Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-actions-marie-curie-participations-et-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Projet EHMVSIMF (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

One of the most important questions in the study of galaxy evolution is the assumption that stars formed within star clusters with a preferred mass distribution (IMF) independent of time and environment. Major advances in understanding mainly the low-mass IMF variations have been made in the past decade, however, relatively a little attention has been paid to the high-mass IMF. As such some critical questions remain: Does the high-mass IMF vary as a function of time and environment? Is it appropriate to describe the high-mass IMF with a single power-law as we do now? The multi-wavelength datasets that are becoming available now can address these questions. My proposal will tackle this fundamental and long-standing issue to the limit of our current observing and theoretical capabilities. Spatial multi-wavelength data from the latest generation of surveys combined with up-to-date modeling tools and state-of-the-art hydrodynamical experiments will be used to shed light into potential variations of the IMF and their effects on galaxy evolution. The goals of the proposal are: 1. Investigate the spatial distribution and connection between star formation events within galaxies; 2. Identify reliable multi-wavelength high-mass IMF diagnostics; 3. Investigate the effects of IMF variations in moderating galaxy evolution using simulations. The proposed project is both high-impact and timely. The high quality data products need for this project are now available thanks to the latest sky surveys (e.g. GAMA) and multi-wavelength experiments (e.g. ESA's flagship mission Herschel). The timely implementation of the project will constitute to one of the most complete studies of the high-mass IMF variations over an unparalleled wavelength span using statistically significant samples. My expertise in data analysis and modeling combined with the world-leading expertise of my host, Leiden Observatory, in the same field provides exactly the right background to carry out this project.

Mots clés : stellar initial mass function, star formation rate, spectroscopy, photometry, stellar population synthesis, high resolution simulations, star formation history, star forming galaxies, ultraviolet

Participants :
- Leiden University (Pays-Bas) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 165598.8 €
Projet FindMEMO (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

One of the most intriguing complex functions of the brain is its ability to transform sensory information into distinct neural representations that can be used for perception and action. Sensory inputs mediated by visual, auditory, tactile and olfactory streams drive experience-dependent learning. In particular, to form memories of the perceived outside world, characteristic visual features of the environment need to be processed by the hippocampus, a brain region that is critical for episodic memory storage in mammals. However, it is still unclear how visual properties of different environments can drive the formation of separate memories. It has been suggested that the hippocampal dentate gyrus is required to produce distinct memories in a process termed pattern separation. In particular, newly generated granule cells, which are continuously incorporated into the existing adult neuronal network, appear to be essential for this process. To understand how visual features of similar stimuli are processed in the hippocampus to drive the formation and storage of distinct memories, I will combine novel optical methods to record the activity of newly generated and mature granule cells from the hippocampal dentate gyrus with simultaneous local field potential recordings from primary visual cortex. These experiments will be performed on head-fixed mice running in a linear virtual-reality environment while discriminating a visually-driven behavioural task, and will allow me to answer the following questions: i) How do distinct visual cues drive the formation of separate hippocampal representations? ii) In turn, how is hippocampus-dependent memory formation involved in visual experience-dependent learning? My results will provide fundamental insights into the cellular mechanisms of memory formation and will address a core question in neuroscience, how different brain regions interact to create the mental representation of the outside world.

Mots clés : hippocampal adult neurogenesis, sensory integration, memory consolidation

Participants :
- Institut Pasteur (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 173076.0 €
Projet MICRO2MACRO (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

One of the most pressing scientific challenges today is understanding the fate of our oceans and marine ecosystems under on-going climate change. Unfortunately, anthropogenic stressors act at a rate and magnitude that exceed recent natural variability, making the use of decadal ecological data and time-series insufficient for predictions of future behaviour of marine ecosystems. MICRO2MACRO will reconstruct snapshots of marine pelagic ecosystems between 54 and 32 million years ago (Eocene and early Oligocene), when climate and environmental conditions approximated what we will start to experience in the next century and beyond. Using the microfossil record of planktonic foraminifera (PF), the most complete of any Cenozoic eukaryote, the project will generate the first methodologically controlled (hence reproducible) early Cenozoic global dataset of ecology, abundance, species composition, diversity and biogeography (macroecology) of these prolific pelagic calcifiers. Benefiting from the mole of data generated over the last 15 years, I will learn and apply novel tools in data-science technology to compile ocean temperature and chemistry datasets for the studied time intervals and statistically compare them against the new PF dataset generated with this project. This study will combine the most advanced knowledge in several disciplines (micropaleontology, informatics, statistical ecology) to test for links between time-specific climate (e.g., sea surface temperatures) and ecosystem (e.g., species composition, dominant ecology) configurations, and understand how plankton biogeography was shaped in a warmer world. Hence, MICRO2MACRO will highlight future ecological and evolutionary analogues if the current climate trajectory remains interrupted and we are to hit climate conditions similar to those in the Eocene and Oligocene. Given the uncertainties associated with projections based on modern data this study will represent a major advancement in the field.

Mots clés : microfossils, foraminifera, climate change, paleogene

Participants :
- University of Bremen (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 162806.4 €
Projet RaftsStruc (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

One of the most sophisticated concepts in membrane organization is the proposed existence of lipid rafts. Membranes of eukaryotic cells organize signal transduction proteins into microdomains or rafts, that are enriched in particular lipids like cholesterol. Lipid rafts are important for the correct functionality of numerous cellular functions, and their disruption causes serious defects in several signal transduction processes. The assembly of lipid rafts in eukaryotes has been considered a fundamental step during the evolution of cellular complexity, suggesting that prokaryotes were too simple organisms to require such a sophisticated organization of their membranes. Dr Lopez discovered that bacteria organize many membrane-related cellular processes in Functional Membrane Microdomains (FMMs) constituted by specific lipids, similar to the lipid rafts that are found in eukaryotic cells. Importantly, the perturbation of FMMs inevitably leads to a potent and simultaneous impairment of all harbored signal transduction pathways, which causes a potent inhibition of the infective potential in pathogenic bacteria. One such pathogen is Staphylococcus aureus that also organizes its membranes into rafts. Pbp2a, a protein responsible for the ‘methicillin-resistance (MRSA) phenotype’, interacts with one of the main component of the rafts, flotillin. We propose to perform a comprehensive structural study of the lipid rafts from S. aureus, starting from the global view of the rafts in situ, through analysis of the rafts assembled in vitro and finally to investigate a 3D structure of the flotillin-Pbp2a complex, all by cryo-electron microscopy/tomography.

Mots clés : cryoelectron microscopy, tomography, single particle, image processing, lipid rafts, flotillin, penicilin binding protein, staphylococcus aureus

Participants :
- Spanish National Research Council (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 170121.6 €
Projet DENDRITESONBORDERS (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

One of the most striking features of cortex is the elaborate and electrically active dendritic arbors of its neurons. Besides serving as a scaffold for synaptic inputs, dendrites can amplify inputs and act as computational subunits within a neuron. However, the principles governing the relationship between dendritic processing and information flow through cortical networks remain to be elucidated in vivo. These basic principles must be discovered as part of the effort to generate useful theories that relate sub-cellular processes like synaptic integration to computations performed by large populations of neurons. Such theories that link different scales of neural function are an important step for the larger scientific and societal goal to interpret, predict and manipulate neuronal and cortical function in health and disease. We seek to uncover principles describing the relationships between local network activity, dendritic recruitment, and neuronal output in neocortex in vivo in the anatomical context of a visual cortical area border in the mouse brain. Cortical area borders are poorly understood, but offer unique experimental opportunities. Our goal is to exploit the functional asymmetry present at borders to perform strong experiments that ask: Do functionally similar inputs cluster in dendritic arbors? How is the recruitment of individual dendrites related to local network activity? Do different dendritic branches perform separable computational operations in vivo? Going further, we will determine if different streams of information are segregated or integrated at borders. This basic feature of cortex is interesting both computationally and developmentally. The answers will speak to the constraints faced by cortex in managing information flow and creating functional specialization. We hope the innovative approach of leveraging the unique features of an understudied anatomical special case will yield results and a perspective that is original and useful.

Mots clés : cortex, neural circuits, dendritic integration, visual system, calcium imaging

Participants :
- University of London (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 183454.8 €
Projet MOLMAG (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

One of the next great challenges facing Europe is the development of new materials that reduce our dependence on critical metals such as rare earth elements (REEs). REEs have revolutionized both magnets and microelectronic industry, but the lack of economically exploitable deposits combined with geopolitical concerns have led to an impending resource problem. Molecular magnetic materials based on organic radicals represent one attractive alternative to REEs as the use of organic compounds would allow chemical processing rather than metallurgical. The challenge lies in developing radicals that are indefinitely stable under standard ambient conditions but still structurally tunable to attain the desired properties. This research project investigates two families of stable organic radicals and their metal complexes as new components for molecular magnetic materials. The radicals are based on the 1,2,4-triazinyl framework which, despite a long history and extreme stability, has only recently raised interest in materials oriented research. The potential of the investigated radicals will be exploited in two approaches. First, co-crystallization of the triazinyl radicals is studied as a novel design strategy to enhance intermolecular ferromagnetic interactions in organic radicals, and second, coordination of the radicals to paramagnetic metal centres is used as further means to control spin interactions through intramolecular spin coupling. The proposal combines the research ideas and synthetic skills of the experienced researcher with the knowledge and infrastructure of the supervisors and their hosting institutions, creating an interdisciplinary project that spans multiple fields from organic and organometallic synthesis to computational chemistry and condensed matter physics. Through the synthesis of new building blocks for real-world materials, the project will not only enhance the understanding of molecular magnetism but also the career development of the MSC fellow.

Mots clés : stable radicals, metal radical complexes, molecular magnets

Participants :
- University of Jyväskylä (Finlande) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 191325.6 €
Projet Nacrecrete (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

One of the pressing challenges of the 21st century is how to construct our build environment sustainably. This proposed project aims to develop Nacrecrete—A Nacre inspired high-performance resource-efficient concrete. Nacrecrete will be realized via the cross-pollination of biologically inspired materials synthesis strategies with advanced three-dimensional (3D)-printing, and the partnership of groups at Trinity College Dublin (TCD), Ireland and the Delft University of Technology (TUD), the Netherlands. This cross-pollination will see a cementitious-polymer composite printed whereby the polymer phase will mechano-chemically modulate the cementitious phases at the nano–microscale and printing will allow control over the composite’s architecture at the macroscale, resulting in a hierarchically structured, super strong and tough, resource-efficient, sustainable, concrete. The Nacrecrete project will open up a whole new field of research and promises new and exciting sustainable building and construction potentialities. In preparation for independent research after the project, the applicant will build new scientific knowledge and skills in the synthesis of polymer/inorganic composites, the printing of polymeric materials and advanced materials characterisation, and transferable skills including leadership, mentoring, teaching and grant writing and exploitation. This new knowledge and skills coupled with the development of a new and exciting research field will be a firm step on the way to the applicant heading his own research group working on the development of ‘Bio-inspired building and construction materials’ at a top European university.

Mots clés : concrete, bioinspired material synthesis, additive manufacturing, resource efficient, sustainability

Participants :
- Trinity College Dublin (Irlande) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 184590.72 €
Projet FLEX5 (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

One the most relevant neuromodulator which affect the organisms’ ability to adapt to environmental changes and to aversive events is serotonin or 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT). 5-HT has long and widely been implicated in the pathophysiology of several psychiatric diseases such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety, drug addiction and depression. Emerging evidence indicate that 5-HT also plays a crucial role in cognitive and behavioral flexibility. Serotonin neurons respond to aversive stimuli and promote shifting behavior away from aversive events or frustrative non-reward but also respond to reward and prevent shifting behavior in the face of effort or delay. How 5-HT neurons from the dorsal raphe (DRN5-HT) both promote and prevent shifting behavior is, however, still unclear. Addressing this question requires a better understanding of the role of the 5-HT systems in controlling flexible behavior. Using calcium imaging, optogenetic manipulation, high density fiber photometry and closed-loop brain manipulation, in a comprehensive procedure assessing behavioral flexibility, FLEX5 aims to define the behavioral events that activate DRN5-HT neurons and define the role of 5-HT in its network.

Mots clés : serotonin, behavioral flexibility, dorsal raphe

Participants :
- Italian Institute of Technology (Italie) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 171473.28 €
Projet FairPersonalization (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Online commerce experienced a technological revolution, shifting towards automated, data-driven technologies for the allocation and display of offers and advertisings. Tailored and targeted commercial techniques constitute a heterogeneous phenomenon, incorporating ex multis semantics and data mining stemming from artificial intelligence, auction, social network, and neuroscience analyses, to reach different degrees of personalization. These innovations provide companies with new modes to gain market advantage and to offer their products: they have the possibility to study consumers and to personalize every aspect of their consumption experience. Consumers exposed to such potential situations could end up not being able to recognize the artificial reduction of their set of choices and, eventually, to oppose to it, being unaware of the way through which such messages utilize their habits, mental models and biases to influence their behaviours. The result of these and related trends is that firms can not only take advantage of a general understanding of cognitive limitations but also can uncover, and even trigger, consumer frailty at an individual level. I will a) investigate - by conducting online and laboratory experiments - how the use of online personalized and tailored offers affects the individual propensity to consume; b) redefine the normative thresholds and conditions under which tailored commercial practices should be qualified as unfair or manipulative under EU consumer law c) assess if, given the emergence of structural changes in consumption in the information society, it is still possible to hold up the idea that consumer protection can rely on its traditional theoretical notions and appraisal dynamics or if, on the contrary, these elements call for a substantial rethinking of the interplay between regulators, enterprises, and consumers.

Mots clés : online commercial practices, personalization, tailored offers, consumer protection, behavioral and cognitive bias, unfair commercial practice directive

Participants :
- University of Amsterdam (Pays-Bas) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 131679.36 €
Projet BEYOND-CODE (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Open Source (OS) software is particular in that it can be accessed and modified openly. Originating from technological labs, OS is now ubiquitous and a major part of the EU's economy. Some estimate it to be 450 billions per year (EUR). The increasing ubiquity of OS has turned it into a configuration of social and societal elements such as the decentralised ownership of projects or meeting needs that traditional markets cannot. The socio-technical configurations of OS are not evident, perhaps not even intended. The various meanings of sustainability enact how OS ideas are created and travel beyond their original birthing place, but have, as yet, mainly received a rational/economic focus. This project proposes to explore OS as it travels beyond its designing communities and, in so doing, re-functions the meaning of sociological sustainability that hold it in place. This proposal follows the ER's natural career progression, having studied the development processes of OS projects. In collaboration with the supervisor, the ER has designed a proposal fuses their multi-disciplinary expertise to study sustainability in a new light, along with a tailored training plan that gives the ER key competencies and expertise to secure future career objectives. The CSIC has been chosen as an ideal host for this project, with its large, multi-disciplinary social science department holding some of Spain's most renown OS scholars. Alternative views of sustainability open new research avenues that recognise the importance of other criteria (e.g. inclusive participation), providing novel debate within the academic world. Such articulations will be immediately useful to EU projects that depend on open forms of participation (e.g. EU's CAPS project call), and the EU's agenda on ethical knowledge production. A key result will be to create a framework that accounts for socio-technical views on sustainability, allowing innovators to better meet societal needs within their development processes

Mots clés : open source, sustainability, commons, social movements, software studies, governance

Participants :
- Spanish National Research Council (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 170121.6 €