Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-actions-marie-curie-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet OTTOHAJJ (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2022)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The hajj caravan was likely the largest and most regular flow of peoples and commodities through the arteries of the Ottoman empire. Yet surprisingly little is known about the experiences of Ottoman pilgrims who took the overland route to Mecca and Medina each year. OTTOHAJJ will investigate early modern (c. 1517-1800) Ottoman travel through an in-depth study of the material and human aspects of the caravan from Üsküdar to Mecca. The project has four main objectives: Undertaking research in manuscript libraries in order to build a corpus of Ottoman hajj guidebooks authored by pilgrims; Classification and analysis of these sources, exploring intertextuality, authorship, and milieu of authors; Investigating the infrastructure of pilgrimage in order to produce a typology of locations, including sacred sites, facilities, and places of leisure, rest and relaxation; Constructing a typology of social profiles and associated traveling patterns of pilgrims. The use of guidebooks will be supplemented by other Ottoman Turkish and Arabic sources, including travelogues, chronicles, documents, objects, and images. The project will provide data on the diverse territories of the former Ottoman empire and traveling practices within them, a crucial undertaking since climate change and rapid urban transformations continue to irreversibly alter the landscape and diminish ecological diversity. This data will allow us to better understand the social, religious, cultural, ecological, and scientific history of the early modern empire. The project will also make important contributions to the study of manuscript cultures and the application of digital humanities in Ottoman studies. Project outputs include a monograph on traveling practices and mobility, a critical edition of a late-sixteenth-century manuscript guidebook, digital maps of locations and network maps of guidebook authors, a project website promoting open science and open access, and participation in conferences and symposiums.

Mots clés : travel, travelling practices, ottoman, ottoman history, pilgrimage, hajj, applied science, material culture, guidebooks, environmental history

Participants :
- Université Sabancı (Turquie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 148478.4 €
Projet Septal_PG_Hydrolases (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Peptidoglycan (PG) hydrolases are instrumental in mediating bacterial daughter cell separation via septum splitting, an essential process for the ability of bacteria to multiply. In a gram-positive pathogen such as Staphylococcus aureus, the division septum is completed before PG hydrolases initiate septum splitting. S. aureus is an important pathogen, as it is one of the most common causes of death by antibiotic resistant infections. Premature splitting of the division septum could expose an immature bacterial cell surface, devoid of virulence factors, leading to pathogen elimination by the innate immune system of an infected host. Hence, the activity of PG hydrolases must be tightly regulated to avoid deleterious effects on bacteria, including lysis-inducing breaches in the cell surface that would lead to bacterial death. S. aureus encodes 19 PG hydrolases, most of which have ill-characterized functions and regulation mechanisms. In this project I will identify the complete set of PG hydrolases that have a role in septum splitting, uncover their mechanisms of localization to the division septum and identify how they are regulated during the cell cycle and particularly what triggers their activation to initiate septum splitting at the right timing. For this I will join the laboratory of Prof. Mariana Pinho ITQB – Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, due to their unmatchable expertise in the field of staphylococcal cell wall biology and their commitment to promote my career development during the MSCA-PF project. This fellowship is a unique opportunity to develop my research and complementary skills, acting as a critical stepping-stone towards a tenure-track faculty position.

Mots clés : staphylococcus aureus, cell division, cell wall, septum maturation, septum splitting, peptidoglycan hydrolases, lipo and wall teichoic acids, spatiotemporal regulation

Participants :
- Université nouvelle de Lisbonne (Portugal) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 172618.56 €
Projet ABlina (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The ABlina project aims to study how cell membrane lipid composition affects the formation and deposition of beta amyloid (Aβ) aggregates. To achieve this, Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations will be performed on membranes with varying lipid compositions, focusing on models that mimic senescent and Alzheimer's disease cells. The data generated will contribute to the establishment of a database, which will be subsequently analysed, to identify lipid patterns capable of modulating the behaviour of Aβ aggregation. If lipids promoting aggregation are identified, novel drugs could be formulated to inhibit their synthesis or interaction with Aβs, thereby preventing aggregation. Conversely, if any lipid is found to avoid aggregation, strategies could be designed to augment its presence within cerebral cells. To address the inherent spatial and temporal limitations of Molecular Dynamics (MD), Coarse-Grained (CG) modelling will be utilized. The project will be conducted at ITQB NOVA (University NOVA of Lisbon), under the supervision of Dr. Manuel N. Melo, a key contributor to the development of the original Martini Force Field, a widely recognized CG model that will be employed in this study. Through Dr. Melo's mentorship, I will receive advanced training in CG model development, enabling the accurate parameterization of lipids relevant to the project and enhancing the robustness of the database. The combination of Dr. Melo's extensive proficiency in CG methodologies and my prior experience in MD simulations and database management will establish a synergistic collaboration, expanding both my expertise and that of the host research group. Overall, my project employs an innovative approach to investigate the relationship between cell membrane composition and Aβ aggregation, potentially revealing lipid membrane composition as a promising therapeutic target against Alzheimer’s disease.

Mots clés : lipidomics, amyloid beta, coarse grained

Participants :
- Université nouvelle de Lisbonne (Portugal) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 191343.12 €
Projet SPeLL2 (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The proposed research project aims to investigate the divergence between perceptual and lexical abilities in adults’ non-native speech learning. Previous research has shown that good perceptual abilities of non-native sounds do not necessarily facilitate word learning and spoken word recognition among L2 learners at different proficiency levels (e.g., Llompart, 2021; Pelzl et al., 2019; Sebastián‐Gallés & Díaz, 2012). Even for advanced L2 learners who can perceive and identify the L2 sounds at high accuracy, processing of the non-native sounds in lexical tasks can still be challenging. This suggests that lexical representations may not be phonetically detailed until later in L2 learning, eventually leading to pronunciation difficulties and less intelligible communication. In this project, we will explore various training methods such as meaning-focused vs form-focused training, that can potentially bridge the gap between perceptual and lexical abilities in L2 speech learning. Additionally, we will examine how individual differences (ID) in cognitive abilities, such as auditory processing and working memory, interact with the various training methods and influence L2 speech learning outcomes. Understanding this interaction is crucial because learners with different cognitive profiles may respond differently to training methods, which can help identify personalized learning strategies. We will focus on two typologically distinct languages, Portuguese and Mandarin Chinese, which allow us to investigate both phonemic (segmental) and tonal (suprasegmental) properties in perceptual abilities and word learning. Our findings will significantly contribute to discussions on how to effectively develop linguistic representations across the lifespan and will have practical implications for tailoring L2 teaching and learning based on learners’ cognitive abilities.

Mots clés : second language acquisition, l2 speech learning, lexical development, individual differences, mandarin, portuguese

Participants :
- Université nouvelle de Lisbonne (Portugal) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 191343.12 €
Projet SOCGLOBE (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2022)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

European socialist travel writers in the previous century turned their course to Africa and Asia, reflecting the fact that the Second and Third Worlds formed a close political, economic and cultural alliance, which was built on a popular and widely accepted vision of mutual interconnectedness and global belonging. The socialist travelogue had an important role in promoting such symbolic geography and in negotiating proclaimed and practiced solidarities with various tensions, interests and power inequalities. Today, these travelogues and the partnership between the two worlds have been forgotten, profoundly influencing how we understand the European – and global – past and future. SOCGLOBE sets to examine the Yugoslav socialist travelogue (1945–1990), as a rich place to explore socialist symbolic geography and, consequently, promote values, narratives and memories of solidarity and global belonging in order to re-inspire public debates on the European future. In line with that, SOCGLOBE has two strategic goals: (1) to compose the first comprehensive corpus of Yugoslav travel writing, thus integrating the uncatalogued material in danger of historical disappearance, and (2) to build a novel conceptual framework to explore socialist symbolic geography beyond the currently dominant postcolonial model, created for analysing relations between Western Europe and its (colonial) Other(s). SOCGLOBE challenges the postcolonial approach by incorporating imagology and Bourdieu’s concept of position-taking into the research and proposes the notion of socialist symbolic geography as a site of multidimensional and multidirectional exchange and negotiation. SOCGLOBE advances literary-, cultural- and travel writing studies beyond their Western-oriented focus, and contributes to socialist studies, historical research on Second and Third World relations and broader research on (semi-)peripheries by proposing an alternative conceptual model for framing intercultural relations.

Mots clés : socialist travel writing, yugoslavia, third world, symbolic geography, solidarity, global belonging

Participants :
- Université de Zagreb (Croatie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 161889.6 €
Projet TSE_SCTD (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Tourism social entrepreneurship is an alternative development strategy and catalyst for the host communities and plays a crucial role in delivering sustainable community tourism development outcomes. Community-based tourism is one of the categories of tourism social entrepreneurship. Community-based tourism projects usually use heritage as a tourist product to achieve sustainable community tourism development. This project aims to develop a policy model for the creation and development of cultural heritage tourism in rural communities, integrating elements of sustainability, creating sustainable jobs and enterprises, with gender equality and social responsibility, and strengthening national identity. To achieve this, a multi-method qualitative data collection strategy will be employed where data will be collected through face-to-face semi-structured interviews, field observations, and informal conversations in the rural communities of Zimbabwe and Botswana where there are functional community-based tourism projects. The project results will contribute to the generation of quality new knowledge (scientific impact), the promotion of gender equality in communities (social impact), and the promotion of sustainable cultural heritage tourism products (economic impact). The fellowship will provide the fellow with new scientific and practical skills and new contacts. The host institution will benefit from the transfer of skills, as the fellow plans to organise workshops, academic and public lectures, seminars, presentations, and to supervise MA and undergraduate students together with the supervisor.

Mots clés : tourism social entrepreneurship community based tourism sustainable community tourism development heritage gender equality

Participants :
- Université de Vilnius (Lituanie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 196976.16 €
Projet e-gainstRapeDrugs (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2022)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The main objective of this work is to develop simple sensing solutions for benzodiazepines (BDZ, date rape drugs) detection. The outcomes of this project are expected to be visible to citizens as the fully functional sensing solutions. Proposed innovation is a resultant of three main streams: (i) 3D printing for the sensors development, (ii) comprehensive electroanalysis of BDZs at the electrified liquid-liquid interface (eLLI), and (iii) very meticulous electroanalytical screening focused on BDZ and co-existing interfering species (defined based on target real samples). BDZ are psychoactive species renowned for their ability to induce sedation, aid sleep and are prescribed to treat a range of clinical conditions (e.g. anxiety). Some BDZs and their structural analogues are classified as illicit drugs and are subjected to strict control. The combination of BDZ and alcohol was mostly related to drug-facilitated crimes such as sexual assaults. Due to related health and economic issues caused by BDZs it is necessary to strengthen their on-the-spot detection. This project will develop eLLI based analytical tools to evade BDZ related social crimes and health hazards. 3D printing will be used to create sensing platforms that can be utilized on the spot. Further, the solutions proposed in this proposal are expected to be fully applicable for the presumptive analysis of BDZ drugs by non-expects and possess commercial opportunities for widespread adoption. The adviser and the researcher bring complimentary experience in the domains of eLLI and electrochemical sensors. Moreover, the goal of this project is to enhance the innovative potential of researcher who wish to acquire new skills through advanced training, mobility, new environment, and who is seeking to continue his career in research. MSCA guidelines on supervision Will be followed to foster soft and hard skills of researcher, willing to contribute to solving the challenges defined by the MSCA Green Charter.

Mots clés : date rape drugs, benzodiazepine, psychoactive drugs, electrochemical sensors, drug facilitated crimes

Participants :
- Université de Łódź (Pologne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 139953.6 €
Projet Neuron to Egg Laying (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2022)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

[a short summary to be written shortly]Insect reproduction has a large impact in human well-being through the dissemination of disease and crop failure. Here, we propose to study insect egg laying using Drosophila melanogaster as a model system. We will focus on the ventral nerve cord and its role in executing egg laying behaviour commands. We will take advantage of lines previously generated in the laboratory that label small groups of neurons in the ventral nerve cord to establish how different neurons contribute to egg laying motor elements and explore how they communicate with each other and other identified egg laying neuronal elements to coordinate the execution of the different egg laying steps. For this we will pursue the following aims: Aim1- Development of automated tracking of each element of egg laying behaviour. This will allow a precise, quantitative and fast description of behavioural phenotypes; Aim2- Probe the contribution of different motor-controlling neuronal populations to different elements of egg laying behaviour.Activation phenotypes will be recorded, classified and clustered for each ventral nerve cord line; Aim3 - Establish the connectivity of different neuronal populations.The power of Drosophila genetics will be used determine through anatomical and functional means the connectivity between different sets of neurons, including descending neurons from the brain and other local ventral nerve cord neurons. We will also determine how octopamine modulates the functional connectivity between the neurons.  With the results of this project, we expect to produce important insights into the mechanisms of control and execution of egg laying behaviour.

Mots clés : drosophila melanogaster, egg laying, animal behavior, neural circuits, calcium imaging

Participants :
- Champalimaud Foundation (Portugal) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 172618.56 €
Projet POLYTROP (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2022)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

According to WHO, cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for nearly 20 million new cases and 10 million deaths in 2020. This project addresses the development of a novel compound targeting the fibroblast activation protein, overexpressed in more than 90% of human epithelial cancers. It combines up to four imaging techniques (single-photon emission computed tomography, positron emission tomography, magnetic resonance, and optical imaging) and two therapeutic approaches (radionuclide therapy and boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT)). The novel compound is based on a dextran scaffold, which acts as a backbone for attachment of i) a FAP-inhibitor based on a quinoline structure, ii) a macrocycle chelator for complexation with Gadolinium, Technetium-99m, Rhenium-188, Gallium-68, and Lutetium-177 for imagining or radionuclide therapy, iii) carborane for BNCT and iv) fluorescent dye for optical imaging. The aim is to achieve a tailor-made combination of unique and versatile properties by adapting the multifunctional structure of the ligand compound throughout different imaging and therapeutic procedures using a simple and robust labeling protocol, exploiting the outstanding properties of each moiety and conferring our compound with precisely designed functionalities. The implementation and delivery of high-impact outcomes will be achieved following a well-defined route. The long-term objective of this project is to determine whether vial kits for imaging and therapy can be developed. The novel ligand will be synthesized following well-established methodologies and fully characterized by elemental analysis, IR, and NMR. Then, the radiolabeling procedures of the ligand with the radionuclides will be optimized, and a kit formulation will be developed. At the same time, the project will determine the inhibitory activities of the radiolabeled compounds and their applicability for in vivo imaging and radionuclide therapy in FAP-positive tumor-bearing mice.

Mots clés : technetium 99m rhenium 188 gallium 68 lutetium 177 pet spect multimodal imaging theranostic radionuclide therapy

Participants :
- National Centre of Scientific Research "Demokritos" (Grèce) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 169326.72 €
Projet BojaS (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Brewer's spent grain (BSG) is a significant by-product of beer brewing, accounting for 85% of the waste produced and 31% of the original malt weight. Therefore, there is a need to explore various recycling methods for this residue and transform it into value-added products. The objectives of this proposal align with several UN Sustainable Development Goals as they address sustainable food production, and sustainable consumption, focusing on health and well-being. In this study, we aim to utilize the bioactive phenolic compounds present in BSG to improve the shelf life of meat products. To achieve this, we will use environmentally and socioeconomically innovative methods for the valorization of BSG by using Deep eutectic solvents (DES) for the first time. The use of environmentally friendly solutions for the extraction of BSG flavonoids will present improvement in terms of cost, safety, and environmental friendliness compared to existing methods for extractraction. Optimization of extraction conditions (temperature, solvent-to-solid ratio, extraction time, pH) will be carried out to improve the selectivity, efficiency, and purity of target compounds. DES a solvent will be synthesized to selectively promote the extraction of rutin, proanthocyanidins, and catechin extract with phenolic acids. An important aspect of this work will be to evaluate the toxicity of both the DES solvent and the extracted compounds to ensure their safe use. A number of analytical techniques will be used to evaluate the extraction efficiency of the flavonoid compounds, primarily high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) in combination with mass spectrometry (MS). In addition, various methods will be carried out to evaluate the antioxidant profiles of the extracts. Finally, the proposed project will demonstrate the use of the extracts in red meat products (pork and beef) and evaluate how these extracts can positively influence the shelf life and sensory properties of such products.

Mots clés : deep eutectic solvents, sustainability, bioactive molecules, food chemistry

Participants :
- Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (Rép. Tchèque) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 132260.71 €