructures (WP focus area “Smart cities and communities”)

Mots clés : multimode fibers, multimode fiber optical parametric amplifiers and oscillators, multimode and multicore lasers, numerical simulations, fiber design, nonlinear self organization

Participants :
- University of Southampton (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 195454.8 €
Projet SOUNDBITES (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Like many seabirds, penguins face the challenge of provisioning young on shore from a constantly changing food resource at sea requiring efficient localization and exploitation of ephemeral prey aggregations. For penguins, this critical activity is taking place against a backdrop of global warming which is rapidly changing the physical and biological environment in the Southern Ocean. Given the difficulties and expense in following animals at sea, bio-logging devices have been a key tool for studying penguins and have yielded important data on individual movement and foraging tactics. However, for an animal that is so notably social in its dense colonies, remarkably little is known about social interactions at sea or within the colony, and whether these aid or thwart foraging. Through SOUNDBITES, I will collect the first acoustic and multi-sensor data from penguins during foraging trips providing a revolutionary new view of how penguins locate and exploit resources. SOUNDBITES will (I) develop and test on captive seabirds a novel, advanced multi-sensor acoustic tag, the seabirdDTAG, that will enable studies of their interactions, foraging ecology and energetics, (II) deploy the tag on Adélie penguins reproducing in the Antarctic, to examine the role of intraspecific communication in resource acquisition through studies of foraging decisions during consecutive foraging trips in breeding partners. In accomplishing SOUNDBITES’ objectives, I will open a powerful new way to study vocal interactions in seabirds and enable detailed reconstruction of foraging decisions and success in the context of vocal interchange with conspecifics. These unique data, directly relevant to European Commission’s Biodiversity Strategy, will help assess the resilience of these central place foragers to changing environment/resources and, by aiding the interpretation of movement data already collected from penguins, increase the value of an important decade-scale monitoring effort.

Mots clés : foraging ecology, bioacoustics, bio logging, seabirds, movement ecology, marine predators, foraging decisions

Participants :
- Centre national de la recherche scientifique (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 173076.0 €
Projet OCPSTRUCTDYNAMICS (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Like most photosynthetic organisms, cyanobacteria are vulnerable to fluctuations in light intensity, which can damage their photosynthetic machinery. To protect themselves against such fluctuations, they use a photoprotective mechanism called non-photochemical quenching (NPQ), i.e. the dissipation of excess absorbed photo-energy as heat. NPQ in cyanobacteria is triggered by orange carotenoid protein (OCP) light activation. Based on spectroscopic and diffraction studies of OCP in Synechocystis 6803 (gene slr1963), it was suggested that OCP light activation occurs through light-induced movement of a carotenoid causing movement and/or dissociation of OCP N- and C-terminal domains. However, the exact structural dynamics of OCP light-activation need to be unravelled. Furthermore, the growing availability of cyanobacterial genomes allowed identification of additional OCP subfamilies (OCP2, OCPX) in different cyanobacteria. The first results demonstrating different kinetics of light-activation in the different OCP paralogs raised questions about differences in their photoprotective roles and in photoactivation mechanisms. This topic has not been studied to date. Here I propose to resolve structural changes during photoprotection-related transitions of OCP in different OCP subfamilies using time-resolved X-ray crystallography. X-ray crystallography of OCP1 encoded by slr1963, the best-characterized OCP protein, as well as its paralogs from the OCP2 and OCPX subfamilies will be performed. This approach will be combined with ultrafast transient (polarised) absorption spectroscopy on isolated proteins and oriented single crystals to describe the structure-dependent flow of photoenergy in the proteins. This study has several potential applications ranging from enhancing cyanobacterial light harvesting to improve biofuel production, to better understanding of carotenoid-protein interactions in artificial photosynthesis systems, and for optogenetics.

Mots clés : orange carotenoid protein, non photochemical quenching, photosynthesis, cyanobacteria

Participants :
- Imperial College London (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 212933.76 €
Projet SOL (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Literacy acquisition can become a developmental bottleneck for a significant percentage of otherwise-competent children, preventing them from adequate progress in education. One key concept which is both, crucial to attain literacy proficiency, yet a severely understudied topic, is Orthographic Learning (OL). OL refers to the transition that a written word makes from being initially unfamiliar to becoming familiar, so that the word can be spelled accurately and read automatically. However, there are reasons to believe that, contrary to current OL theory, the skill of learning how to spell a word (OL-Spelling) might not be related to the ability to automatise the reading of a word (OL-Reading). This would result in a drastic revision of literacy acquisition theory. Therefore, the main scientific aim of the Study of Orthographic Learning (SOL) is to clarify whether there is a single OL system or two independent OL systems. To meet this goal, SOL will carry out two studies. Study 1 (Cádiz and Gibraltar) will 1) assess to what extent does OL-Reading correlate with OL-Spelling, 2) examine whether the cognitive predictors of OL-Reading and OL-Spelling differ, and 3) explore how the interaction between orthographic depth (English vs. Spanish) and OL clarifies whether there is one or two OL systems. Profiting from cutting-edge neuroimaging technology, Study 2 (BCBL, San Sebastián) will assess if the neural correlates of OL vary depending on the type of OL being assessed. Moreover, one H2020 cross‐cutting priority and two Europe 2020 Flagship Initiatives are i) promoting fairness in education from an early age, ii) contributing to creating an excellent education system and iii) preventing school-failure by improving literacy early on. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, SOL will address these societal aims by implementing a teacher-training course on how to identify and help children at risk of developing OL-deficits using a novel OL-prediction test battery.

Mots clés : orthographic learning, bilingualism, lexical reading, literacy acquisition, spelling, phonemic, awareness, naming speed  ran, cross linguistic study

Participants :
- University of Cádiz (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 172932.48 €
Projet SAFE LIB (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Lithium-ion batteries (LIB) are found in many applications such as consumer electronics, electric vehicles and airplanes. However, LIBs can be dangerous under some conditions and can pose a safety hazard since they contain a flammable electrolyte and are also kept pressurized. Despite the high safety standards being imposed and the embedded safety features, there have been many reported accidents as well as recalls done by some companies. Most accidents can be sourced to run away reactions, which could happen if the LIBs are overheated or overcharged. This is often accompanied by cell rupture and in extreme cases can lead to fire and explosions. The Fellow has conducted her PhD on LIB run away reactions and investigated the effect different anode and cathode materials to enhance LIB safety through modelling, experiments and theoretical study of LIB cell. She will transfer such knowledge to the European host and combine with their extensive expertise in fire and explosion modelling to develop a thermal model to simulate the heat generation and dissipation within the battery pack. The research intends to bridge some important knowledge gaps concerning LIB safety and deliver a predictive tool, which can be used to enhance LIB thermal management from the safety perspective. Such a tool can aid the development of safer LIB cells and the optimisation of LIB packs balancing performance and safety requirement. The specific objectives include: - Develop and validate a thermal model that will predict the onset of runaway reactions (WP1); - Extend the above model to predict potential ignition (WP2); - Further extend the model to predict possible escalation from a single cell ignition to potential fire and explosion hazards (WP3); - Validate the predictions with full scale test data giving particular emphasis to cell rupture and the propensity from ignition of a single cell to battery packs (WP4); and - Conduct cases studies to formulate recommendations on LIB safety.

Mots clés : lithium ion battery, thermal runaway, fire and explosion, electro thermal modelling, computational fluid dynamics  cfd

Participants :
- University of Warwick (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 195454.8 €
Projet Super-Vaccine (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Live vaccines represent one of the most important and effective interventions against the spread of viral disease. As such, they are instrumental in addressing ongoing societal challenges in areas such as healthcare and global food security. However, their capacity to genetically recombine with wild type (WT) viruses circulating in the field remains a primary safety concern. Modifying live vaccine strains to reduce such occurrences would be highly desirable from a safety perspective. Also efforts to enhance the intrinsic potency of vaccine strains would be very beneficial. This would facilitate the use of much lower doses, while reducing the manufacturing resources required to meet market needs and the cost of vaccination programs. With this in mind, this project will explore a novel strategy to improve both the safety and efficacy of live viral vaccine strains by modifying them to express small-hairpin-RNAs (shRNAs), which can be designed to: i) Exclusively inhibit WT virus replication/propagation via RNA-interference (RNAi), thus reducing the levels of WT available for recombination with vaccine strains during vaccination i.e. improving safety ii) Increase live vaccine strain stimulation of the innate immune system by functioning as potent inducers of Type-1 Interferon (IFN-I) expression during vaccination i.e. enhancing efficacy This novel strategy will be explored by modifying an existing attenuated Cyprinid herpesvirus-3 vaccine strain to express appropriately designed shRNAs, followed by an assessment of their impact on both WT virus replication and IFN-I expression in-vitro, providing a basis for future progression to in-vivo trials. Ultimately, if feasible, this novel vaccine design strategy may be applied in the control of many economically important viruses. Also elements of this project are in harmony with the “Strategic European Roadmap for the Vaccines of Tomorrow” launched in 2016 to outline specific EU priorities in future vaccine innovation.

Mots clés : live viral vaccines, small hairpin rnas, shrnas, type i interferon, ifn i, cyprinid herpesvirus 3, cyhv 3, koi herpesvirus

Participants :
- University of Liège (Belgique) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 160800.0 €
Projet CollBioImag (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Liver fibrosis (hepatitis B and C, cirrhosis, etc) represents an enormous health burden responsible for ~1.03 millions death per year worldwide according to the World Health Organization. Fibrosis is also a common outcome of many chronic diseases of the kidney (diabetic nephropathy), lungs (idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis), heart and vasculature (heart failure). In pathologies where fibrosis is a feature, there is an increased deposition of extracellular matrix proteins, including collagens that dramatically limit tissue function. Herein we propose to develop a cell-based assay for high-throughput screening of new antifibrotic therapeutics, which will accelerate fibrosis drug development. Our approach consists in the metabolic incorporation of an alkene-tagged proline in the biosynthesis of collagen, followed by labelling with a fluorescent tetrazine. We recently published preliminary results that provide proof of principle for the use of proline derivatives equipped with reactive handles to tag and label collagen structures. However, this approach suffered from nonspecific reactions of the fluorescent probe with intracellular proteins. The level of selectivity conferred by the proposed inverse-electron-demand Diels-Alder reaction is key in enabling its use in cells. We will use hepatic stellate cells since these cells are responsible for excess collagen production during liver fibrosis. To demonstrate that the cellular model can be used to screen compounds for fibrosis we will validate our system using a library of compounds with known preclinical antifibrotic activities. We will test if their in vivo efficacy can be predicted using cells. If our findings are significant we will use this cellular model to screen a commercial available library of compounds to find new antifibrotic drugs. The efficacy of the best candidate will be tested in vivo using two animal models of induced fibrosis.

Mots clés : fibrosis, collagen, bioorthogonal, diels alder, alkene, tetrazine, antifibrotics, high throughput screening

Participants :
- University of Cambridge (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 195454.8 €
Projet NanoscAM (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Living systems are prototypical examples of active matter made of self-driven units. Active colloids that convert energy into work offer exciting routes to emulate Nature’s complexity and open new opportunities in materials science and engineering. They enabled the formation of synthetic flocks and collective behavior formerly limited to the biological realm but have not been used to build and control functional units, hindering progress towards self-regulated materials. The objective of this project is to develop a 3D nanofuel, a fluid made of active nanoparticles. The advantage of active nanoparticles is their possible integration in micrometric structures, a feature that is not currently available with microscale active particles. Such structures will offer improved versatility, as the overall behavior can be tuned by changing the characteristics of the nanofuel and have the potential to generate work at large scale. To this end, the research project proposes to i) synthesize a nanometric self-driven unit with tailored propulsion mechanism, ii) characterize the emergent dynamics of large assemblies of such units and iii) exploit those as an internal nanomachinery, a nanofuel, to power microstructures. This will enable the creation of a novel type of active emulsion, driven at the nanoscale. Through the design of a nanofuel, the proposed research will furthermore explore for the first time active matter in 3D and nano-propulsion. This project is built upon advanced nano-optical and correlation techniques, used to synthesize, characterize, and manipulate active nanoparticles individually and collectively, and involves complementary expertise of the host team in optofluidics and nanoparticle synthesis and of the researcher in active matter and nano-optics. This research will extend the field of active matter to the nanoscale and open new routes for the design of smart materials with tunable behavior and functionality.

Mots clés : active matter, interfacial transport, self organization, microfluidics, self assembly, optofluidics, optical, microscopy, nanoparticle synthesis

Participants :
- Centre national de la recherche scientifique (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 128953.92 €
Projet LC-FMRI (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Locus coeruleus (LC) regulates vital autonomous and cognitive functions and has recently gained interest as a clinical target in neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders. Previous studies have investigated the effect of LC activity on small groups of neurons and on endpoint behavior. However, LC’s widespread connections and broad downstream effects make a systems-level approach imperative for comprehensively understanding LC function. In LC-FMRI, we will perform highly specific optogenetic LC stimulation in mice and assess whole-brain responses and functional network reconfiguration using ultra-high field functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). To decipher neural, astrocytic and vascular contributions to LC-induced fMRI responses, we will acquire simultaneous optical calcium recordings during fMRI. Experiments will be performed in awake mice to circumvent confounding effects of anesthesia on LC function. Finally, we will investigate how LC stimulation affects whole-brain dynamics and neurovascular coupling in the context of sensory processing. Our project will lay the foundation for studying how LC modulates whole-brain dynamics in health and disease using fMRI, with high potential for translation to human applications.

Mots clés : opto fmri, ultra high resolution mri, neurovascular coupling, optogenetic, calcium recording

Participants :
- Champalimaud Foundation (Portugal) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 147815.04 €