Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-actions-marie-curie-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet MSOPGDM (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The constant biological arms race between prokaryotic organisms and invading mobile genetic elements has resulted in the evolution of sophisticated genome defense mechanisms. The genes encoding for immunity commonly reside in genomic clusters known as defense islands that are in the vicinity of other host-defense loci. Recent studies of defense islands have uncovered ten novel host defense mechanisms whose molecular mechanisms remain elusive at present. The proposed project aims to provide a mechanistic basis for genetic immunity in two novel host defense systems: Druantia and Shedu. These systems contain genes encoding nucleases, ATPases and helicases, which strongly suggests that they provide immunity by directly targeting invading nucleic acids. To unravel the molecular mechanisms that underpin immunity in these systems, I will apply a highly interdisciplinary approach by using biochemical and state-of-the-art structural biology techniques, including high-throughput X-ray crystallography, cryo-EM and crosslink-coupled mass spectrometry. Understanding these mechanisms will provide fundamentally new insights into prokaryotic biology and the evolution of host-virus defense systems. Furthermore, these studies might uncover novel molecular activities that may be exploited for use as genetic engineering tools.

Mots clés : prokaryotes, structural biology, biochemistry, genome editing, genome defense

Participants :
- University of Zurich (Suisse) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 191149.44 €
Projet TEMPEA (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The constructed materiality of African urbanism can be seen in buildings and the urban layout, especially when they aspire to permanence by building in stone. These built environments have mostly been analysed through the rather static lens of individual periods and social forces, resulting in uniformly interpreted organic growth (for pre-colonial periods), or as in stages of progress towards the fulfilment of a grand master plan (predominantly in the colonial and post-colonial era). This project seeks to explore the social temporality of African urbanism against the context of its material complements from the perspectives of a range of social and human sciences, in order to obtain a dynamic picture from before to after the colonial era. I aim to provide analyses relevant to the ever more pressing issues of urban ethnic/social coexistence and the implications of urban development. I would like to extend my research on material expression and change in urban Swahili archaeology, and incorporate aspects of sociology (living in neighbourhoods in densely populated environments), history (representations and accounts of past experience) and social anthropology (the meanings of space). I will study the spatial materiality of African cities, as it is demonstrated in their layout and in the organisation of buildings, looking at how these urban patterns are produced, used and continually altered, and how a 'building heritage' emerges from these. My aim is to derive how this influences the social life of inhabitants and visitors, and how it in turn induces ongoing processes of change in material representations. First phase of the project is to be undertaken at the Centre of African Studies, University of Basel, Switzerland, which can provide me with excellent support in African social studies. In the 2nd phase at Uppsala University, Sweden, under the supervision of Professor Paul Lane, I will focus on the implications for the Swahili coast and African archaeology.

Mots clés : urbanism, africa, networks, structure, built environment, material culture

Participants :
- Uppsala University (Suède) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 233111.6 €
- University of Basel (Suisse) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet Pre-COSH (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The construction industry (CI) across the EU has a depressing record of fatal and non-fatal accidents. Researchers have reported that reductions of 42-60% in construction accidents are achievable through better design decisions and coordination at pre-construction phase. EU Directive 1992/57/EEC is aimed at improving the management of occupational safety and health (OSH) risks in the CI. It therefore prioritises coordination during the pre-construction phase by requiring national laws to mandate the appointment of a Pre-Construction Phase Coordinator (PCPC). Statistics on UK accidents have sparked debate as to the efficacy of the transposition of the Directive into national law, particularly the provisions on the PCPC, referred to in the current legislation as the Principal Designer. This challenge has resonance across the entire EU. The proposed action is aimed at developing knowledge and understanding of roles and practices in the management of OSH risks at the pre-construction phase towards the ultimate research output in the form of an advanced pre-construction OSH risk management simulator. These outputs will deliver improvements in OSH which, even at 1%, could mean 3706 fewer accidents, equivalent to €43M annual savings. The research will adopt a mixed methodology involving document analysis, focus groups and case studies to determine practice and industry opinion on identified issues. Research informants will comprise experienced construction professionals and expert OSH practitioners. The action will provide knowledge-exchange opportunities between industry and academia, and stimulate practitioner debate on current OSH policy, leading to changes in professional practice and better training of professionals. The Fellow will be the nexus of these exchanges and will thus receive excellent research training that will equip him with knowledge and expertise to become an advocate for better OSH risk management in the CI.

Mots clés : construction, occupational safety and health, risk management, health and safety coordination, principal designer

Participants :
- University of Wolverhampton (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 224933.76 €
Projet FundaMentalHM (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The contribution of mental disorders to the Global Burden of Diseases (GBD) Study is now well recognized – mental disorders account for 6.8% of the total burden worldwide. Because the GBD’s health metric Disability-Adjusted Life Year (DALY) combines the impact of both morbidity (Years Lived with Disability; YLDs) and mortality (Years of Life Lost; YLLs), it has foregrounded the previously neglected contribution of mental disorders to the global disease burden. However, this health metric does not account for comorbidity adequately, which leads to an underestimation of excess morbidity and mortality associated with mental disorders. This bias has serious implications for service planning and resource allocation. The focus of FundaMentalHM is to use aggregated data from the GBD Study and register-based individual-level data from the whole Danish population to fill the existing methodological gaps, by developing and applying new methodologies in order to better estimate the burden of mental disorders. FundaMentalHM will (i) provide the most comprehensive detailed analysis of comorbidity between mental disorders and other general medical conditions, (ii) advance the area of science related to health metrics by incorporating dependent (instead of independent) comorbidity to the estimates, and (iii) use innovative methods to better estimate the excess mortality associated with mental disorders. In accomplishing FundaMentalHM’s objectives, I will provide a more accurate, unbiased view of the true burden – including true number of deaths – associated with mental disorders. These estimates are essential in order to guide the WHO Mental Health Action Plan 2013-2020 and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In addition, I expect that the suite of methods developed as part of FundaMentalHM project can be applied to a wide range of other disorders.

Mots clés : psychiatry, comorbidity, burden of disease, health metrics, disability adjusted life year  daly, years of life lost  yll, years lived with disability  yld, excess mortality

Participants :
- University of Queensland (Australie) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Aarhus University (Danemark) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 247260.96 €
Projet MECoCaM (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The contribution of the gut microbial ecosystem to colorectal cancer (CRC) is not well understood. Inflammatory processes and unbalance cell proliferation in the host could be behind observed correlations between a microbe and cancer stages. However, the enrichment of a microbe at a tumour site does not directly assume causation. Rather, this could be the result of a reverse causation or a confounding third factor. Therefore, two major challenges unravelling CRC aetiology are (i) to identify the mechanistic interactions of microbial communities with host intestinal epithelium cells, and (ii) to assign causality to carcinogenesis. These are the aims of this project integrating different “omic” data, and using a Mendelian randomization (MR) approach. In this study we analyse microbiome sequencing data, from up to 500 normal colon mucosa biopsies, to provide a comprehensive description of the gut microbiome. Additionally, we integrate transcriptomic data from these well phenotyped 500 samples to understand the interaction between microbes and the gut epithelial cells. Finally, using the germ-line genetic variation of host cells as a third “omic” layer, the correlations between microbes and (i) environmental exposures, (ii) gene expression, and (iii) CRC can be validated by MR. MR is an analytical approach whereby germ-line genetic markers are used as proxies – or instrumental variables – for putative risk factors. These genetic markers cannot be influenced by reverse causation, and, assuming an absence of pleiotropy, can provide unconfounded estimates of association. Therefore, a MR association between genetic proxies and the outcome of interest would indicate that the exposure being proxied is associated in a causal manner. The identification of the functional relevance and key mediators of gut microbiome to colorectal cancer development is going to increase the development of therapeutic approaches and prevention strategies.

Mots clés : colorectal cancer, mendelian randomization, gut microbiome sequencing, gene expression analysis, enviromental life style factors

Participants :
- Institut d'Investigació Biomédica de Bellvitge (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 158121.6 €
Projet MRTGS (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The control of tissue size and morphology is a fundamental problem that is remarkably ill understood. Although extensive research has focussed on the genetic and biochemical control of tissue growth, significantly less attention has been paid to the mechanical aspect of growth regulation, even though ample evidence indicates that any deformation or shape change is, to some degree, a result of force acting on a mass. Unravelling the basis of the mechanical-biochemical co-regulation in tissue growth control will not only increase our understanding of organismal development but also potentially represent a novel therapeutic target in growth-related diseases such as cancer. With this in mind, I aim to address two central questions: 1) How do mechanical stresses generated by growing tissues impact signalling networks to modulate tissue growth and morphology? 2) What is the function of in situ mechanical force on normal tissue growth and 3D architecture? Using the Drosophila wing disc as the model tissue, I will employ a combinatorial biophysical, molecular, genetic and computational modelling approach to address the proposed questions. With a novel tissue stretching and compression device, I will initially identify key signalling events mediating the growth responses downstream of mechanical force. In parallel, by individually altering the genetic or the mechanical properties of the system, I will address co-regulation between mechanics and tissue growth. My research will lay the foundations for our understanding of tissue growth control by mechanical forces - a finding that may ultimately help to design novel treatment strategies for cancer. The classical approach to restrain cell growth involves targeting of the underlying genetic defect; however it might be more advantageous to apply physical therapy instead in situations where biochemical treatments do not suffice.

Mots clés : tissue mechanics, mechanical feedback, growth, 3d morphology, cell division, in silico modelling

Participants :
- University of London (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 195454.8 €
Projet ECOFISH (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Staff Exchanges
Panel : Economic Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The conversion of conventional aquaculture farms in sustainable aquaculture farms help aquaculture businesses to achieve economic viability and competitiveness. Sustainable aquaculture is undoubtedly the management technique that has most contributed to support aquaculture businesses to adopt aqua-environmental measures for protection of the environment, natural resources and landscape. Aquaponics is known as a sustainable production system for plants and fish that combines traditional aquaculture (aquatic livestock), such as fish, crayfish and shrimp with the hydroponics (growing plants in water) in a symbiotic environment. The Aquaponics is a production system where the waste is utilized as nutrients is a system sustainable for the environment, where high-value products on the market are obtained because they are grown with organic nutrients and free of chemicals or pesticides. By this research project, we aim at to improving onboard waste management and reduce the amount of waste disposed of inappropriately. In order to achieve this goal, we have the following objectives: to integrate aquaculture production system with agricultural production system (aquaponics) and to reconcile and achieve social, economic and environmental objectives with processing and marketing action to add more value to end aquaponics products. The project will develop concepts for the next generation of aquaculture production systems which can be used for multiple purposes, including aquaculture, agriculture and social farming. The project originality comes through its multidisciplinary character in the sense that it combines a research team specialized in various fields, whose experience will result in a production platform product, including all necessary technical indicators for developing and interpretation socio-economic of the results obtained.

Mots clés : aquaculture, sustainable, fish farms, aquaponic system, natural resources

Participants :
- Agricultural Research Center (Égypte) — Partner, organization partner, Recherche, subvention : 0.0 €
- University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Bucharest (Roumanie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 247500.0 €
- Cornell University (Etats-Unis) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Kafrelsheikh University (Égypte) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (Espagne) — Partner, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 117000.0 €
- "Dunarea de Jos" University of Galati (Roumanie) — Partner, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 216000.0 €
Projet REDFAR (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The core question of the project Religious and Ethnic Diversity in the Far Right (REDFAR) is: what role play ethnic and religious minorities (ERMs) in the far right? Contemporary far-right nationalist movements across western Europe style themselves as defenders of a white Christian Europe, agitating against ERMs and rejecting ethnic and religious diversity. Yet, in recent years an increasing number of male and female ERM public intellectuals and activists have gained visibility in these movements. Looking at Germany, France, the UK and Norway, REDFAR proposes an interdisciplinary, multi-method and multi-sited comparative approach to understand the presence of ERM actors in a movement that strives for cultural homogeneity. The overarching assumption is that through its contradictory claiming of both, a secular and a Christian Europe the far right provides space for ERMs who, in turn, legitimise the far right’s politics of racial and religious exclusion. REDFAR’s multidisciplinary theoretical approach at the crossroads of political anthropology, the history of political and religious ideas and the study of far-right ideology is complemented by a multilevel methodological approach: (1) The comparative analysis of different national contexts with (2) the discourse analysis of the online and offline publications of leading non-white and non-Christian far right intellectuals and (3) the ethnographic study of local far right activism. REDFAR will provide a timely contribution to the debates on the political implications of increasing religious and ethnic diversity of western European societies and the transformations of far-right nationalist movements it entails. It will shed new light on the interdependence of religion, race and gender in far-right ideology. Its results will provide insights for practitioners confronting far right populism, extremism and radicalism and working for more inclusive European societies.

Mots clés : far right, social movements, immigration, refugee crisis, islam, political conflict, protest, whiteness, political ideologies, ethnic and religious minorities, islamophobia, race, europe

Participants :
- University of Oslo (Norvège) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 202158.72 €
Projet GENEVACRISIS (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted our ways of living across the globe. This research project will use social science and humanities approaches to analyse the enabling role of the coronavirus crisis in the development and (potential) deployment of emerging genetic vaccine technology, and associated transformations in social values and scientific research practices. Although traditional routes are being utilised to develop vaccine candidates, the pandemic has thrown open doors for the introduction of the state of the art genetic vaccines as an emergency response, e.g. Moderna Inc.’s vaccine candidate ‘mRNA-1273’. The underlying mRNA technology presents a completely new yet unproven therapeutic modality, which scientists believe has the potential to disrupt the drug development domain. In practice, only a few gene therapy approaches have received drug approval, and these are mainly aimed at treating rare hereditary conditions. In contrast, genetic vaccines would potentially be administered to the general population, both healthy and affected. They would hence normalise the mRNA medicine platforms. However, the state of the art mRNA therapeutics in general and genetic vaccine technology in particular is yet to undergo serious scrutiny and analysis from a social science perspective, a gap and original research problem that this project aims to address. The project will examine narratives around the Covid-19 pandemic, and through interviews and focus group discussions with scientists, policymakers, and science communicators will explore its enabling role in the introduction of genetic vaccine technology. Furthermore, it will analyse the ways in which these developments might shift social values and research practices. The research outcomes will provide key insights to policymakers for the governance of DNA and mRNA therapeutics platforms, and enhance social science understanding of how narratives of crisis co-shape our response to emerging science and technology.

Mots clés : science and technology studies  sts, new and emerging science and technology, medical sociology, sociology of science, science policy, sociology of the life sciences

Participants :
- University of Edinburgh (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 224933.76 €
Projet FOWLING (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The coupling of electromagnetic radiation (photons) to mechanical waves (phonons) is at the heart of solid-state quantum photonics while phonon transport at different frequencies governs crucial physical phenomena ranging from thermal conductivity to the sensitivity of nano-electromechanical resonators. To engineer and control the overlap of light management with the mechanical vibrations of matter efficiently, we make use of very precisely fabricated nanometer-scale devices. The standard way of achieving this control is to use engineered defects in periodic structures - optomechanical crystals - where the electromagnetic field and the mechanical displacement can be confined simultaneously thus enhancing their interaction. However, despite its extraordinary potential, cavity optomechanics is suffering from the limitations induced by the experimental setup commonly used to address the mechanical modes, namely the difficulty to use integrable structures. During this project, we will explore novel designs for optomechanical nanostructures and we will develop experimental methods to address the phononic and photonic modes of nanoscale objects from free-space, and thus get rid of the limitations imposed by fibres, which will in turn enable the incorporation of optically active materials in mechanical resonators. In particular, we will make use of embedded quantum light emnitters excited above-band optically. This will allow us to explore light-matter interaction in this novel platform ad get direct access to the photonic modes of the system. By exploring the frequency modulation of these photonic modes induced by optomechanical coupling, we expect to also have access to the confined mechanical vibrations of the structure. The investigation of these systems will have an important impact on quantum information and thermal transport as well as highly sensitive force, mass and displacement detection.

Mots clés : optomechanics, light matter interaction, lasing

Participants :
- Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 160932.48 €