Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-actions-marie-curie-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet BATX-SIA (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Bats and their ectoparasites can be linked to various zoonotic diseases, including viruses and bacteria such as Bartonella spp., posing considerable health risks. However, the role of natural antibodies (NAbs) induced by gut bacteria (glycan-immunogenic bacteria: gIB) remains unexplored. Although various NAbs have been identified across different species with known roles in defending against several vector-borne pathogens (VBPs), their ability to alter vector microbiota, modulate the vector's immune response, and impact pathogen transmission is uncharted territory. Additionally, modulating the vector microbiome could influence the vector's immune system by activating signalling pathways. In this project, I’ll test the hypothesis that glycan-specific NAbs (gsNAbs), triggered by bacteria in the bat gut microbiome, can trigger immune activation in both the host and the vector (cross-species immune activation X-SIA), potentially reducing the fitness of vector-borne pathogens (VBPs) in the vector, with a focus on Bartonella spp. Leveraging data from field studies, along with profiles of gsNAbs from bats and the microbiomes of both the host and ticks, I’ll perform a comprehensive data analysis to identify which bacteria from the host microbiome trigger the production of gsNAbs that modulate vector microbiota and affect VBPs fitness. Additionally, through experimental protocols on ticks, I aim to reveal how gsNAbs produced by gIB of the host can trigger X-SIA and identify genes that modulate the immune response in relation to pathogen fitness. This project goes beyond the current state-of-the-art by providing novel insights into how NAbs triggered by the gIB from the bat gut microbiome, modulate the vector microbiome and the vector’s immune response influencing pathogen fitness. By advancing our understanding of X-SIA and the impact on VBPs, we contribute to global and European public health priorities, biodiversity conservation, and disease prevention.

Mots clés : bats, gut microbiome, natural antibodies, ticks, bartonella, data analysis

Participants :
- Institut national de recherche pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 211977.99 €
- Université de Thessalie (Grèce) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet 2D-MBL-QPsyst (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2022)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Systems that fail to thermalize over a long period of time are essential for both practical applications and fundamental science. For the former, such systems can serve as stable platforms for many future technologies that operate at the quantum level, such as information storage and quantum computing devices. For the latter, such systems can host exotic quantum phases of matter by suppressing thermal excitations that tend to destroy the order. One of the most famous classes of systems that resist thermalization is the class of many-body localized (MBL) systems. Until now, it has been confirmed both experimentally and theoretically that the MBL can exist in isolated one-dimensional systems, either random or quasiperiodic ones. In higher dimensions, the fate of MBL is still unclear. A famous avalanche theory predicts the instability of the MBL phase in higher dimensional random systems due to the rare regions of weak disorder. However, quasiperiodic systems do not contain rare regions, which might stabilize the higher-dimensional MBL. The main objective of this proposal is to investigate MBL in two-dimensional quasiperiodic systems. The goal is to show whether MBL in quasiperiodic systems can survive in dimensions higher than one. With a novel numerical approach, which will allow me to study the dynamics of large systems (~100 sites) and reach long times (several hundred hopping times), combined with analytical calculations, I plan to investigate the microscopic mechanisms behind the stability/instability of the MBL phase in two-dimensional quasiperiodic models. My research will (i) provide an insight into the interplay between interactions and quasiperiodicity in two dimensions, (ii) produce a new interesting range of localization phenomena, and (iii) present a highly tunable and experimentally accessible setting where slow dynamics and localization can be studied, and possibly exploited for technological applications.

Mots clés : many body localization, quasiperiodic systems, two dimensional systems

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

The PLURIBO research project aims to address the pressing issue of the linguistic integration of migrant children in Italian schools. Although national and European policies promote integration and plurilingualism, their practical application often lacks clear guidelines and resources, especially in linguistically diverse classrooms. In response, two main scenarios emerge. Firstly, interpreting services in schools can facilitate communication between children, teachers and parents who speak different languages. Second, in the absence of formal support, plurilingual bottom-up practices such as child language brokering and the use of lingua francas naturally emerge to fill policy gaps. Yet, scant research has been devoted to understanding interpreting services in educational settings and plurilingual bottom-up practices, which remain invisible at the policy level despite their covert diffusion. PLURIBO aims to fill these gaps through four main objectives: 1) reviewing current policies on plurilingualism and the integration of migrant pupils and identifying European policies that have not yet been implemented in Italy; 2) investigating the use of interpreting services in schools, which are crucial but under-researched resources for migrant students; 3) exploring plurilingual bottom-up practices, such as peer translation, child language brokering and code-switching, which help to bridge communication gaps but lack formal recognition and support; and 4) co-developing practical recommendations with educators. The project uses a mixed-methods approach, including sociolinguistics, multimodal ethnomethodology and conversation analysis, and participatory action research. PLURIBO aims to deepen understanding of interpreting services and plurilingual bottom-up practices in educational contexts, influence policy, and improve educational outcomes for migrant children by promoting inclusivity and valuing linguistic diversity.

Mots clés : linguistic ethnography, participatory action research, co creation, language policy and planning, plurilingual bottom up practices, translation and interpreting studies

Participants :
- Université de Bologne (Italie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 412700.52 €
- University of California System (Etats-Unis) — Partner, associated partner, Organismes publics (hors enseignement & recherche), subvention : 0.0 €
- Université de Bâle (Suisse) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet EnDorSE (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2021)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The EU is a world leader in the generation of marine energy, with a capacity of 27.9MW for tidal energy and 12MW for wave energy installed in Europe since 2010 and an increasing horizon with up to 100MW as capacity for ocean energy for 2025. The structures aimed at generating this energy are subject to extreme operational and environmental conditions in the ocean; hence their monitoring maintenance strategies are very challenging. This typically requires structures that can be easily accessed by trained operators. However, such a technology increases costs not only of design and construction, but also maintenance. Autonomous structural health monitoring (SHM) systems constitute a viable option that can effectively substitute the dangerous presence of operators in routinary inspections. These systems will reduce monitoring costs while increasing maintenance accuracy and safety levels which will make the ocean energy production cheaper and more reliable. Various SHM modalities can be adopted to monitor marine structures. Ultrasonic guided-waves (UGW) stand out for their ability to detect and characterise damage signatures in complex structures. Nonetheless, the consideration of the added complexities of the extreme offshore environment is a fundamental problem that impedes the implementation of this technology on marine structures and hence it remains unsolved. EnDorSE will bring together a Fellow being expert in damage identification and a host institution carrying leading academic know-how in UGW interaction modelling in order to develop the next generation of robust and fast SHM systems for the detection and identification of damage in the ever-growing marine energy sector. The placement of the Fellow to Stratosphere will guarantee the practical implementation of the theoretical developments of EnDorSE in real marine energy structures. EnDorSE will enable cheaper and more reliable renewable energy for consumers and render Europe a pole of predictive maintenance.

Mots clés : ultrasonic guided waves structural health monitoring damage detection damage characterisation marine energy extreme environmental conditions complex structures bayesian inverse problem

Participants :
- Stratosphere sa (Portugal) — Partner, associated partner, Organismes privés (hors enseignement), subvention : 0.0 €
- KU Leuven (Belgique) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 239700.0 €
- Université de Thessalie (Grèce) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet KinCond (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Protein phosphorylation, mediated by kinases, plays a pivotal role in cellular regulation, with kinase dysregulation strongly associated with diseases like cancer, inflammation, and neurodegenerative disorders. Alzheimer's disease (AD) represents a significant global health challenge as the population ages at an accelerating pace. A key pathological feature of AD is the accumulation of hyperphosphorylated Tau, which disrupts normal neuronal function. Emerging evidence suggests that Tau undergoes liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS), potentially linking AD and biomolecular condensation. Moreover, recent findings propose that LLPS intricately manages kinase signalling, creating condensed-phase structures (biomolecular condensates) that serve as recognizable sites for kinases. However, molecular mechanisms governing kinase behaviour within condensates are poorly understood. The central hypothesis of KinCond project is that the conformational landscape of protein kinases undergoes significant remodelling within biomolecular condensates, controlling substrate selectivity and specificity. This project focuses on the microtubule affinity-regulating kinase MARK2, a central player in the abnormal phosphorylation of Tau. KinCond is meticulously structured into three work packages: (1) investigating the specificity and reaction kinetics of MARK2 within Tau condensates, (2) deciphering the conformational landscape of MARK2 through advanced nuclear magnetic resonance methods and molecular dynamics simulations and (3) analyse the effect of biomolecular condensation on the conformational landscape of MARK2. The outcomes of KinCond are expected to provide crucial insights into the behaviour of protein kinases within biomolecular condensates, shedding much-needed light on the mechanisms of Tau phosphorylation in AD. Furthermore, the atomic-detail information obtained has the potential to open new avenues for the development of enhanced drugs targeting protein kinases.

Mots clés : tau, alzheimer s disease, phosphorylation, biomolecular condensates, protein dynamics

Participants :
- German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 173847.36 €
Projet PRUNE (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Recent evidence gathered in the Bienko Lab indicates that, in addition to DNA, many nuclear proteins including several transcription factors implicated in cell fate determination are non-randomly radially distributed in the nucleus of mammalian cells. This fascinating observation led me to hypothesize that there exist a broad set of nuclear proteins that are arranged along radial gradients in the nucleus, acting as readers of the radial genome architecture. Within this MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship, I aim at tackling this exciting hypothesis by addressing the following fundamental questions: (i) How are nuclear proteins radially arranged in the nucleus of cells undergoing differentiation towards opposing lineages? (ii) What drives and maintains different radial patterns of proteins in the nucleus? (iii) Is the radial arrangement of proteins in the nucleus functionally relevant? To address these central questions I will first develop an innovative tool to map the spatial arrangement of nuclear proteins radially. I will then apply the newly developed method to chart the radial nuclear proteome in human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) undergoing differentiation towards different lineages. Finally I will explore the functional implications of the radial organization of nuclear proteins by attempting to rewire nuclear radiality and assessing the effects on gene expression and cell identity. This clearly interdisciplinary project aims at finding an explanation in the spatial organization of the genome and the nuclear proteome to a key question arising from cell and developmental biology: how lineage-specific gene expression programs are set up? With this ambitious proposal I will dive into the exciting field of 3D genome organization while addressing a completely new hypothesis and potentially making ground-breaking discoveries.

Mots clés : 3d genome chromatin gene expression nuclear radial organization lineage specification

Participants :
- Human Technopole (Italie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 172750.08 €
Projet AIrbrush (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

This project engages with the proliferation of abusive and biased stereotypes from colonial and humanitarian photography through generative AI technology, and investigates their consequences for science and society. This is a pressing issue: AI simultaneously absorbs and learns from real images, which, in the case of global health, have been marked by racism, coloniality and sexism, meaning that given images become a cluster for generative AI to learn from biased depictions and perpetuate negative stereotypes. Such cycles have to be studied and eliminated in order to move toward more equal postcolonial societies and promote a culture of value-sensitive depictions of vulnerable people. The project builds and greatly expands on the emerging methodology of purposeful generation and value-sensitive evaluation of AI-generated Global Health visuals, recently pioneered by Prof. Koen Peeters (the supervisor) and Dr. Alenichev, and encapsulated in a Lancet Global Health Article in August 2023. Offering a first-ever systematic study of AI-generated Global Heath visuals, AIrbrush sets five core objectives and asks: How should the international community account for generative AI as part of the internationally set goal of decolonizing Global Health and its visual culture, and tackle biased depictions of race, class, gender, and other socially enacted markers of similarity and difference? AIrbrush answers this question by analysing the substrate of the real global health images AI learns from, evaluates the learning progress and the reproduction and modification of such tropes by AI, theorizes this relationship and outlines societal outcomes with regard to the future of respectful depictions in the AI era. The findings from this study will be encapsulated as academic articles, a thematic webinar, a collaboration with the WHO AI and Ethics research group, and an art exhibition at ITM (the host) and in other places, among other outputs.

Mots clés : decolonisation, stigma, stereotypes, value sensitive evaluation, global health

Participants :
- Institut de médecine tropicale (Belgique) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 191760.0 €
Projet METEOR study (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2021)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

I became fascinated by pathogen-host interactions at the end of my PhD, working with Hepatitis C virus, and later in my first postdoctoral phase working with Influenza A and SARS-2 viruses, when I learned the OMIC technologies power. Finally, I found out about the world of microbiota-associated interactions and how Dr. Serrano’s studies unveiled these complex networks with a clinical perspective. Most microbiota studies are based on the description of the different bacterial species profiles. How-ever, the interactions between the byproducts derived from cells and bacteria can affect reciprocally to host and microbial metabolism, modifying the outcome of the disease. With my expertise on experi-mental settings, Dr Serrano’s clinical-research view, and the strong collaborations with expert partners in bioinformatics and multi-omics, for my next career step I aim to develop experimental strategies to better identify new potential therapeutic agents. Specifically, to clinically exploit MIcrobiome-associated BOosters of Immune responses to infectious Diseases (MIBOIDs) that define the nature of the host-microbiota interaction I will implement a protocol based on directed culturomics, immune stimulations assays, bacterial species description and multi-omic toolbox to characterize the functional immune profiles associated with highly protective immune responses, and data mining through a mul-tiparametric bioinformatic integration approach. We aim to test several conditions such as describing gut microbiota from different compartments, microbial communities from localized disease-related tissues, and to describe the most functionally relevant. Finally, after the production and validation of the specific candidates in vitro, this project will lead to future validation in preclinical and clinical studies to get specific MIBOIDs to be exploited as therapeutic agents aimed at improving disease-specific immune responses, prevention and cure for several diseases.

Mots clés : hiv immunopathogenesis microbiota inflammation multi omics bioinformatics pathogen host interactions culturomics

Participants :
- Université d'Oslo (Norvège) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Mikrobiomik healthcare company (Espagne) — Partner, associated partner, Organismes privés (hors enseignement), subvention : 0.0 €
- Instituto Ramón y Cajal de Investigación Sanitaria (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Autres, subvention : 192865.12 €
Projet SHIFT-GEN (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

SHIFT-GEN investigates how narratives of climate change can affect young generations, proposing the first extensive study of young adult climate fiction (YA cli-fi) in English (2000-2023; interest age: 13-19 years). Emerging studies reveal that the chronic fear of environmental catastrophe is particularly affecting young people’s daily life. Feelings of climate anxiety and ecogrief are amplified by a sense of intergenerational injustice, with the so-called climate generation often portrayed as an innocent victim that adults are failing to protect. By adopting an ecocritical perspective, my research will examine whether YA cli-fi portrays young adults as assertive leaders and protagonists, shaping their own future. Moreover, combining recent developments in ecocriticism - namely econarratology, affective ecocriticism, and empirical ecocriticism - this project will investigate whether YA cli-fi is able to prompt the development of ecological citizenship, communicate fears and hopes about the future, and inspire creative thinking and long-term action. Given its scope and purpose, the proposed research is a timely contribution to current ecological debates and can offer significant insights on the connection between the health of people, animals, and ecosystems, engaging in a One Health approach. This three-year action will be undertaken under the supervision of Prof. R. Baccolini (UNIBO) and Prof. E. James (UIDAHO), and includes a secondment supervised by Prof. M. Caracciolo (UGENT). It will comprise a transversal training and the acquisition of transferable skills, as well as a targeted program of dissemination and communication activities. The project will also undertake citizen science research engaging with university students of the Emilia-Romagna region to explore the impact of YA cli-fi on young readers’ climate change emotions, thus employing the theoretical categories of the project to reflect on local communities and fragile landscapes.

Mots clés : climate fiction young adult fiction ecocriticism econarratology affective ecocriticism empirical ecocriticism ecology environmental humanities emotions citizen science

Participants :
- Université de Bologne (Italie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 288859.2 €
- Université d'Idaho (Etats-Unis) — Partner, associated partner, Organismes publics (hors enseignement & recherche), subvention : 0.0 €
- Université de Gand (Belgique) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €