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

Since the first observation of a gaseous Bose Einstein condensate , ultracold atoms have provided a unique perspective into the quantum world. In a few seconds a piece of hot metal is transformed into an extremely dilute, nanokelvin gas, which is governed by quantum statistics - a new state of matter. Quantum gases are so versatile that with the same apparatus one can, for example, explore superfluidity and ultracold chemical reactions, or even search for changes in fundamental constants . A new frontier of physics, with multidisciplinary appeal, explores topological states of matter, such as the ones predicted to emerge when quantum gases are immersed in a synthetic gauge field. This fellowship will give me the opportunity to work in establishing ultracold strontium (Sr) as a powerful experimental platform to shed light on outstanding problems of magnetism of quantum matter in periodic potentials. Our work will potentially impact other disciplines such as condensed matter and optics. Our specific research goals during this action are: 1. Demonstration of the paradigmatic Kondo lattice model (KLM) in an ultracold gas. 2. Creation of synthetic gauge fields with an alkaline earth element using an optical flux lattice. 3. Observation of synthetic gauge fields in a 4-dimensional lattice of SU(N)-symmetric strontium. This proposal is only possible and realistic since the host group of F. Schreck - the first group in the world to make a Sr BEC and the only one in Europe with such expertise - has a fully operational apparatus which produces quantum degenerate gases of strontium. This fellowship stay will be mutually beneficial: the host group will benefit from the researcher's experience with artificial gauge fields, and at the same time the fellow will receive world-class training and benefit from the international collaborations of F. Schreck.

Mots clés : fermi quantum gases, ultracold atoms, artificial gauge fields, strontium, optical lattices, kondo, hall effect, spin interactions, bose einstein condensates, quantum simulation, magnetism

Participants :
- University of Amsterdam (Pays-Bas) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 177598.8 €
Projet DualNRSQNM (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Since their advent, holographic dualities have been a major focus of theoretical physics research. These dualities are maps between field theories in d dimensions, and gravities in d+1 dimensions. In these maps, any physical quantity in the field theory has a dual in the gravitational theory, and vice versa. "Dual" means that a calculation in the field theory will always give the same answer as a calculation in the gravitational theory (and vice versa). These dualities thus provide powerful access to new physical descriptions. They have been applied far beyond their original high-energy theoretical physics regimes, to subjects ranging from superconductors to heavy-ion collisions. This project will study the underpinnings of holographic dualities for applications to non-relativistic systems like superconductors. In order to put these conjectured applications on stronger footing, this project will also examine the role played by "quasinormal modes" in dualities. During her graduate work at UC Berkeley, and her postdoctoral positions at Harvard and University of Michigan, the proposed fellow has acquired ample research experience in the areas covered in this proposal, and will be able to expand on collaborations with some of the world experts in the field. The proposed host institution, the Niels Bohr Institute (NBI), provides an ideal fertile environment for developing research at the forefront of physical understanding, and particularly so for this project due to local expertise among its faculty, postdocs, students, and thriving international visitor program. During this project, the fellow will acquire further skill in the cross-disciplinary areas of the proposal, including condensed matter physics as well as mathematics. The host, fellow, and the EU as a whole will benefit from the international exchange of ideas results from the mixing of the fellow's US backbackground with the strong EU-wide connections of the host institution.

Mots clés : holography, applied holography, quasinormal modes, partition functions

Participants :
- University of Copenhagen (Danemark) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 200194.8 €
Projet NeoLaS (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Single-frequency lasers are crucial tools for a variety of applications such as atom cooling, metrology and sensing, among others. However, to date there are still uncovered wavelength domains due to technological challenges, especially in the 900-940 nm and 455-470 nm windows for applications demanding robust systems. This project mainly focuses on the investigation of novel high-power single-frequency lasers at these wavelengths, in both continuous wave and pulsed operation. The outstanding features of fibre laser technology make it the best option to surpass the power limitations of other technologies. To date multi-Watt neodymium-doped fibre lasers have only been demonstrated in a longitudinal multimode operation using resonant cavity configurations. The development of multi-Watt-level single-frequency lasers at 910-940 nm remains a challenge not yet achieved. However, in this project we propose a radical new approach which is based on novel exotic fibres doped with neodymium in a master-oscillator power amplifier configuration. Using this new approach, the applicant has already demonstrated a single-frequency fibre laser at 922 nm with 1 W output power during a post-doc position at the host centre. This preliminary results lays a solid foundation for the success of the project. The main goal of the project is to continue pushing beyond the state of the art, developing new, robust high-power lasers in the 910-940 nm wavelength range, and in the 455-470 nm window by second harmonic generation. The project aims to develop new laser systems for both advanced atomic physics and dermatological applications. This interdisciplinary project will combine the fellow’s expertise in single-frequency fibre lasers with the world-leading expertise of the host group in high-power low-noise lasers. In addition, the project will benefit from the host’s well-established partnerships with academia and industry actors at the forefront of photonics in France.

Mots clés : single frequency laser, fibre laser, high power laser, low noise laser, master oscillator power amplifier, neodymium doped fibre laser

Participants :
- Centre national de la recherche scientifique (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 173076.0 €
Projet MECHANOPROTEASES (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Single-molecule enzymology offers new possibilities to dissect catalytic reactions that were previously unapproachable using biochemistry techniques conducted in the bulk. In particular, recent discoveries conducted at the single molecule level, such as the unanticipated force-mediated protein degradation pathway in the proteasome, highlight the close relation between mechanical forces and proteolysis in vivo. While much has been discovered about protein enzymology in the recent decades, the question of how mechanical force affects enzymatic catalysis remains vastly elusive. The main goal of this proposal is to understand the mechanobiology of proteolysis at the single molecule level. We will use the newly developed force-clamp spectroscopy technique, together with molecular biology engineering techniques and bioinformatics structural analysis to elucidate the molecular mechanisms that underlie protease catalysis under mechanical force. Successful enzymatic activity relies on the enzyme:substrate (E:S) assembly. Upon mechanical unfolding, proteins unveil their buried substrate sites, also called cryptic sites, thus favoring the formation of the E:S complex and ultimately permitting the subsequent chemical reaction. A key feature of recent mechano-chemistry experiments at the single bond level is that the rate at which the reduction of a protein disulfide bond occurs in the presence of a nucleophile is exponentially dependent on the stretching force. Hence, it is tempting to speculate that, in the case of an enzymatic reaction, the catalytic rate will be also force-dependent. We anticipate that the curved geometry of the bound substrate inhibits the E:S assembly at high-forces, implying a novel mechano-specificity character of proteases. Within a multidisciplinary approach, here we propose a series of innovative experiments to directly probe the effect of force on the kinetics of protease hydrolysis.

Mots clés : single molecule force spectroscopy, proteases

Participants :
- University of London (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 195454.8 €
Projet CitySleep (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Sleep is an adaptive state of inactivity, which plays critical functions including replenishing energy and neurological recovery. Artificial light at night (ALAN) is ubiquitous in the urbanizing world, and has the potential to substantially alter sleep patterns. Our understanding of how ALAN affects sleep in wild animals is seriously limited, because past studies have relied on behavioural metrics of sleep, which cannot distinguish different types of sleep (rapid eye movement (REM) versus slow wave sleep (SWS)), or accurately quantify sleep intensity (amount of slow waves within SWS). In this study (CitySleep), the Experienced Researcher (ER) will use state-of-the-art neurologgers to obtain electroencephalogram (EEG) data on sleep in wild great tits (Parus major) exposed to ALAN. She will obtain data from free-living nestlings and from adults in semi-natural aviaries. Great tits sleep in nest boxes that can be experimentally exposed to ALAN, and have served as a model species in behavioural sleep studies. The ER will work with the University of Antwerp’s Behavioural Ecology and Ecophysiology (BECO) Group, which has developed methods to manipulate ALAN inside boxes, and has high-quality publications on how ALAN affects sleep behaviour. She will receive expert training on implanting neurologgers from Prof. A. Vyssotski (University of Zurich), and training on interpreting EEG data from Dr. N. Rattenborg’s Avian Sleep Research Group (Max Planck Institute). She will contribute expert knowledge of urban ecology, stress physiology and bird handling, and introduce neurologgers to the BECO Group, facilitating a major advance in research methodology. Results will be disseminated through top-tier publications, international conferences and public engagement, and used to advance scientific knowledge and motivate environmental policy changes. The ER will gain skills that will propel her research to a higher level and allow her to secure a permanent research position.

Mots clés : artificial light at night, sleep, electrocephalogram, corticosterone, oxidative stress, great tit

Participants :
- University of Antwerp (Belgique) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 160800.0 €
Projet AGOras (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Small RNAs (sRNA) have emerged as major players in a multitude of pathways, controlling development and preserving genome integrity in plant and animals. To fulfill their biological function, sRNA are loaded into ARGONAUTE (AGO) proteins, together this AGO/sRNA complex recognizes and regulates the target genes. Depending on the organism and the sRNA pathway involved, AGOs have nuclear and/or the cytoplasmic localization and functions. Although globally AGO mediated processes are reasonably understood, the transport routes involved, their shuttling regulation and transient subcellular roles remain completely unknown. This proposal outlines a series of mutually reinforcing experiments to mechanistically study the transport routes and subcellular roles of AGO-sRNA complexes. In details, combining cell biology, RNA biochemistry, protein modeling, bioinformatics, deep-sequencing analyses, nuclear fractionation methods and single-molecule studies the proposed project aims to: 1) Identify key subcellular localization signals of AGO proteins; 2) Decipher AGO shuttling mechanism and their regulation; and 3) Dissect cytoplasmic and nuclear roles of AGO proteins on RNA pathways. The anticipated results will provide a crucial breakthrough in the eukaryotic RNA pathways and gene regulation fields. The interest in non-coding RNA action goes beyond mere mechanistic knowledge. Understanding non-coding RNA action is of paramount importance given the extraordinary potential held by the therapeutic, veterinary and agronomic exploitation of these molecules. As a result, the knowledge on the transport routes and subcellular roles of AGO-sRNA complexes obtained during the proposed project will provide an important contribution to European excellence and competitiveness in the field.

Mots clés : argonaute proteins, non coding rna, nucleo cytoplasmic shuttling, arabidopsis thaliana, caenobrditis elegans

Participants :
- CERCA Institution (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 160932.48 €
Projet STEMCo (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Stances Toward Education in Multilingual Contexts (STEMCo) transforms findings from ethnographic engagement with multilingual school communities into research-driven and policy-informed teacher-education materials. Ten months of ethnographic and participatory action research in middle schools—one in Bolzano, a historically multilingual context, and the other in Verona, a newly multilingual context—will support data-driven teacher reflection on classroom practices (WP1). These data are then analyzed in light of communicative repertoires, multilingualism, pedagogy, and language ideologies and findings are disseminated to academic stakeholders (WP2). These findings are then exploited for the professional development of teachers throughout Europe via a sustainable, Open Access online course (WP3). The overall aim of STEMCo is to develop data-driven and research-based approaches, and associated training materials, for accommodating community multilingualism and individual plurilingualism in school communities throughout Europe. The objectives of WP3 will be bolstered by a secondment at the Italian National Institute for Documentation, Innovation, and Educational Research (INDIRE), a short visit to the New York Initiative for Emergent Bilinguals (CUNY-NYSIEB), and another to the European Centre for Modern Languages. My collaboration with Eurac’s Institute of Applied Linguistics, and my supervisors Lorenzo Zanasi and Andrea Abel, will augment my interdisciplinary training with methods and theories in applied linguistics, sociolinguistics, language pedagogy, and Italian education policies, as well as professional skills related to project management, data management and analysis, and community engagement. This project will help me reach professional maturity by growing my interdisciplinary experience, international networks, and intersectoral collaborations in order to gain a tenure-track position oriented to teacher-education and community multilingualism.

Mots clés : anthropology of education, linguistic ethnography, participatory action research

Participants :
- European Academy of Bolzano (Italie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 275209.92 €
Projet SaRNAReg (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Staphylococcus aureus is an opportunistic human pathogen responsible for severe nosocomial and community acquired infections. S. aureus has evolved a large number of strategies to regulate the synthesis of multiple virulence factors including the use of small regulatory RNAs (sRNAs). These sRNAs in combination with transcriptional regulators adapt cell growth in response to various stresses and environmental conditions. Hence, the identification of sRNAs regulatory networks is of crucial importance in the fight against emerging multidrug resistant strains. Using recent and innovative technologies (i.e. MS2-affinity purification coupled with RNA sequencing and ribosome profiling), we will investigate biological roles of sRNAs, elucidate their targetomes, and their mechanisms of action that was not possible to obtain with classical genetic and biochemical approaches. This project is aimed to draw comprehensive sRNA regulatory networks, which may contain many new targets regulated by unexpected mechanisms and unravel the deepest mysteries in sRNA field in this major opportunistic pathogen. Finally, sRNA-mediated regulation dynamics will be analyzed with unprecedented scrutiny in single-cell studies. The recent development of techniques to visualize RNA and to monitor gene expression in individual bacterium, offer the possibility to address specific questions related to the dynamics of sRNA regulation. Proposed single cell studies will be crucial to investigate the dynamics of sRNAs-dependent regulation, but also to monitor its impact on a monoclonal population behavior in response to a particular stress. Such analysis will open long term perspectives such as to monitor the influence of the microbiome on S. aureus physiology. It should also pave the way to the identification of novel targets for drug design and to the development of novel antimicrobial compounds. New findings will be commercially exploited through patenting and licensing before publications.

Mots clés : staphylococcus aureus regulatory rnas, regulary networks dynamics, single cell responses

Participants :
- Centre national de la recherche scientifique (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 174751.97 €
Projet Magik Star (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Star formation is a fundamental process in astrophysics, which has been studied for decades. As of now, most of our knowledge is concentrated on the formation of stars of a few solar masses. If galaxies' total stellar mass is dominated by low-mass stars, their energy budget is exclusively controlled by the enormous luminosity and powerful feedback of massive stars (M > 8 Msun). Despite their importance, the mechanisms leading to the formation of high-mass stars remain a mystery in many aspects. From the theoretical point of view, low-mass star formation models are not directly transposable as they do not provide accretion rates in line with what is necessary for high-mass star formation. From the observational point of view, until the recent rise of large interferometers, little was known about the formation of massive stars due to their scarcity, and remoteness. Through my work with interferometers, I have proved that very dynamical processes (colliding flows) are at play in high-mass star-forming regions (HMSFR). On the other hand, recent studies have shown that magnetic fields are a key factor in the regulation of star-formation. I am convinced that the dynamical features observed in HMSFR coupled with the action of the magnetic fields could explain for the formation of high-mass stars. For this two-year project, I plan on studying the coupling of gas dynamics with magnetic fields. For this purpose, I present an innovative project that will study this coupling simultaneously from observational and numerical inquiries. I will use today's best instrument in radio-astronomy, ALMA, to trace both the kinematics of gas and the magnetic field morphology. This observational part relies on data that I have already acquired. For the numerical part, I will participate in the development of dedicated magneto-hydro-dynamical simulations together with P. Hennebelle to understand the physical processes that underlie the observational features.

Mots clés : magnetic fields, star formqtion, massive stars, disk and ouflow interaction, accretion and ejection in young stellar system

Participants :
- Commissariat à l’énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 184707.84 €
Projet Starflict (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Economic Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Start-ups are Europe’s 2020 Priorities for strengthening economic growth. However, about 50% of new European businesses fail during their first five years, conflicts between founders and effects of work stress being two of the top reasons for failure. However, conflicts and stress in start-ups, as well as factors for their entrepreneurial success are under-studied. The aim of STARFLICT is to elaborate a typology of conflicts in start-ups, develop an assessment tool for conflicts in start-ups, identify the early indicators of start-ups’ entrepreneurial success in terms of individual- and group-level coping, and offer practical guidelines for start-ups on how to effectively deal with conflicts and stress using individual and group-level coping strategies. This will allow to take preventive actions to avoid destructive spirals of conflicts and stress that lead to start-up’s failure, ensuring start-up’s entrepreneurial success and their founders’ WB, while increasing start-ups’ success rate. The objectives of STARFLICT will be achieved using new and powerful techniques for data collection (IT-supported diary, actigraphy) and cutting-edge data analysis methods (Latent Growth Curve Modeling, Multilevel Structural Equation Modeling) that allow for obtaining fine-grained high quality (hard) data and modeling dynamics. STARFLICT’s objectives are relevant to the work program because they are innovative, interdisciplinary, address a timely issue of start-ups’ entrepreneurial success, and considerate the gender issues. STARFLICT’s plan of work includes bi-directional transfer between myself and KU Leuven. KU Leuven will provide me with resources, specific training in advanced methodology, and with an excellent stimulating scientific environment. STARFLICT will clearly enhance my future career prospects and allow me undertake higher risk research in the future that, in turn, will have an impact on the European science-based knowledge.

Mots clés : conflict, occupational stress, coping, well being, start ups, latent growth curve modeling, multilevel analysis, longitudinal study, diary

Participants :
- KU Leuven (Belgique) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 160800.0 €