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

The depleting reserves of precious metals within the Earth’s crust has made their replacement with more abundant first-row transition metals of paramount importance. Pincer-ligated cobalt complexes have shown a unique ability to recapitulate the reactivity of commonly employed iridium catalysts for arene C–H borylation but, notably, with complementary ortho-to-fluorine site selectivity. However, the lower activity and functional group tolerance of cobalt catalysts has precluded their use in more demanding late-stage applications, depriving chemists of the possibility to selectively functionalize fluoroarenes within complex molecules. “CobaltLSF” aims to unlock the full potential of Co-catalyzed arene C–H functionalization with the use of a novel carbene-containing NCN-pincer ligand that is designed to promote metal-ligand cooperation to address three main challenges: (1) chemoselectivity, by facilitating key steps such as C–H bond cleavage and bond-forming reductive elimination, improving the efficiency of desired catalytic processes over competing side-reactions; (2) site selectivity, through ligand-assisted C–H activation which is predicted to result in a rapidly reversible process that would reinforce ortho-to-fluorine selectivity; (3) direct C–H alkylation using olefin coupling partners, with the aim of expanding the bond-forming capabilities of cobalt catalysis beyond C–H borylation in the context of a green, waste-free method for installing alkyl chains. Alongside the development of (NCN)Co catalysts, their application to the late-stage functionalization (LSF) of fluoroarene-containing drugs will be examined and their chemo- and site selectivity benchmarked against known LSF methods, providing useful comparative data for end-users, such as medicinal chemists. Overall, the successful realization of the proposal is expected to have far-reaching implications for the use of carbene-containing pincer ligands in C–H functionalization with earth-abundant metals.

Mots clés : cobalt, catalysis, pincer, c h functionalization, borylation, alkylation, late stage

Participants :
- Max Planck Society (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 246669.12 €
- Princeton University (Etats-Unis) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet FOLDASYNBIO (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The design and precise construction of biomimetic self-assembling systems in aqueous solution is a challenging yet potentially highly rewarding endeavor, contributing to the development of new biomaterials, catalysts, drug-delivery systems and tools for the manipulation of biological processes. A high level of sophistication with control over morphologies and functions has been achieved by engineering self-assembling peptide-based building units. Although peptides possess a number of specific advantages including synthetic availability, modularity, one difficulty resides in precisely controlling the rules relating primary sequence and secondary structure. Alternatively, opportunities exist to develop bottom-up approaches using non-natural oligomers also referred to as foldamers, with predictable and well-defined folding patterns. Advances in foldamer chemistry bode well for their use as building units for the precise construction of nanometer scale assemblies and for possible applications. This project will move a step forward towards the realization of this mission, by developing protein-like quaternary arrangements under sequence based control using amphiphilic helical foldamers in aqueous conditions. The applicant has been trained in the synthesis of folded oligoamides and more importantly has acquired a high level of expertise in the design and structural characterization of peptide-based assemblies. He will join and bring his expertise to a host laboratory in France that has pioneered the development of urea-based helical foldamers. Secondment in one established European group with prominent expertise in X-ray crystallography techniques and biological structure determination will provide the appropriate combination of knowledge required for this multidisciplinary study. This approach will be a milestone in the design of foldamer-based quaternary architectures and may lead to new functional nanostructures.

Mots clés : foldamers, nanostructures, helical bundles, peptidomimetics, self assembly

Participants :
- Université de Bordeaux (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 185076.0 €
Projet MFPFs (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : TERMINATED

The design and precise construction of protein-inspired nanostructures through folding and metal-directed self-assembly is a challenging yet potentially rewarding endeavor for the development of new classes of functional materials. Peptides have been well established as flexible starting points for the construction of bioinspired architectures with a high level of sophistication and precise control over morphologies and functions. Concurrently, the power of metal coordination to drive assembly has been extensively explored to design functionally versatile metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). Yet, the synthesis of such coordination networks by a process that would combine folding, self-assembly and metal coordination in aqueous media is still partially unaccomplished. Foldamers - artificial synthetic folded oligomers - possess the advantages of structural robustness and high programmability which bodes well for their use in the construction of well-defined higher-order nanostructures. The project will move a step forward towards the design, synthesis and structural characterization of metal-foldamer porous frameworks and will focus on foldamer sequence evolution and metal variation to influence the main features of the assembly (shape and catalytic property). The applicant has been trained in peptide synthesis and has acquired a high level of expertise in the design and structural characterization of peptide-based assemblies and advanced materials. He will join and bring his expertise to a host laboratory that has pioneered the design of oligourea-based foldamers as peptide mimics. Secondment in an internationally renowned group in the chemistry of metalloenzyme active sites and the design of bio-inspired catalysts will provide the appropriate combination of knowledge required for this multidisciplinary study. This project represents a significant leap forward in the creation of a whole new range of fully synthetic and functional higher-order foldamer nanostructures.

Mots clés : foldamer chemistry, folding, helices, protein inspired assemblies, metal coordination, hydrolytic activity, biocatalysis, host guest interactions, porous framework, self assembly

Participants :
- Université de Bordeaux (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 196707.84 €
Projet CC-LEGO (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The design of novel proteins offers unprecedented advantages for human health, such as improved vaccines, drug delivery and novel therapies (e.g. a flu inhibitor, treatment of Alzheimer’s). The state of the art of de novo self-assembling protein nanomaterials is based on the design of protein-protein interfaces. However, due to the complex interplay of numerous weak interactions at the interface the success rate of designed assemblies is currently below 10%. This proposal aims to increase the success rate of designing large protein assemblies, by using coiled-coils (CC) at the interface. CCs are some of the best understood protein motifs and can be designed with high success rates (>50%). A set of well-defined building blocks (CC-LEGOs) will be created by rigidly fusing CC bundles and natural oligomerization domains. Due to precise control of crossing angles enabled by the rigid fusion we expect that CC-LEGO structures will have the high design success rate and high solution homogeneity needed for further applications. A toolbox of CC-LEGO blocks will be designed and experimentally tested, capable of forming cages (tetrahedra, cubes, dodecahedra) as well as open 2D lattices. The experienced researcher (ER) will gain new programming and wet lab skills for protein design through performing world-class research at one of the world’s top universities in a group of a world leader in this field. The expected high impact publications and networking opportunities, coupled with the acquired soft skills in project writing, management, leadership and communication will ensure ER’s competitiveness and enable a successful start of his independent career. Another important impact of the project is the transfer the protein design know-how from the University of Washington to the Slovenian and regional research ecosystem, increasing its excellence. This will be supported by the beneficiary in Slovenia, where most of the wet-lab and computational infrastructure is already in place.

Mots clés : de novo protein design, coiled coils, protein assemblies

Participants :
- University of Washington (Etats-Unis) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- National Institute of Chemistry (Slovénie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 250774.2 €
Projet CorCir (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The developing neocortex consists of two major neuronal subtypes–pyramidal neurons and interneurons. These two subtypes come together in the cortical plate, forming cortical circuits that can integrate and respond to external and internal stimuli. Despite recent advancement in the research on cortical networks of the developing brain, the mechanism involved in cortical circuit assembly remains relatively unexplored. This project aims to identify the sequence of events and factors involved in cortical circuit assembly in the developing mouse brain. As such, this project can be broadly divided into three main parts namely lamination, synaptogenesis and maturation of the MGE interneurons specifically. Currently, the exact mechanisms that govern MGE interneurons are still unknown except that it may involve cues that are produced by the pyramidal neurons. Therefore, we aim to use existing transcriptome data of the different neuronal layers coupled with the acquisition of the early- and late- born MGE interneurons transcriptome in order to identify the receptor-ligand pair that is involved in the specific lamination of MGE interneuron. We also aim to understand the sequence of events that occur during synaptogenesis and maturation of MGE interneurons. To achieve this, we will be performing live imaging on organotypic brain slices of sparsely labeled MGE interneurons and by selectively killing specific classes of interneurons in order to determine the effect of these cells on the maturation of the parvalbumin-expressing interneuron. Altogether, this proposed project will give a better insights into the factors and mechanisms underlying cortical circuit assembly in the developing brain and will pave the way for a better understanding into the aetiology of certain neurodevelopmental disorders.

Mots clés : interneuron, cortical circuit, pyramidal neuron, lamination, synaptogenesis, neuronal maturation

Participants :
- University of London (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 183454.8 €
Projet CaLiAT (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The development and spread of antibiotic resistance in microorganisms is a major threat to both humans and animals and the search for new and improved drugs is of high importance. Natural products are experiencing a strong revival as leads in drug development, and biosynthetic engineering offers sustainable routes to new and potentially improved analogues. Finding new ways to make these rational changes should ensure that the European Research Area remains competitive in realising the potential of this technology. The aim of this project is to gain a detailed understanding of a newly-identified family of enzymes supplying unusual fatty acid building blocks for assembly-line biosynthesis of natural products; and to exploit these insights to develop more efficient strategies for targeted alteration of their structures. The novel precursor enzymes to be studied, a ligase and a biotin-dependent carboxylase, are in pathways to several polyketides produced by actinomycete bacteria. The project divides into three parts. First, additional examples of the new pathway will be sought by targetted whole-genome sequencing, as well as bio-informatic analysis of published sequence databases, and gene knockouts used to confirm the role of the pathway in providing polyketide extender units. Secondly, candidate ligases, carboxylases and the cognate acyltransferase domains that specifically recruit the unusual extender units will be studied in vitro for substrate specificity and for their ability to accept non-natural substrates bearing chemical functionality. Finally, a range of non-natural fatty acids will be fed as precursors to engineered strains designed to produce novel polyketide analogues. This approach should significantly expand the available pool of polyketide diversity. At the same time, the researcher will acquire high-level training in biochemical and chemical biology approaches that will help equip her for a leadership role in research.

Mots clés : streptomyces, natural products, polyketide synthases, extender units, acyltransferase

Participants :
- University of Cambridge (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 195454.8 €
Projet ATTO-CONTROL (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The development in recent years of ultrashort light sources in the attosecond regime has opened new avenues for the investigation of electronic and nuclear dynamics. In particular, the current development of UV-XUV or UV-X-ray pump-probe schemes with subfemtosecond temporal resolution represents a doorway to study chemical reactions in excited states of molecules in real-time, including biological reactions, such as e.g. those related to DNA damage and mutations. The aim of this project is to understand and ultimately control photochemical reactions in excited states of polyatomic molecules, especially relating to two fundamental processes in biology and chemistry: (i) cis-trans photoisomerization and (ii) the internal conversion of pi-pi*/n-pi* states in organic chromophores. Two top-notch experimental methods will be employed to achieve this goal: attosecond X-ray transient absorption (X-ATAS) at the University of California at Berkeley (United States), where the fellowship will be carried out under the supervision of Prof. S. Leone, and three-color femtosecond pump-probe velocity map imaging (fs-VMI) at Complutense University of Madrid (Spain), where the incoming phase will take place under the supervision of Prof. L. Bañares. The project is divided in three specific objectives and work-packages. Firstly, the powerful X-ATAS method will be employed to observe dynamics in real-time through individual carbon atom spectra and disentangle the dynamics underlying these processes in two polyatomic targets –nitroethylene and transbutadiene– and two bio-relevant ones –thymine and citosine. Secondly, attosecond control in real-time using X-ATAS on the pi-pi*/ n-pi* internal conversion in thymine will be performed in a pioneering experiment. Finally, effective femtosecond control with fs-VMI of these processes in nitroethylene and trans-butadiene, molecules of interest for technologies, will be performed based on the relevant results from the X-ATAS experiments.

Mots clés : attosecond chemistry, femtochemistry, photochemical dynamics, chemical control

Participants :
- University of California System (Etats-Unis) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 245732.16 €
Projet Hadza communication (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The way children learn to communicate verbally and non-verbally depends to a great extent to the culture in which they are raised. Much is known about the social environment of children living in Western societies, but much less is known about how children are socialized in hunter-gatherer societies. The proposed project aims at gaining insights into the development of communication in hunter-gatherer children. The project’s aims are • to develop a minimally intrusive assessment method that gives access to the learning process by including physiological measures. • to analyze physiological responses to infants’ verbal and non-verbal interactions with their social environment focusing on the Hadza, as a particularly interesting cultural community. • extract patterns in data from diverse sources (audio, video, observation, electrophysiological measures) with automated data mining methods. The approach is interdisciplinary, integrating methods from anthropology and ethology with modern physiological assessment methods, innovative wearable technology and data mining techniques. It is important to know more about the development of communication in Hadza infants as communication in hunter-gatherers has not been comprehensively studied and the Hadza are a community living in conditions that resemble our ancestors’ living conditions. This helps to shed light on the evolution of language in our species. As hunter-gatherer societies are increasingly threatened due to ecological, economic and political changes in their environment, it is crucial to conduct this research as soon as possible. My personal training targets are to apply my previous field work experience to a new and interesting cultural community and relate this to theories about the evolution of language, to fruitfully combine methods from different disciplines and learn how to use data mining techniques in order to analyze large amounts of data from various sources.


Participants :
- Tilburg University (Pays-Bas) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 177598.8 €
Projet R2R-3G (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The world energetic demand keeps growing especially due to the development of the emerging markets. The actual fossil fuels sources cannot assure the future energetic consumption. Studying new methodologies to exploit renewable energetic sources is therefore of utmost importance. The solar energy will have a crucial role in the energetic solution since it is the renewable source with the highest energy reaching the Earth crust. The scientific aim of this action, R2R-3G, is to increase the efficiency-cost ratio of photovoltaic technology. For this purpose, this project plans to exploit both the high efficiency of third generation (3G) solar cells, and the low cost fabrication methods based on roll-to-roll (R2R) processes. Part of the innovation of R2R-3G project lies in a methodological approach that makes compatible the flexibility of the devices required for roll-to-roll processes with the up-scaling of nanowire solar cells. The experienced researcher, Dr. Romero-Gomez, has a vast knowledge in the use of nanotechnology for modifying the solar cell architecture. The societal aim of R2R-3G is to assure the sustainability of the future energetic consumption using technologies that are respectful with the environment. The multidisciplinary perspective adopted, combining nanotechnology, material science, photonics, physics, and chemistry, ultimately aims to provide useful solutions to assure the future global energetic demand. In this way, this proposal directly addresses the challenge “Secure, Clean and Efficient Energy” in Horizon 2020 program. R2R-3G project will reinforce the European role in photovoltaic industry and decrease its excessive energetic import, which currently is more than 50% of its energy consumption making it vulnerable to external suppliers.

Mots clés : solar cells, nwsc, gaas, light trapping, monte carlo

Participants :
- Board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology (Suisse) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 187419.6 €
Projet ATOM (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Staff Exchanges
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The world is experiencing an explosion in wireless broadband usage and global wireless data traffic is expected to grow at an annual rate of 78% through 2016. Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technologies have been envisioned as a key to the successful deployment of next generation networks, which are challenged by many practical constraints, such as spectrum scarcity and dynamical wireless environments. The ATOM project will set an ambitious research agenda to fully exploit the potentials of MIMO technologies for revolutionizing wireless networks. Particularly the overall objective of ATOM is to accelerate the transfer and deployment of research knowledge between European countries and third-country partners in order to provide a framework of advanced MIMO solutions for realizing green, secure and high data throughput wireless communications. The novelty of this project is four-fold. Firstly the project brings together two advanced MIMO technologies, massive MIMO and cloud radio access networks (C-RAN), where a novel heterogeneous network architecture is proposed to boost network capacity by effectively exploiting the advantages of massive MIMO and C-RAN. Secondly a rigorous algorithm-theoretic framework for maximizing energy efficiency is developed for the proposed heterogeneous architecture, where energy harvesting is realized by applying the novel concept, simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT). Thirdly dynamic physical layer conditions in wireless environments are used to develop comprehensive security solutions for implementing keyless secure transmissions as well as key establishment, which will bridge the gap between physical layer security and the conventional cryptography. Finally we will extend the existing wireless network testbed available at the consortium and carry out experimental evaluations for closing the gap between theory and practice.

Mots clés : mimo, green communications, wireless communications

Participants :
- University of Cyprus (Chypre) — Partner, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 301500.0 €
- COMSATS University Islamabad (Pakistan) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- University of Technology Malaysia (Malaisie) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- University of Peradeniya (Sri Lanka) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Lancaster University (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 306000.0 €
- Universiti Putra Malaysia (Malaisie) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- University of York (Royaume-Uni) — Partner, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 297000.0 €