Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-actions-marie-curie-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet MITO (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Hypertension is an extreme public health problem affecting nearly one third of the World’s adult population. Most cardiovascular diseases are provoked by hypertension resulting in an estimated 9.4 million deaths every year. Surprisingly, the diagnosis of hypertension has changed very little over the past 100 years - just using a stethoscope definitely needs refining. Furthermore, the epidemic proportion of hypertension worldwide pinpoints the necessity for the discovery of fresh antihypertensive therapies. Thus the main objective of the MITO project is to discover novel methods to improve healthcare of hypertension patients. For this we will investigate the circulating pool of microRNAs (small RNA molecules present in the blood, regulating gene expression) - we hypothesize that particularly mitochondrial microRNAs play a critical role in hypertension development. Easily obtainable in the blood, microRNAs constitute an accessible source of biomarkers and therapeutic targets for clinical application. The research plan envisages three scientific work packages dedicated (1) to the discovery of candidate microRNAs associated with hypertension by using small RNA sequencing in 30 hypertensive patients and 30 controls, (2) the validation of candidate microRNAs in a group of 540 participants (paying attention to sex specificities), and (3) to the functional assessment of the role of microRNAs in hypertension development. While the first two parts of the project will be conducted at the host institution in Luxembourg, functional studies will involve three secondments to partner institutions in Denmark, Germany, and France. A successful outcome will have implications ranging from contributing to satisfy the need for novel methods to stop the progression of hypertension, to a better understanding of the role of microRNAs in hypertension development, to the training of a young East European researcher to pioneer development in a research field just emerging in her home country.

Mots clés : personalized medicine, translational research, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, biomarker, microrna, mitochondria

Participants :
- Luxembourg Institute of Health (Luxembourg) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 178320.0 €
Projet HyHeat (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Hyperthermia (HT) is currently used as a non-invasive technique for cancer therapy, whereby biological tissues are exposed to higher than normal temperatures, for selective ablation of tumoral cells. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the in vivo cellular responses to heat stress remain unclear to date. The overall aim of the HyHeat project is to use an invertebrate model to screen the heating capabilities of different gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) in vivo, with the grand aim of understanding the cellular responses to heat stress and therefore taking the first steps towards improving nanoparticle (NP) mediated HT efficacy for therapeutic purposes. To this end, plasmonic AuNPs with photothermal capabilities will be surface engineered and supplied to living Hydra by soaking. Upon laser irradiation of the animal, cellular and molecular expression will be profiled to monitor the overall response to NP-mediated HT. A simple invertebrate organism will be used, in line with European strategies aimed to reduce vertebrate experimentation. Once a panel of upregulated genes have been identified, the research will be conducted in mice analyzing those genes found deregulated in Hydra with the final aim to identify genetic markers of HT treatment and speed up the entry of this therapy into clinics. HyHeat is a multidisciplinary project that take advantage of the Fellow´s Dr. Maria Moros knowledge in the synthesis and functionalization of NPs, and the expertise of the host group supervisor (Dr. C. Tortiglione, Instituto di Cibernetica “Eduardo Caianiello” (ICIB), National Research Council (CNR), Italy) in molecular biology using invertebrate models. This project will offer the applicant the possibility to work in a top European institution who pioneered the use of Hydra to test bioactivity and toxicity of NPs, and to develop new skills and knowledge necessary for the progress of her scientific career towards an independent position.

Mots clés : gold nanoparticles, hydra vulgaris, nanoparticle mediated hyperthermia, gene expression profile, mice

Participants :
- National Research Council (Italie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 180277.2 €
Projet El_CapiTun (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

I am a French citizen with international training in Soft Matter, a growing field that combines Physics, Chemistry and Mechanics. My publications include high-impact factors journals and attract media attention. I am applying to MSCA fellowships to work with Prof. Gallaire and his group at EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland. This project aims at implementing elastocapillary interactions in confined channels, and from this new knowledge build a groundbreaking functionalized microfluidic element. Microfluidics is the science of manipulating fluids in channels with dimensions of microns. This opportunity towards miniaturisation of biological and chemical analysis devices is quickly growing into a complex network, as did the integrated circuits industry during its infancy. While microfluidics devices become more intricate, new basic components are paradoxically lacking, due to the challenges of fluid flows at the microscale. The proposed research will address this gap by adding a degree of complexity to the current state of the art. I will study experimentally, theoretically and numerically the complex flow response of a channel enhanced with in-drop storage of thin fibres, developed during my PhD. By grafting a microchannel with fibers that can be reeled into droplets, I will build a self-tunable system that adapts to incoming flow conditions and can be controlled by local chemistry. My double expertise in fluid and solid mechanics, combined with the host's knowledge in microfluidics, is a unique configuration towards successful project completion. The experience gained during the fellowship will establish me as a leader in the field of Soft Matter, and prepare me for the role of permanent academic and group leader. By this ambitious and multidisciplinary project, I will further build my reputation as a mature and original researcher, and will foster intra-european scientific exchange and innovation through the current academic and industrial collaborations of Prof. Gallaire.

Mots clés : soft matter, elastocapillarity, fluid structure interactions, microfluidics, functionalisation, self tuning

Participants :
- Board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology (Suisse) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 175419.6 €
Projet iNtoPoreAge (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

I am a stem cell biologist specialized on modeling human neurodegenerative diseases. During my PhD with Dr. O. Brüstle (University of Bonn), I was trained in human stem cell and reprogramming technologies working on human models for Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). As a postdoc at the Salk Institute with Dr. F. H. Gage, I acquired and strong foundation in functional neuroscience, nuclear pore biology and systems biology/bioinformatics. My work helped to better understand complex neuropsychiatric disorders, as well as the process of neuronal aging. I could show that direct conversion of human fibroblasts into induced neurons (iN) preserves signatures of cell aging, while iPSC reprogramming erases them. To start my own independent lab, I have accepted a tenure track position at the University of Innsbruck. As an independent scientist, I seek to bring together my recent findings on reprogramming and aging, my permanent interest in AD, and powerful systems biology and bioinformatics to unravel the age-dependent disease-initiating mechanisms of sporadic AD. In this proposal, I, together with my supervisor Prof. Dr. Frank Edenhofer, designed a dedicated research and training plan. In the first aim of the project, I will generate phenotypically old (iN) and rejuvenated (iPSC) neurons from an established set of well-characterized AD patients and controls. Using unbiased transcriptome approaches, the data will help to better understand the impact of neuronal aging on sporadic AD pathogenesis. In a second aim, I will use live-cell imaging approaches to study the age-related dysregulation of nucleo-cytoplasmic transport. The goal is to better understand how cellular aging affects pathogenesis, in order to pinpoint the earliest and potentially most treatable mechanisms involved in AD. This award will enable my research in Innsbruck and give me protected time to successfully complete the proposed research, which is vital for establishing myself as an independent researcher in Europe.

Mots clés : nuclear pore, disease modeling, aging

Participants :
- Universität Innsbruck (Autriche) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 178156.8 €
Projet netdis (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

I am an expert researcher on the religious and medical history of sixteenth-century Italy. Applying for a GF, supervised by professors Findlen - at Stanford - and Barbierato - at the Univr-, I will examine and interpret the link between sixteenth-century heretical thought and the rise of modern science, exploring the local, national and trans-national levels of this connection. NETDIS will use digital humanities tools to reveal the network of Italian physicians who developed non-conformist religious views. By exploring the nature, extent and function of the ties among physicians, NETDIS will inquire into the genesis of freedom of thought - which stands today at the core of European identity - as an embryonic value shared by most physicians in response to the spread of intolerance in the confessional age. This will have a positive insights for several ongoing difficulties facing the EU, such as the revival of religious violence (i.e. terrorism). Working on NETDIS I will learn innovative methodologies; I will gain new perspectives for an international career; I will write my first monograph.

Mots clés : history of ideas, history of the reformation, history of medicine, early modern history, history of sixteenth century italy

Participants :
- University of Verona (Italie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 164203.8 €
- Stanford University (Etats-Unis) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
Projet VisualGrasping (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

I ask how vision guides grasping, and conversely, how learning to grasp objects constrains visual processing. Grasping an object feels effortless, yet the computations underlying grasp planning are nontrivial and there is an extensive literature describing the multifaceted features of visually guided grasping. I aim to bind this fragmented body of knowledge into a unified framework for understanding how humans visually select grasps. To do so I will use motion-tracking hardware (already in place at the University of Giessen) to measure and model human grasping patterns to 3D objects. I will rely on Dr. Fleming’s unique expertise with physical simulation to simulate human grasping with objects varying in shape and material. Joining behavioral measurements with computer simulations will provide a powerful data- and theory-driven approach to fully map out the space of human grasping behavior. The complementary goal of this proposal is to understand how grasping constrains visual processing of object shape and material. I plan to tackle this goal by building a computational model of visual processing for grasp planning. Both Dr. Fleming and I have previous experience with computational modelling of visual function. I will exploit powerful machine learning techniques to infer what kinds of visual representations are necessary for grasp planning. I will train Deep Neural Nets (for which the hardware and software is already in place and in use by the Fleming lab) using extensive physics simulations. Dissecting the learned network architecture and comparing the network’s performance to human behavior will tell us what information about shapes, material, and objects the human visual system encodes to plan motor actions. In short, with this research I aim to determine how processing within the human visual system is shaped by and guides hand motor action.

Mots clés : visual perception, visual representations of shape and material, perception and action, grasping, deep learning

Participants :
- University of Giessen (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 159460.8 €
Projet GALSIZE (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

I propose the project Galaxy Sizes as Tracers of Dark Matter (GALSIZE) to be supervised by Prof. Courteau at Queen’s University in Kingston (Canada, Third Country for the outgoing phase) and by Prof. Knapen at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC, Tenerife, Spain, beneficiary institution and host for the incoming phase). The main scientific goals are to (S01) establish a new paradigm of galaxy data-model comparisons, developing a definitive theory of disk formation based on galaxy sizes; (S02) characterize the nature of, and coupling between, dark and luminous matter in galaxies, with the aid of scaling relations, mass tracers, and numerical simulations; and (S03) expand model inferences into the uncharted realm of low-mass galaxies. These objectives will be tackled by assembling the largest and most complete catalogue of spatially resolved structural and dynamical properties (WP2) of galaxies to characterize in a novel way their luminous and dark components (WP3). Queen's University is a world-leading institution for the study of dark matter. The Queen’s Astrophysics Group includes many experts in the observational and numerical characterization of luminous and dark matter in galaxies. The Queen’s Astroparticle group, led by 2015 Physics Nobel Laureate Prof. Art McDonald, is also at the forefront of experimental cold dark matter detections. The return phase institution, the IAC, hosts world experts in both the empirical analysis and numerical modelling of galaxies. It provides access to supercomputers and world-class telescopes (best optical/near-IR observatory in Europe). Through this MSCA-IF-GF, my training in Canada would capitalize upon my past experiences (former MSCA ESR in DAGAL ITN) by coupling photometric and spectroscopic properties of unprecedentedly large sets of galaxies and simulations to constrain in a novel way models of galaxy formation. Dissemination of the knowledge acquired in Canada would greatly complement related European efforts.

Mots clés : galaxies  formation, galaxies  sizes, galaxies  dynamics, galaxies  scaling relations, galaxies  dark matter, galaxies  photometry, galaxies  spectroscopy, galaxies  statistics

Participants :
- Queen's University (Canada) — Partner, organization partner, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 0.0 €
- Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 250497.6 €
Projet MASSS (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

I propose to perform the coherent manipulation of the spin of a single superconducting quasiparticle. To achieve this challenging goal I will fabricate a Josephson weak-link coupling two superconducting electrodes through the two-dimensional electron gas of an AlSb/InAs/AlSb quantum well. The weak-link configuration allows to single out one superconducting quasiparticle, by trapping it in a low-energy discrete state (an Andreev bound state) completely disconnected from the continuum of excitations above the gap. The energy of this state depends on the superconducting phase difference across the link. It can be tuned by placing the weak-link in a superconducting loop threaded by a magnetic flux. The combination of a finite superconducting phase difference and the strong spin-orbit coupling energy in InAs lifts the degeneracy of the two spin states of the quasiparticle, which can therefore be addressed. In order to manipulate and probe the quantum state of the spin of the trapped quasiparticle I will couple this hybrid structure to the electromagnetic field of a microwave resonator in a circuit quantum electrodynamics (cQED) architecture. This project opens a new research path in the field of superconducting spintronics and leads to the exploration of new topological phases in multi-terminal devices.

Mots clés : mesoscopic superconductivity, quantum transport, proximity effect, andreev reflection, sns junctions

Participants :
- Centre national de la recherche scientifique (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 173076.0 €
Projet ThermOutOfEq (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

I propose to study phases of matter that emerge in quantum systems far away from equilibrium. This is a very challenging and urgent problem as the recent experimental advances in cold atoms, trapped ions and solid-state physics in general, put us in front of possibilities that we never had in the past. The degree of control that we have nowadays on single atoms, the temperatures we are able to reach and the capability to keep an exact quantum evolution for long times, are only some of the several advances with the potential to disclose new physical phenomena with huge impact on society in the next years. Experiments and industry are moving fast towards building new devices, but most of the theoretical understanding still needs to be developed. The idea of this proposal is to consider systems where the number of particles is very large so that after a transient time, they can equilibrate and many observable quantities become time-independent. In this situation, universality can emerge and we can start to develop new general principles that can be applied in different situations. As for macroscopic systems at equilibrium, we do not need to follow the time evolution of each particle but only the laws of thermodynamics, is it possible to deduce out-of-equilibrium laws that describe complex quantum matter? I will focus on problems of transport and on polarization properties of magnetic materials, where the theory of conduction has an experimental counterpart and can rapidly lead to groundbreaking technological developments. These problems have a wide range of applications: from the next steps in the realization of a quantum computer, up to increasing the sensibility of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, with impact on medical research and cancer diagnostics.

Mots clés : out of equilibrium, cold atoms, quantum computation, transport, disorder

Participants :
- University of Oxford (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 195454.8 €
Projet URBACH-ALZ (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

I propose to test how hyper-anxiety in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients is caused by neurodegeneration in the amygdala, our "center of fear", by comparing with a unique group of Urbach Wiethe disease (UWD) patients with bilateral neurodegeneration of the amygdala (BLA) for which I also construct an animal model. UWD is caused by a very rare genetic mutation occurring in only a handful of individuals worldwide. My host in Lausanne has gained access, however, to a uniquely large group of UWD patients in South-Africa (>40) where the mutation has spread for 400 years in Dutch settlers. Our collaborators at Cape Town University have found, in anatomical & functional MRI and special behavioral tests, how specific loss of inhibitory projections from the basolateral (BLA) onto the central part of the amygdala (CeA) causes hyper-anxiety in UWD. Based upon recently reported BLA neurodegeneration in AD patients, I hypothesize a crucial BLA role in hyper-anxiety of AD patients. I plan to test this in AD patients with clinical collaborators in Lausanne and, to test this hypothesis causally, I have started to opto,- anc chemogenetically decrease BLA function in an animal model. In addition, in Lausanne a stronger hyper-anxiety was observed in AD patients with insecurely attached personality profiles. As my host lab has established an inhibitory role of oxytocin (OT) in the CeA, I hypothesize a decreased OT signaling in CeA of these patients, adding to the anxiety already caused by the BLA loss. I plan to test this both in AD and UWD patients by correlating attachment profiles with OT levels (in blood & cerebrospinal fluid) and anxiety levels & BLA damage (MRI). I will use opto&chemogenetic targeting of OT signaling in animals for a causal relation. This multidisciplinary and translational approach can give a deeper understanding of the role of the amygdala in hyper-anxiety in human patients, and provide a firm neurobiological basis for applying OT to treat anxiety disorders.

Mots clés : alzheimer s disease, urbach wiethe disease, basolateral amygdala, central amygdala, fear, anxiety, oxytocin

Participants :
- University Hospital of Lausanne (Suisse) — Partner, beneficiary, Organismes publics (hors enseignement & recherche), subvention : 131564.7 €
- Italian Institute of Technology (Italie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 42069.3 €