Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-actions-marie-curie-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet BIOinFILM (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Bacterial biofilms are associated with approximately 1.7 million hospital-acquired infections annually in the United States, incurring an annual economic burden of about 11 billion dollars. The role of biofilms in antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is highly complex and may significantly drive resistance. Biofilms can act as a diffusion-limiting barrier against various antimicrobials resulting in limited drug access into the bacterial cells. The evaluation and quantification of biofilm diffusion is essential since it is a poorly researched topic, and the matrix properties are necessary to define the bacterial populations within the biofilm. In this project, an antimicrobial peptide (AMP) will be used as a model molecule because AMPs are known for their activity against biofilms and have been considered promising antibiofilm agents. The vCPP2319, a peptide developed by the Instituto de Medicina Molecular team (iMM), was chosen for the project as a diffusion model reporter. The research plan is organized into three scientific Work Packages (WP). WP1 aims at studying the fundamental properties of biofilms, whereas WP2 and WP3 aim at studies using vCPP2319 and the library of its variants, respectively, as molecular models to elucidate their diffusion-related properties in biofilms and correlate antibiofilm activity with the metabolic status of biofilm-embedded bacterial cells. The project will use two reference and two clinical strains of Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumoniae as models. These bacterial species will be selected because they are clinically relevant pathogens frequently associated with biofilm infections. Overall, the project's relevance is overcoming the gap of knowledge associated with molecular diffusion in biofilms and relating the diffusion of antimicrobials within biofilms with their activity. This will enable the future development of innovative chemotherapies to fight against biofilm-related infections.

Mots clés : bacterial biofilms, molecular diffusion, antimicrobials, peptide

Participants :
- Gulbenkian Institute for Molecular Medicine (Portugal) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 156778.56 €
- École normale supérieure de Pise (Italie) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet INFALA (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The proposed action Intersectional Faces of Labor Organization: Solidarity and Mobilizations in Logistics in Europe (INFALA) aims to systematically examine the forms of solidarity, agency and labor organization of workers from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, who have become increasingly present in European labor markets and in some countries are particularly visible in logistics. With few efforts engaging with labor on intersectional terms, and especially those from the MENA region who constitute the majority of those migrating to the EU, INFALA investigates two contrasting cases among the largest economies in Europe of Italy and Germany with three objectives in mind: 1) Develop an analytical framework to analyze intersectionality, solidarity and labor’s agency and establish the contextual foundation by mapping trajectories of MENA migration to Italy and Germany, access to labor markets, visa regimes and bilateral agreements 2) Conduct a three-layered interdisciplinary case analysis of the macro-(national) of Italy and Germany, meso-(sectoral) being logistics and micro-(worker) levels 3) Compare these two case studies based on analytical framework to derive larger insights regarding (trans)national solidarity and larger labor movement The MSCA Postdoc Fellowship would be a crucial step for my career development, allowing to build on my knowledge in political economy to dive into the broad logistics sector to investigate the processes of intersectional and transnational solidarity building that innovate on, or depart from, more traditional class-based labor organizing in Europe. It would be hosted by the Scuola Normale Superiore (SNS) in Florence, which hosts the internationally-renowned ‘Centre on Social Movement Studies’ (COSMOS), under the supervision of Professor Guglielmo Meardi, who has a long-standing expertise in comparative research on industrial relations, labor migration and labor movements.

Mots clés : intersectionality, industrial relations, political economy, sociology of work, solidarity, agency, labor organization, logistics, migrants, mena

Participants :
- École normale supérieure de Pise (Italie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 172750.08 €
Projet Panta Rhei (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The formation and evolution of galaxies over cosmic time is driven by the continuous flow of gas in and out of systems, known as the "baryon cycle." Current theoretical models suggest that feedback from star formation (SF) and active galactic nuclei (AGN) leads to gas outflows, regulating SF activity and enriching galaxy metal content. This ejective feedback is believed to be particularly powerful at z=1-2, during the peak of SF and AGN activity, known as Cosmic Noon. Yet, a comprehensive understanding of gas outflows at z=1-2 remains elusive. The PantaRhei project hosted at SNS seeks to fully characterise the galaxy baryon cycle at Cosmic Noon using a unique approach: (i) build the largest, high-resolution (R>3000), optical-restframe spectroscopic sample to date by combining new data from Subaru/FMOS (with exclusive access) and public archival data from VLT/KMOS, totallin ~7600 galaxies at z=1-2; (ii) gather direct evidence of ionised gas outflows through the study of emission lines, employing stacking and modelling techniques that I have pioneered during the past years; (iii) explore archaeological evidence of multiphase gas outflows using the footprints left in the chemical enrichment of gas and stars; and (iv) build mock optical-restframe spectra from zoom-in simulations using the theoretical prescriptions developed in the Host Institute. This approach will allow quantifying the impact of ionised gas outflows on the overall gas phase and determine whether these outflows are transient or enduring features in galaxy life cycles. Comparing these observational findings with predictions from cosmological hydrodynamical simulations of galaxy formation will provide crucial constraints for refining numerical models of SF and AGN feedback. This project promises to advance our understanding of galaxy formation and guide the planning of future surveys using instruments like JWST/NIRspec, VLT/MOONS, VISTA/4MOST, and ELT.

Mots clés : gas outflows, gas phase metallicity, stellar metallicity

Participants :
- École normale supérieure de Pise (Italie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 172750.08 €
Projet Si-ORHIGENS (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2021)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Silicon (Si) is a major nutrient in the global ocean, required for growth by a variety of distantly related organisms, including microalgae, sponges and rhizarians. Silicifying Rhizaria were among the first protists to inhabit the ocean and, together with sponges, dominated the biogenic silica production during the Cambrian era. These organisms became an important, though poorly understood, component of marine ecosystems. In the contemporary ocean, diatoms are thought to dominate the planktonic realm and to be the main contributor to the Si cycle. However, my recent work has revealed that Rhizaria have unexpectedly high individual Si production rates and biogenic silica content, suggesting that their contribution to marine Si and carbon cycles may have been underestimated. This project aims to elucidate the process of silicification in Rhizaria and determine sources of variability in silicic acid uptake of these protists, through three tailored work packages (WPs). The first WP, consists of the analyse of transcriptomic data at a global scale as well as individual transcriptomes of isolated Rhizaria to assess the diversity of Si transporters. Thereafter, the examination of silica deposition, using a fluorescence compound, in a broad range of Rhizaria and varying ambient silicic acid concentrations. The final WP, will be the quantification of gene expression during silicification processes using primers designed within WP1. This highly interdisciplinary project combines bioinformatics, molecular biology and physiology, leading to a more unified approach to plankton research. The outcomes of this project will improve our general understanding of Si transport in Rhizaria as well as our understanding of the biogeochemical cycling of Si in the ocean. This work will also constitute a major advance in my career, as I acquire skills in new research methods beyond my current capacity, and build a unique skillset that will set me ahead of the current rhizarian research scope.

Mots clés : marine silicon cycle, rhizaria, silicification

Participants :
- Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (Etats-Unis) — Partner, associated partner, Recherche, subvention : 0.0 €
- Sorbonne Université (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 300441.6 €
Projet DISKORDIA (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2021)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Interactions between marine bacteria and phytoplankton are increasingly recognized as a fundamental shaping force of microbial taxonomic and functional diversity and activity. Algicidal bacteria, found in several marine taxa, possess the ability to induce cellular lysis in marine phytoplankton. Research on cultured strains shows a variety of algicidal properties on distinct phytoplankton host spectra among different bacterial taxa. These observations hint to the existence of an array of diverse but poorly characterized mechanisms implicated at various stages of bacterial-phytoplankton warfare: partner recognition, triggers of lytic activity, bacterial algicidal apparatus, and phytoplankton resistance tools. The research proposed in the DISKORDIA project – named after the Roman goddess of Strife Discordia – aims to provide a deeper understanding of the molecular aspects of the interactions between the algicidal marine bacterial genus Kordia and diatoms, a diverse and ecologically important phytoplankton group. Cutting edge techniques such as transcriptomics and untargeted metabolomics will be combined to enable naive discovery of genes and metabolites potentially involved in bacterial induction and effectors of algicidal activity, and in diatom sensitivity or resistance. In addition, genetic tools will be applied to a model Kordia strain to produce the first genetic system for algicidal bacteria in the Bacteroidetes phylum and test the role of specific bacterial genes in algal lysis. Finally, the ecological relevance of the processes identified by these methods will be explored at a global scale by bioinformatic screening of existing metagenomic and metatranscriptomic datasets from diverse marine environments. Together, these approaches will improve our understanding of the molecular strategies implicated in bacterial algicidal activity and phytoplankton response, while providing tools and a conceptual framework for future studies of microbial interactions.

Mots clés : marine bacteria, marine diatoms, marine microbial interactions, algicidal bacteria, marine microbiology, transcriptomics, metabolomics

Participants :
- Sorbonne Université (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 155099.28 €
Projet MIRROR (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Micro-behaviors are subtle, often unconscious actions, expressions, or gestures that individuals exhibit in their daily lives. They are often shown in nonverbal communication. Understanding these subtle cues and endowing future artificial intelligence agents this capability could enhance our interactions and relationships. However, current automated systems cannot recognize micro-behaviors. To this end, I will address this gap using multimodal perception and deep learning to automatically recognize micro-behaviors through nonverbal signals such as facial expressions and body language. I will focus on the development of context-aware and privacy-preserving machine learning methods that are robust towards missing data.

Mots clés : social signal processing, affective computing, multimedia, social robotics

Participants :
- Sorbonne Université (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 195914.88 €
Projet SKYFALL (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2022)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Stimuli-responsive CHiral FOldamers in solution and Light-emitting diodes” (SKYFALL) will extend the frontier of supramolecular and materials chemistry through (i) the synthesis of helical fluorescent (photo) responsive foldamers, (ii) identifying the physico-chemical parameters governing the single or multiple helical state and assessing their impact on (chir)optical properties and (iii) incorporating the most promising chiral fluorescent foldamers into CP-OLEDs. Stereogenic centres will be introduced to the foldamer backbone to control its helicity, generating a chiral environment for the fluorophores allowing for circularly polarised luminescence (CPL). Fluorophores with a broad range of emission profiles and electron donating and accepting capabilities will be grafted to the foldamer backbone through reliable Cu-Assisted alkyne-azide cycloadditions (CuAACs). A photoswitch will also be incorporated to a series of foldamers generating opportunities to control hybridisation through their response to light irradiation in addition to temperature, concentration and solvophobic effects. The hybridisation capabilities of these foldamers will be assessed and the equilibria between single- and double-stranded helices (homoduplexes) will be determined under the aforementioned parameters. Donor-acceptor interactions of the appended fluorophores will be exploited to also target heteroduplexes. Synthesising such supramolecular structures constitutes a leap forward in the field of foldamers and more generally supramolecular chemistry, providing an innovative strategy to reach CPL in the visible range. The effect of these hybridisation states on the chiroptical properties will, therefore, be studied in solution and solid-state (thin films). The foldamer hybridisation states that exhibit the greatest dissymmetry values and quantum yields in the solid-state will be incorporated into CP-OLED devices.

Mots clés : foldamers, helical chirality, photoswitch, luminescent materials, cpl, cp oleds, 

Participants :
- Université d'Angers (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 195914.88 €
Projet ENABLE (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Agricultural wastes, including manure, slurries, and crop residues, present significant environmental challenges in waste management. Improper disposal of these wastes can lead to greenhouse gas emissions, contamination of air, soil, and water, and public health risks, such as the spread of zoonotic pathogens and antimicrobial resistance. With 92.8 million tonnes of agricultural waste produced annually in the EU, innovative treatment solutions are crucial for sustainable management and for achieving the goals of One Health Action. Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a promising technology that converts organic waste into biogas and helps mitigate environmental risks and present opportunities for renewable energy. However, conventional mesophilic AD systems face challenges, including incomplete degradation, volatile fatty acid accumulation, and inadequate pathogen deactivation. This project, ENABLE, aims to revolutionize the AD process. My previous studies show that ethanol promotes syntrophic methanogenesis, and conductive materials (e.g., biochar) enhance electron transfer, both accelerating AD processes. By integrating ethanol pathway with conductive materials addition, the system seeks to improve both biogas yield and pathogen deactivation. The project will explore the microbial, metabolic, and genetic mechanisms underlying these improvements. The project will employ advanced tools including meta-omics, kinetic modelling, techno-economic analysis (TEA), and life cycle assessment (LCA) to optimize the system design and assess its environmental, economic, and social impacts. This approach offers a novel solution for agricultural waste management by reducing costs, enhancing energy recovery, and promoting public health, aligning with global sustainability goals. Collaborating with leading experts and institutions in academia and industry, this fellowship will not only advance research but also contribute to my professional development as a future leader in AD biotechnology.

Mots clés : agricultural wastes anaerobic digestion biochar direct interspecies electron transfer ethanol nexus pathogen deactivation

Participants :
- Université de Surrey (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 260347.92 €
- Université d'Aalborg (Danemark) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet HUWINUTRE (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2021)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Nutrients are interconnecting threads in the web of life and are vital currencies to most ecological interactions. Despite this, our knowledge of how they shape these interactions remains limited. For over two decades, researchers have documented the rise of agricultural practices in detriment to wildlife habitats in African savannas. These led to an unprecedented increase in the number of interactions between wildlife and local communities, with technical solutions providing limited success and nature-based options still to be adequately tested. A likely explanation is related to the complexity of the socioecological and nutritional dynamics involved. Therefore, exploring HUman-WIldlife coexistence through a NUTRitional Ecology lens (HUWINUTRE) is vital to understand whether wild mammals use human-dominated areas as nutritional subsidiaries to reach their requirements. HUWINUTRE will bring a systems approach to: 1) establish the natural and anthropogenic nutritional landscapes available to wildlife, 2) develop cutting-edge techniques for disentangling the contribution of human-derived foods to the nutritional niches of species with different degree of anthropogenic dependence, 3) explore potential reconciliation actions to improve the coexistence between heterogeneous human communities and diverse wildlife species. The training and knowledge transfer provided by the host institution to the candidate during this fellowship, will create an ideal intellectual environment for this pioneering research. The novelty of this project is the integration of behaviour, nutrition, ecology, and evolution that is pivotal to capture the essential nutritional dynamics that are critical for wildlife conservation and management at both fundamental and applied levels. The project addresses the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2030, and the UN Sustainable Development Goals of ensuring the conservation, restoration, and sustainability of terrestrial environments.

Mots clés : nutritional ecology, human wildlife coexistence

Participants :
- Université d'Angers (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 211754.88 €
Projet OPENSRUM (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2021)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

The research proposal addresses the design challenges in the power conversion and the energy storage systems in the electric aircraft used for urban air mobility (UAM). The success of UAM as an alternate transportation system is strongly dependent on designing the overall system to be safe, efficient and reliable. This proposal focuses on improving the power conversion efficiency and designing a smart wireless battery management system (BMS) with accurate battery state-of-charge (SoC) and state-of-health (SoH) estimations. Another desirable aspect in the UAM aircraft is improving the overall payload capacity, which is impacted by the weight of the batteries, interconnection wiring and power conversion efficiency. The proposal aims to improve it by increasing the voltage of the Li-ion battery packs above the current state-of-the-art, which would reduce the current rating and cable weight, while identifying a power converter topology to maximize the overall efficiency. The design optimisation will consider the impacts of higher insulation requirement with higher voltages and overall cost. The power converter topology and the accompanying filters are optimised to reduce electromagnetic interference that can affect the sensitive electronics on the aircraft. The proposal explores data-driven machine-learning based methods to improve the accuracy of the SoC and SoH estimations and reduce the gap between peak error and the root-mean-square error (RMSE). A reduction in the gap between peak and RMSE will provide a reliable upper bound unlike for the case when estimation methods show a lower RMSE but a wide variation in the peak error. The wireless BMS will provide the advantage of easier maintenance and elimination of the conventional wiring weight. This is a timely and innovative project that will help in novel technology development for UAM industry. It will help the applicant gain additional technical and managerial skills that would ensure a successful research career.

Mots clés : power conversion and storage, electric aircraft, battery management systems, machine learning algorithm applications

Participants :
- École polytechnique Chalmers (Suède) — Partner, associated partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Université d'Aalborg (Danemark) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 230774.4 €