Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-actions-marie-curie-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet PetalPure (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Peptides are emerging as next generation therapeutics with a promise of treating cancers and metabolic disorders. This is due to their high specificity, precise targeting, small size, ease of modification, and excellent biocompatibility. Despite the acceleration of peptide drug discovery with >800 drugs in clinical trials, the separation and purification processes remain a challenge, requiring sustainable downstream processing. Thus, there is a need for more efficient purification methods to keep pace with peptide-based drug advancements. PetalPure introduces an innovative crystallization-based purification process using surface-modified heteronucleants to enhance the crystallizability of challenging anti-cancer peptides. This multidisciplinary project involves developing solubility models, size-based peptide classification, heteronucleant selection and modification, crystallization process design, and experimental frameworks for broader application. PetalPure aims to provide a more affordable alternative to chromatographic separation, eliminating the need for expensive resins and reducing solvent consumption and waste, in line with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of “Responsible Consumption and Production.” Additionally, it will lower the time and cost of peptide manufacturing, facilitating wider access to affordable and effective healthcare, contributing to the SDG of “Good Health and Well-being.” Prof. Heng, with his extensive experience in biopharmaceutical manufacturing and being a leader in peptide crystallization, is an ideal supervisor for this project. Imperial, with its research excellence and experience with MSCA postdoctoral fellows, will offer a supportive environment for PetalPure. This project will play a pivotal role in making me a leading academic by allowing high-impact research, training on teaching, supervision, and other transferable skills as well as long-term collaboration opportunities with pharmaceutical industry and academics.

Mots clés : peptide crystallization, heterogenous nucleation, surface modification, thermodynamic solubility modelling

Participants :
- Imperial College London (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 260347.92 €
Projet YORES (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Resveratrol (3,4',5-trihydroxystilbene) and its derivatives (e.g., pterostilbene, piceatannol, and viniferin) are naturally occurring compounds found in plants and have various medicinal properties, including anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, anti-cancer and many other activities. Therefore, they are commercialised as components of many medicines, nutritional supplements, healthy foods, and cosmetics. However, plants typically have low concentrations of resveratrol (e.g., 5.1 μg/g in peanut and 3.9 mg/g in Rheum rhaponticum). Extracting resveratrol from plants is a traditional method with notable drawbacks, including long growth times (several years), high costs, low yields, land and labor waste, and pollution of the environment. The chemical synthesis of resveratrol involves complex steps, uses hazardous solvents, and generates toxic byproducts. Due to these reasons, biotechnological production of resveratrol by recombinant microorganisms is a promising strategy to solve the above issues. The current production of resveratrol synthesised by mono-culturing yeast remains relatively low, with productions in shake flasks being less than 1 g/L. Microbial co-culture is a cooperation strategy where microorganisms survive by feeding on the metabolic products of neighbors. This approach alleviates the significant metabolic burden associated with engineering a single strain to handle the entire biosynthetic pathway of metabolites. It promises to increase final production compared to the mono-culture. This proposed study relates to a novel approach in resveratrol biosynthesis by Y. lipolytica, which will address a critical question in today's resveratrol biosynthesis research: can the co-culture of Y. lipolytica engineered strains using lignocellulose as a sustainable carbon source significantly improve resveratrol production and promote the industrialisation of resveratrol biosynthesis in Europe?

Mots clés : synthetic biology, microbial co culture, yarrowia lipolytica, resveratrol biosynthesis, lignocellulose, in situ extraction

Participants :
- Imperial College London (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 260347.92 €
Projet PCHL (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Mathematics
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Given a geometric structure, can we find local coordinates such that the structure has a particular nice expression? That is one of the most fundamental questions for any geometric structure, that of a local normal form. In Poisson geometry, this question is directly related to the study of Lie algebras, as any Lie algebra is equivalent to a linear Poisson structure on its dual. Given a Poisson structure with a singularity, can we locally identify the Poisson structure always with its linear (first order) version around the singularity? This question was first asked by Weinstein his seminal work on Poisson manifolds in 1983. However, even for (semi)simple Lie algebras, this question has not been completely resolved, despite several results. In particular, it is not know for (semi)simple Lie algebra of real rank one with semisimple compact part. In this project we aim to resolve the problem for all remaining simple Lie algebras, taking an important step towards a complete answer. In the lowest dimensional case, that of so(3,1), an affirmative, positive answer has been provided by myself in my PhD thesis. This is the first non-compact example with a known positive answer. The general strategy is the following: 1) Show that the cohomology group controlling the deformation problem vanishes and find sufficiently nice cochain homotopies 2) Apply a Nash-Moser type inverse function theorem to establish linearization Generalizing the ideas of the proof to all simple Lie algebras will bring together techniques from foliation theory, symplectic geometry, homological algebra. Additionally it will require developing and applying new techniques in algebraic geometry, representation theory and functional analysis, specifically adapted to the Lie algebras under consideration and their stratification by (co)adjoint orbits. As such, the result will be highly influential and interesting for several areas of Mathematics.

Mots clés : poisson geometry, representation theory for simple lie algebras

Participants :
- Imperial College London (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 260347.92 €
Projet PULPCDIMP (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Nanoelectromechanical (NEMS) switches offer 10 to 100 times less power consumption than conventional transistors, but their widespread adoption is hindered by challenges related to adhesion, electrical contact resistance (ECR), and in-operando property evolution. This project aims to address these issues by developing reliable interface coatings capable of withstanding the harsh conditions of NEMS interface, such as high stresses, repetitive cycling, and Joule heating. Oxide formation on metal contacts is unavoidable, unlike tribopolymers. Though they are typically insulators, but can conduct electricity via electron dispersion and are proven effective in harsh environments. Oxides also offer advantages over metals, including high strength, low adhesion, and resistance to creep and fatigue, and can replace metal contacts completely. The proposal turns the liability into an advantage by considering oxides as a potential solution for NEMS switch interface. The project will use a materials genome search to select hard oxides with distinct conduction mechanisms—semimetals (RhO2, RuO2, TiOx), semiconductors (TiO2), and oxides with oxygen vacancies (Ta2Ox). Advanced characterization techniques such as TEM, XRD, and XPS will assess coating quality. To streamline the complex fabrication and testing process, an innovative in-situ AFM method with integrated plasma cleaning (to ensure clean environment), and controlled environment will be developed, enabling real-time monitoring of asperity interactions. This approach will directly link nano-asperity responses to actual NEMS interfaces. MD simulations will guide experiments, provide atomic-level insights, and develop semi-empirical prediction models for further development of NEMS switch architecture. This project aims to revolutionize energy-efficient computing by addressing tribo-chemo-electro-mechanics challenges at the NEMS interface, driving advancements in communication, transportation, sensing, medicine, and defense.

Mots clés : semiconductor devices, tribomechanics, electromechanics, chemomechanics, oxide coatings

Participants :
- Imperial College London (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 276187.92 €
Projet SiCyMBSIA (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

The SiCyMBSIA (Silicon Cycle in the Mediterranean and Black Seas: An isotopic approach) project will be carried out by Dr. Diksha Sharma, an experienced researcher at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in France under the supervision of Prof. Damien Cardinal. This project aims to unravel the intricate biogeochemical silicon (Si) cycling in the Mediterranean Sea (MS) and the Black Sea (BS). These two distinct marine environments offer unique opportunities for scientific exploration. The MS, with its unique oceanic characteristics, diverse ecosystems, and trophic regimes, provides an excellent opportunity for climate change research. Diatoms, an important phytoplankton group, play a crucial role in primary production and carbon export in this region. However, our understanding of their Si sources and limitations remains incomplete. By employing stable silicon isotopes (δ30Si) to analyze dissolved silicic acid and biogenic silica in the deep biogenic silica maxima and deep chlorophyll-a maxima layers, this project will quantify the role of diatoms and Si as nutrients and investigate processes governing dissolved silicic acid concentrations and biogenic silica dissolution in the intermediate and deeper layers of the MS. Along with this, understanding the seasonal pattern of exported biogenic silica from sediment traps will also be a novel aspect of this project. In contrast, the BS, characterized by its anoxic conditions and complex stratification, presents a unique challenge. This project will delve into the Si uptake by diatoms, sub-surface remineralization, and biogenic silica release through δ30Si analyses, shedding light on nutrient-driven diatom growth and biogenic silica production through hypoxic, anoxic, and H2S rich deep environments of the BS. Ultimately, this project promises to make a significant contribution to the international GEOTRACES programme and enhance our comprehension of Si cycling in these critical marine ecosystems.

Mots clés : isotope geochemistry, oceanography, silicon, diatoms, silica cycle, mediterranean sea, black sea

Participants :
- Centre national de la recherche scientifique (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 195914.88 €
Projet NC-PEPA (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Rechargeable aluminum batteries (RABs) are extremely promising due to inherent safety, high theoretical volumetric energy density (4X of Li), and low cost of Al metal (10X cheaper than Li). RABs can play a crucial role in ensuring and securing an affordable and safer EU energy supply in line with the EU Green Deal. However, the development of RABs is hindered by a lack of practical electrolytes. The current state-of-the-art (SoA) ionic-liquid electrolytes are extremely corrosive, moisture sensitive, expensive, and do not offer Al3+- cationic species. Relying on the synergy between the researcher’s background and the host's expertise, the NC-PEPA project introduces an innovative and beyond the SoA concept to develop a non-corrosive polymer electrolyte with preferential Al3+ cationic transport with high ionic conductivity. Objectives of the project address overall issues of the SoA electrolytes. This project will have a significant scientific and societal impact as NC-PEPA electrolyte promises the development of safer, affordable, and high-energy density RABs that will be pivotal to clean and green energy transition. Additionally, it contributes to the enhancement of the EU’s scientific excellence. Being the leader of the energy storage materials subgroup within the Multifunctional Nanocomposite Group at IMDEA and with a proven track of contribution in the field, Dr. Pendashteh A. is the most appropriate supervisor. The host institute (IMDEA) is also acknowledged as one of the best research institutes in Spain, with proven experience in developing materials and systems for batteries and immense experience in Marie Curie fellows hosting and project management. The project will advance the researcher’s professional development and career growth by providing multidisciplinary skills along with access to management and related training that will equip the researcher to achieve his long-term goal of establishing a research group focused on developing sustainable batteries.

Mots clés : aluminum batteries post li batteries electrolytes polymer electrolytes rechargeable batteries

Participants :
- Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 181152.96 €
Projet SOLAR-MATER (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2023)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : SIGNED

At present, temperature regulation of spaces and buildings is responsible for 31% of the global final energy consumption and 30% of the entire worldwide CO2 emissions. Although solar thermal conversion (high solar absorption) and passive radiation cooling (high solar reflection) have presented huge potential for the energy-free temperature regulation, the opposite mechanisms limit their application in one object, failing to respond to the changing climates year-round. Besides, applied onto the surface of plenty of spaces and buildings, high fire safety and sustainable processability are vitally important yet urgent to be addressed. Therefore, facing these challenges, the overarching aim of this ambitious yet achievable project (SOLAR-MATER) is to develop year-round, fire-safe, and sustainable solar management materials, via the spontaneous and energy-free switch of solar thermal conversion and passive radiation cooling based on a break-through approach, which is a creative integration of thermochromic microcapsules (TCMs), synthesis of biomass flame-retardant chain extenders, and solvent-free polymer coating technology. In details, based on microencapsulation technology and structure design, TCMs designed will optimise the solar reflectivity, solar absorptivity, and IR emissivity, by introducing B-O and Si-O bonds with high IR emissivity to high-refractive TiO2-based shell materials; fully biomass flame-retardant chain extenders and inorganic shell materials will enhance the fire safety, with the condensed flame retardancy mechanism; meanwhile, solvent-free polymer coating will impart desirable processability and further enhance the sustainability. SOLAR-MATER is a typical multidisciplinary and requires complementary expertise from the host (Polymer Chemistry, Fire Retardant Materials) and the researcher (Solar Energy, Radiation Cooling), contributing to achieving the “Sustainable Development Goals” and “European Green Deal” of EU policies.

Mots clés : flame retardant fire safety photo thermal conversion passive radiation cooling

Participants :
- Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 165312.96 €
Projet QUEENS GEM (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2022)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Nature is an indispensable source of bioactive compounds, but not necessarily an ideal provider of bulk or analogs. Total synthesis plays an important role in generating new analogs of natural molecules and as a means to reduce dependency on natural resources. The outbreak of COVID-19 and other viruses has posed a significant global threat, the urgent need arises to study and discover new antiviral. It has become imperative for researchers to develop strategic research plans in order to synthesize medicines to combat these viruses. Quartromicins are well known for their antiviral properties but barely explored due to no known synthesis to date and low isolation yield (0.36-0.06%) makes them an attractive target molecule for the total synthesis for further investigation and development to combat the viruses. With this proposal, we address the synthetic aspects of the main bioactive molecules and their analogs being considered to be repositioned for the effective treatment of viral infections. The first total synthesis of Quartromicins A1, A2, A3, D1, D2, D3 is proposed by a convergent synthetic strategy that involves the use of an enantioselective Diels-Alder reaction, the carbonyl-ene reaction mediated by organocatalyst, and the Heck dimerizing coupling reaction as the key step to the macrocyclization. The endo adduct is proposed to be readily synthesized by the enantioselective Diels-Alder reaction while the exo unit by a carbonyl-ene reaction, both mediated by the organocatalyst. The exo & endo fragments are proposed to be transformed to the corresponding exo & endo-spirotetronate fragments by simple organic transformations. Finally, the symmetrical Quartromicins A1, A3, D1 & D3 and unsymmetrical Quartromicins A2 & D2 can be synthesized by the Heck dimerizing coupling and the Heck double cross-coupling reactions respectively. The late-stage glycosylation strategy shall furnish a library of bioactive molecules essential for medicinal chemistry applications.

Mots clés : organocatalysis, enantioselective, diels alder, carbonyl ene, heck macrocyclization, cross coupling, glycosylation, spirotetronate, antiviral

Participants :
- Centre national de la recherche scientifique (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 195914.88 €
Projet MesoCroMo (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2022)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Mathematics
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Cross-diffusion aims at modelling the influence of one species on the diffusion of another one and can be seen as an extension of the standard diffusion described by the Laplacian. It finds application in several fields like physics, chemistry and biology. Of particular interest in the literature is the macroscopic cross-diffusion Shigesada–Kawasaki–Teramoto (SKT) system which is considered the prototypical model to describe the dispersive movement of cross-interacting species in population dynamics, leading to the formation of spatial patterns (front invasions, segregation effects). Despite their importance and large use in the scientific community, their derivation from a mesoscopic formulation is still missing in the literature and the admissible ranges for the relevant macroscopic coefficients that would be needed for application purposes have not been yet identified. The novel challenge of MesoCroMo is to introduce new biologically meaningful multi-species Boltzmann-type models for competitive dynamics, obtain the first derivation of the SKT system from these kinetic equations in some suitable hydrodynamic limit, from a theoretical and a numerical point of view, and provide explicit relations for the cross-diffusion and reaction coefficients in terms of the mesoscopic parameters. This will be done by redesigning well-known tools and methods from the kinetic theory of reactive gases and creating an innovative bridge between the concept of relaxation to thermodynamic equilibrium for distribution functions in kinetic theory and that of quasi steady state approximation for fast-reaction limits in dynamical systems. The action will be able to gather mathematicians from different communities, give an impulse to existing lines of research and identify new long-term directions. Combined with the experience of the supervisor, the excellent training and the rich environment provided by the host, it will enhance the researcher towards an outstanding career in academia.

Mots clés : kinetic theory, mesoscopic modelling, hydrodynamic limits, asymptotic preserving schemes, fast reaction, cross diffusion, population dynamics, skt system

Participants :
- Université de Parme (Italie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 172750.08 €
Projet Clean-Water (Horizon Europe, appel à projets 2024)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Heavy metal (HM) pollution is one of the most serious environmental problems undermining global sustainability. Presence of HM in water further contaminates soil, enters food cycle, and finally accumulates in brains, kidneys, livers, and stomach, undermining human health. There is a market gap in low-cost on-line HM sensor, and this is needed to measure HM in-situ on-demand to reduce, mitigate or control environment contamination. Hence, an innovative solution is required to exploit the advantages of optical fibre sensors (OFS), in developing a compact, cost effective, fast, robust, and portable sensor for the accurate detection of several HM ions, simultaneously. In this project, besides the key focus of training the Researcher, the innovative potential of multiplexing OFS will be additionally combined with an enhanced light-matter interaction in tapered nano optical fibre (NOF) to increase its sensitivity and thus create a new generation of OFS to detect multiple HM ions simultaneously. Subsequently, wavelength selective grating will be inscribed on the NFBG along with Au film coated to enhance sensitivity. Additionally, graphene oxide (GO), and ion imprinted polymer-chitosan (IIP-CS) will be coated, which will not only improve the selectivity, but the added polymer will also strengthen the NFBG. In this project, the Researcher will numerically optimize the structural parameters and study the effect of fabrication tolerances of the OFS by using the finite element method. Subsequently, optimised OFS will be fabricated by a using laser induced grating fabrication technique and the Au/GO/(Pb2+, Cu2+, and Cr2+)/IP-CS will be coated on 3 concatenated sections of the NFBG surface by using dip coating method for simultaneous detection of Pb, Cu and Cr. The project aims to exploit multiplexing capability of OFS, which will use only a single interrogator and thus produce a cost-effective, sensitive, fast and on-line HM ions to provide safe water and safer environment.

Mots clés : ion imprinting, heavy metals, optical fiber sensors, environmental contamination, plasmonics, graphene

Participants :
- City University (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 276187.92 €