Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-actions-marie-curie-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet OATP (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Mathematics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Topologically ordered phases are a new state of matter, discovered only around the late '80s. In recent years interest in such states has sparked, one of the reasons being applications to topological quantum computing: the topological properties make the state robust against perturbations, making them ideal components in an environment where (thermal or other) noise is one's biggest enemy. By now there is a plethora of examples of topologically ordered states, whose only unifying feature seems to be that they do not fall into the Landau theory of phases. Although there are many examples, the mathematical framework to rigorously study such systems is less clear, in particular if one wants to consider both so-called long range entangled phases and symmetry protected phases. The goal of this project is to tackle this problem. The approach that is proposed is to use operator algebraic methods to focus on the algebraic properties of the observables in such systems. This approach has proved successful in algebraic quantum field theory. Using this attack the aim is to find tools to classify the different topological phases, and in particular find methods that are applicable a wide class of models, despite looking very different at first sight. These ideas will be tested on the wide range of topological systems that is available. The focus in this project is on stability properties on the one hand, in particular for invariants of topological phases, and the study of boundary theories on the other hand.

Mots clés : topological order, topological phases, quantum spin systems

Participants :
- University of California System (Etats-Unis) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- RWTH Aachen University (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 257860.8 €
Projet Hi-SynVir (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Traditional geographic ranges of insect pests are altered by globalization and climate change, resulting in emerging threats for natural ecosystems, agriculture and human health. It is urgent to improve our ability to swiftly develop targeted solutions to contain such threats, while minimizing unintended side effects on the environment. Densovirinae are very small, single-stranded DNA viruses pathogenic to a variety of arthropods, including pythophagous caterpillars and grasshoppers, as well as disease vectors such as aphids and mosquitoes. Host ranges appear to vary considerably amongst even closely related densoviruses. A better understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying virulence and specificity is necessary to evaluate the risk and opportunities associated with potential use in controlling natural insect populations. We propose to discover these molecular determinants through the use of precisely designed libraries of viral genomes. We will leverage cost-effective and scalable DNA synthesis and sequencing technologies to generate high-throughput implementation and testing of precise molecular hypotheses. These will be informed by currently available knowledge and further deepened by bioinformatic analysis of natural sequences. We will produce ~106 controlled variants of the viral capsid as well as select viral regulatory sequence elements (enhancers, splicing and translation start sites). Resulting libraries will be subjected to multiplexed, deep-sequencing-based functional assays. The scale of this approach will permit to reconstitute the sequence-structure-activity relationships required to relate viral genomes to host specificity and propagation efficiency. These data will support the development of models to predict the behavior of a viral genome in a new ecology, assess its potential for future evolution and inform the safe use of viral vectors for the targeted biocontrol of insect populations.


Participants :
- Institut national de recherche pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 185076.0 €
Projet GOFAR (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Training: The GOFAR proposal is to train the Technion candidate to work on the Soft X-ray Spectrometer (SXS) built by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), for launch soon on the Japanese space observatory Astro-H that will be the working horse of X-Ray Astronomy in the next decade. The X-ray Astrophysics Laboratory at GSFC, the world centre for astrophysical X-ray spectroscopy and instrumentation will set up a data analysis facility at the adjacent University of Maryland (UMD), who will host GOFAR. Owing to its unprecedented combination of spectral resolution and sensitivity between 6 – 7 keV, the SXS will detect and measure, better than ever before, the hottest and most ionized X-ray astrophysical plasmas. GOFAR will thus position the candidate and his Technion group at the forefront of X-ray astrophysical research in the coming decade, but will also improve his project-management skills for the university hardware projects that he leads. Research: We propose to develop new spectroscopic diagnostics to match the spectral resolving power and sensitivity of the SXS for K- and L- shell ions in both photo- and collisionally- ionized plasmas, focusing on active galactic nuclei (AGN) outflows. We will measure the most ionized components of the winds, implied previously to dominate the outflow mass and energy. We propose to measure the location, mass outflow rate, and kinetic power of the wind, which govern its influence on the host galaxy. This will be the first opportunity to confirm and measure in detail the fastest components of AGN winds that were claimed to reach a fraction of the speed of light (~ 0.1c). Since the kinetic power in the wind scales as the outflow velocity cubed, these components are the most promising AGN energy feedback, and for enriching the intergalactic medium (IGM). We will attempt to identify absorption from filaments of the IGM, which represent the long sought-after missing atoms of the Universe.

Mots clés : soft x ray spectrometer  sxs, x ray astronomy, spectroscopic diagnostics, agn winds

Participants :
- Technion – Israel Institute of Technology (Israël) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 198836.1 €
- State of Maryland (Etats-Unis) — Partner, organization partner, Organismes privés (hors enseignement), subvention : 0.0 €
Projet TransIT (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

TransIT is inspired by the necessity of promoting a more open and complex perception of Italian culture in the context of higher education. It aims to broaden the conception of Italianness by investigating a series of cultural texts that can be included within a comprehensive definition of ‘Italian culture’, once this is extended to its migratory and diasporic manifestations. Since Italy’s unification, migration has affected a significant part of the population, who started leaving the country in search of better living conditions. Excluding from the study of Italian culture texts produced in the context of Italian migrations, whether written in Italian or not, thus implies the exclusion of a significant part of this culture. On these premises, TransIT draws upon multidisciplinary resources – literature, film, television, newspapers and magazines, sociological surveys and historical documents – and adopts an interdisciplinary approach to examining the evolution of Italian culture outside of Italy, with a specific focus on the experiences included within the Italophone and Anglophone worlds. In looking at race- and gender-specific cultural witnesses, it seeks to redress the mainstream interpretation of Italian culture. Engaging with universities in the United Kingdom and the United States, the project responds to the demand for revised and updated methods and materials for teaching Italian culture in transnational perspective. TransIT offers a novel set of teaching resources, moving beyond the conventional textbook and promoting an innovative and multi-layered methodology which encourages a dynamic approach to textual analysis. An interactive, bilingual online multimedia anthology of creative texts constitutes its principal outcome. Its bilingual nature makes much of this material available for the first time to those who can only read Italian or English.

Mots clés : migration, diaspora, multiethnicity, multiculturalism, transnationalism, inclusiveness, italian culture, italicity, italian american, modern languages, translation, cultural mediation, gender studies

Participants :
- California State University System (Etats-Unis) — Partner, organization partner, Autres, subvention : 0.0 €
- Cardiff University (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 189099.84 €
Projet IEA (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Economic Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Transbountary environmental pollution constitutes a major challenge in international collaboration. Although global cooperation and coordination can benefit everyone involved, each country would like to unilaterally free ride on everyone else’s efforts. A number of International Environmental Agreements (IEAs) are drafted and ratified to this date, in an effort to address this problem. While the process is ongoing it is widely accepted that IEAs are either of small size (in terms of signatories) or non-enforceable. The proposed study will provide a framework that captures the current situation better than the models in the existing literature, by explicitly formalizing the negotiation process underlining the formation of an IEA. Moreover, it will formalize the linkage between environmental problems and other political and economical issues (e.g. trade agreements and R&D). Shedding light on the issues that surround and on the mechanisms that generate the constitution of an IEA will assist in identifying strategies and tools that can enhance IEA participation and enforceability in the future. IEAs have been studied during the recent years in an effort to both explain why they are ratified by a fraction of the total number of countries, and suggest ways in which the number of signatories could increase. In order to capture the interdependence among countries' choices and the widely spread externalities that lead to the strategic behaviour of countries involved in negotiations of IEAs we use game theory as the tool of analysis.

Mots clés : international environmental agreements, stability, foresight, issue linkage, adaptation, climate change

Participants :
- University of Macedonia (Grèce) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 112926.72 €
Projet OPTAVI (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Mathematics
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) has quickly become the clinical standard for patients with medium to high risk for surgery. Despite being a promising treatment for aortic valve disease in the elderly, stroke remains a major complication of TAVI. Large randomized clinical trials reported stroke within 30 days in 5-7% of the patients undergoing TAVI . TCD ultrasound imaging has showed cerebral embolic signals in 100% of the TAVI patients, mainly during valve deployment. Cerebral embolic protection devices (CEPD) have been developed to reduce the migration of debris to the brain during TAVI, and resulted in 44-46% decrease in brain lesions. Despite this progress, the risk still remains significant. Current CEPDs are based on fairly simple-minded ideas, e.g. placing filters inside brachiocephalic and left common cartoid arteries (e.g. Sentinel), or simply covering the arteries in the aortic arch with a filter to deflect the debris downstream (e.g. TriGaurd HDH). Because the flow here is turbulent and laden with solid particles, more advanced physical understanding is needed to examine and/or enhance the hydrodynamic efficacy of CEPDs. This project aims at creating a 3D nonlinear adjoint-based framework on top of an existing GPU-accelerated flow solver for optimization of the CEPDs performance when exposed to the particle-laden turbulent flow in the aorta. First, the flow through a model of a prosthetic heart valve will be extended to include the full geometry of the thoracic aorta using an Immersed Boundary Method. Second, a Lagrangian model for finite-sized particles representing embolic debris will be coupled into the flow solver. Third, a deflection-based CEPD geometry will be introduced into the model. Fourth, nonlinear adjoint-based variational capabilities will be added on top of the particle-laden turbulent flow solver. Iterative direct-adjoint looping simulations will be then performed to obtain a CEPD design with maximum cerebral protection.

Mots clés : adjoint based optimisation, unsteady and turbulent flow control, high fidelity cfd, tavi, cerebral embolic protection device, gpu based supercomputing, immersed boundary method, particle laden flows

Participants :
- University of Cambridge (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 212933.76 €
Projet TAXi-ch (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Transcription factor (TF) cooperativity controls gene expression and is essential to establish transcriptional programs during development. One of the hallmarks of development in female mammals is the inactivation of one of the two X chromosomes to achieve dosage compensation of X-linked genes. Although the inactive X (Xi) chromosome is a heterochromatin environment, a small fraction of genes is expressed from this chromosome. However, the exact mechanisms regulating their expression and the possible similarities in regulation between these genes and genes from the active X chromosome are unknown. TAXi-ch aims to determine the TFs driving the expression of genes from the Xi chromosome, as well as, the contribution of each TF to this process and their cooperativity. Specifically, an interdisciplinary approach based on functional genomics techniques, machine learning algorithms and genome editing tools will be applied to: 1) predict TFs that bind regulatory regions in the X chromosomes and generate their binding profiles, 2) assess the contribution of TFs to gene expression through classification models and targeted depletion of TFs, 3) infer regulatory networks of X-linked genes in the Xi chromosome, 4) model the transcriptional effect of abolishing binding of different combinations of TFs using 2 selected networks, and 5) experimentally validate the modelling predictions. The research is innovative, as this question has not previously been addressed using integration of allele-specific multi-omics data, and timely, considering the current interest to understand TF cooperativity. Furthermore, the results of this project will be important to the study of X-linked disorders. The dual expertise on data analysis and molecular biology of the experienced researcher ensures the feasibility of the project, and its implementation will hone her technical and transferable skills to facilitate her future establishment as an independent leader in the European Research Area.

Mots clés : transcription factors, x chromosome inactivation, integrative analysis, multi omics, gene regulatory networks, crispr, cas9 technology

Participants :
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 162806.4 €
Projet HOXA9 degradome (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Transcription factors are often mutated or aberrantly expressed in cancer and drive carcinogenesis. HOXA9 is a master transcription factor that controls a network of genes critical for hematopoiesis. It shows increased expression levels in more than 50% of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), and is strongly associated with poor clinical outcome. Since the initiation and progression of AML depend on elevated HOXA9 levels, it represents an attractive therapeutic target to combat this aggressive malignancy. However, transcription factors are often not amenable to direct pharmacologic inhibition. To overcome this limitation, an alternative strategy aiming at interference with the transcription factor-specific 'degradome' - the degradation machinery regulates HOXA9 stability. To this end, we aim to elucidate the HOXA9 degradome with the goal of identifying its druggable nodes. Specifically, we plan to (1) identify regulatory proteins involved in the degradation of HOXA9 by performing a FACS-based positive selection screen with a focused CRISPR/Cas9 library as perturbation tool, (2) validate candidate proteins involved in the control of HOXA9 stability, and (3) characterize hits suitable for pharmacologic targeting. For the most promising HOXA9 regulators, we will determine their specificity by assessing global changes of protein abundance by proteomics. The potential of employing hits for pharmaceutical targeting will be evaluated by integrating molecular information with clinical data. In summary, this project aims to establish novel strategies for the dissection of the transcription factor HOXA9 degradome by developing a flexible screening platform. Through this project, I will not only acquire new skills but also establish a scientific network, which is expected to intensify the collaboration between DKFZ and Harvard Medical School. Two years’ experience in USA followed by one year in Heidelberg will be undoubtedly a milestone in my career development.

Mots clés : functional genomics, molecular biology, translational research, drug target discovery, cancer research

Participants :
- Mass General Brigham (Etats-Unis) — Partner, organization partner, Recherche, subvention : 0.0 €
- German Cancer Research Center (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 239860.8 €
Projet GEOTRIBE (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Transform-ridge orthogonal patterns are fundamental features of the Earth’s plate tectonics. Although transform faults play a critical role in the organization of plate motions and are seismically active boundaries, it is still enigmatic how they form and why they are maintained. So far, only regional-scale models of transform fault inception and evolution exist. As the result, relationships of these structures with global mantle flow and large-scale plate kinematics remain unknown. The aim of this project is to advance our knowledge on global physical controls for the transform-ridge systems inception, dynamics and variability. I will take into account global forces to investigate nucleation and evolution of transform-ridge interactions, thus bridging the gap between regional and global models. I will use my long-term expertise in geophysical modeling to implement new physics (such as rock damage and magmatism) in the state-of-the-art convection code developed at ETH Zurich. I will run high-resolution 3D spherical models of global mantle convection to build the first database of simulated global transform-ridge patterns showing what factors influence the spacing and offset of transform faults. I will develop methods to compare the synthetic data with collected observed field data (bathymetry, gravity data, seismicity) to assess which physical processes (e.g. crustal melting, rock healing) control the formation and distribution of ridge-transform centers. Accounting for the global mantle and plate tectonic forces to explain transform fault dynamics is an unprecedented approach that is possible only now due to advances in physical properties of mantle rocks, numerical technics and increasing available computational power. Through this multidisciplinary project I aim at the first assessment of how transform-ridge system guides the evolution of plates for long periods with the scope of keeping Europe at the vanguard of the tectonics and geodynamical modeling research.

Mots clés : mantle convection, rheology, lithosphere, transform faults, plate tectonics, oceanic spreading, mid ocean ridge, numerical models, computational physics

Participants :
- Board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology (Suisse) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 175419.6 €
Projet TOR in acTIon (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Translation is a critical step in the regulation of gene expression in eukaryotes. Most of the control occurs at the level of translation initiation, which is a rate-limiting step in protein synthesis. In mammals, cap-dependent translation initiation is under the regulation of the target of rapamycin (TOR) protein kinase, which suppresses the function of translation repressor proteins, the eIF4E-binding proteins (4E-BPs) that sequester the cap-binding factor eIF4E at the 5′-end of mRNA. The TOR signaling pathway integrates nutrient and energy sufficiency, hormones and growth factors to regulate protein synthesis in mammals and plants. How TOR signals environmental changes to regulate mRNA translation and ribosome production in plants is at present unknown. This project aims to define the role of the plant TOR kinase in translation regulation and to understand how plants have rewired the TOR signalling pathway for their specific translational programs. We have discovered putative plant translation repressor (TR) proteins that harbour eIF4E binding sites and TOR phosphorylation sites, and will study translation initiation mechanisms and their control by TOR in the shoot apical meristem—a specialized tissue containing a stem cell niche responsible for building the shoot. The main objective of proposed research is to uncover regulatory factors that function under the control of TOR in translation initiation and to identify their targets among meristematic mRNAs. A search for cellular mRNAs whose initiation is regulated by TOR and/or TR proteins will be performed using a global ribosomal profiling approach. The plant hormone auxin is an upstream effector of TOR and impacts stem cell niche activity. Thus, we shall study whether TOR mediates signaling from auxin to control TR activity and translation initiation. Finally, we will test whether TOR couples amino acid sensing to regulation of translation initiation.

Mots clés : translation initiation control, cap binding protein factors, plant stem cells, meristems, target of rapamycin

Participants :
- Centre national de la recherche scientifique (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 184707.84 €