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

X-ray micro computed tomography (microCT) is currently successfully used in material science investigations as well as in non-destructive testing enabling 3D imaging of these materials with micrometer resolution. The application of microCT for biological samples (e.g. biopsies) is limited by the missing contrast of soft tissue, which is important to visualize microscopic cellular structures. CONSALT aims at overcoming these limitations by simultaneous and yet separate visualization of a combination of at least two elements. Furthermore, it aims to advance x-ray microCT by allowing the visualization of single cells, which is currently not possible with the state-of-the-art x-ray microCT devices. The development and medicinal application of a fast X-ray based 3D-screening system for tissue biopsies to identify, visualize, and classify different pathologies, will complement conventional histology, which is based on the evaluation of a few selective 2D slices of a 3D biopsy, and further improve diagnosis (e.g. visualization of small tumors within the entire tissue volume or other 3D morphology parameters). Novel specific and functional contrast agents (stains) are essential to achieve the 3D visualization of specific pathological cellular or sub-cellular structures (e.g. nucleus or cytoskeleton). The design, development and testing of such new contrast agents to overcome the challenges of contrast enhancement and selectivity for certain tissue and cellular structures (e.g. nucleus, mitochondria or cytoplasm), which is seen through conventional staining in histology, is proposed here. The CT-contrast will be achieved by incorporation of biocompatible elements with a high z-component such as iodine and bismuth. The specific CT-contrast will be further optimized through dual-energy X-ray microCT-scanners allowing for visualization of at least two elements.

Mots clés : micro ct, nano ct, contrast agent, sub cellular structures, bismtuh, iodide, biopolymer, mitochondria, nucleus, overview stain, specific stain

Participants :
- Technical University of Munich (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 171460.8 €
Projet YAKUT (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Yakutia (Sakha Republic, Russian Federation) is the coldest country in the Northern hemisphere with winter record temperatures as low as -70ºC. Despite such extreme conditions, the Yakut people succeeded in developing an economy based on extensive horse and cattle breeding. In contrast to cattle, that are parked in stables at winter, horses do not receive much human care, living all the year in the open air and grazing on vegetation that is under deep snow cover for 7-8 months. Unsurprisingly, Yakutian horses developed amazing adaptations to life in the cold Arctic, including exceptional hair densities for domestic horses and spectacular capacities for regulating their metabolism. The origin of Yakutian horses is controversial. In the YAKUT project, we will use cutting-edge genomic tools including genomics, transcriptomics and epigenomics, together with state-of-the-art methods in ancient DNA research, to reconstruct the evolutionary history of Yakutian horses from its mysterious origins to its adaptation to life in the Arctic. Our extensive genomic dataset will provide essential information to foster efforts for developing sound management strategies to preserve this unique genetic heritage. Following seasonal gene expression levels and associated epigenetic modifications at the whole genome scale, we will reveal for the first time the mechanisms responsible for the exceptional metabolic adaptations found in Yakutian horses. Overall, the YAKUT project aims at understanding the process of natural selection underlying the adaptation of a domestic breed to life in an extreme environment.

Mots clés : palaeogenomics, ancient dna, horse, adaptation to cold

Participants :
- University of Copenhagen (Danemark) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 200194.8 €
Projet ZOOCRETE (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Social Sciences and Humanities
Statut du projet : SIGNED

ZOOCRETE adopts an interdisciplinary approach to examine the development and resilience of citizen-states in ancient Crete through the lens of communal feasting and food production. The research focuses on skeletal and multi-isotope analyses (carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and strontium) of faunal remains from civic dining buildings and residential spaces in four Cretan settlements from the first millennium BCE. These new archaeological datasets will be compared to a quantitative analysis of ancient Greek textual sources describing the production and consumption of animals. In these ways, the multiscalar approach zooms in on the individual lifeways of consumed animals and individual feasting contexts and zooms out to a big data investigation of animals in Greek archaeology and texts. The innovative analysis involved in this project will result in the creation of new narratives on the production and consumption of animals in ancient commensal feasts that will enhance our understanding of the resilience of ancient citizen-states. The Fellowship offers Dr Dibble the opportunity to acquire advanced intellectual and technical training in isotope zooarchaeology, an emerging field that will place him at the forefront of interdisciplinary analyses combining scientific methods with humanist inquiry in the fields of environmental archaeology and archaeological science. The creation of interdisciplinary networks as well as the dissemination and communication of the results to the scientific community and the broader public will increase our understanding of the relationship between food production and cultural identity, and more broadly act as a model for integrating textual, archaeological, and biomolecular datasets in a problem driven manner. Dr. Dibble’s novel social media outreach will disseminate the results to the broader public, showing the importance our past holds in today’s world within the context of sustainable agropastoralism.

Mots clés : zooarchaeology, environmental archaeology, isotope analysis, digital humanities, greek archaeology, archaeology of crete, foodways, commensality, city states

Participants :
- Cardiff University (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 224933.76 €
Projet ZeoPoreDiff (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Zeolites are the key enablers of diverse chemical reactions, fulfilling a role of utmost importance in (petro-) chemical industry. They contain a precisely defined micropore network, which exposes a 3-D distribution of Brønsted acid sites. The performance of zeolites relies to a great extent on the accessibility of these acid sites, making the facile molecular diffusion through the zeolite pore network essential. For this reason, methods for hierarchical porosity development – such as steaming – are used to increase the molecular uptake of zeolites. These methods introduce auxiliary meso- and macroporosity, which maximize the utilization of the catalyst volume, and thereby improve the catalyst performance and lifetime. Despite their importance, little is known on zeolite porosity and diffusion due to a lack of nano-sensitive characterization tools which can extract local information on pore features and diffusion properties. The purpose of my research project is to exploit the pore characteristics inside single zeolite crystals through spatially resolved SAXS micro-tomography (µSAXS-CT). This will allow to harvest unprecedented quantitative information on the size distribution and orientation of micro-/meso-/macropores within (sub-) micron volume compartments of single zeolite crystals. In addition, single molecule super-resolution fluorescence microscopy will be used to track the trajectories of single fluorescent reporters with nanometer accuracy during diffusion within these zeolite crystals. This will yield spatially resolved intracrystal diffusion coefficients, which can be directly correlated to the quantitative structural information gained by µSAXS-CT. The combined application of µSAXS-CT and single molecule tracking at different stages of zeolite steaming will allow to link intracrystal heterogeneities in pore and diffusion properties, respectively. This approach will form a first step towards the 3-D transport modelling within single zeolite crystals.

Mots clés : zeolite, pore structure, molecular diffusion, steaming, saxs micro tomography, single molecule tracking

Participants :
- Utrecht University (Pays-Bas) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 177598.8 €
Projet MAZinc (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Environment and Geosciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Zinc (Zn) deficiency in agricultural soils is leading worldwide to the production of stunted rice and to human malnutrition. Some rice varieties take up Zn even if it is present in soil in low bioavailable amount, but the underlying process is unknown. One mechanism proposed includes the secretion of organic ligands (i.e. deoxymugineic acid-DMA), its complexation with Zn in soil and the uptake of the complex into the plant. Indirect evidence comes from isotopes studies but the direct proof (i.e. measure DMA secretion in soil and DMA complexation with Zn in competition with other cations) is missing. To this end, we will determine the fluxes of DMA secreted by roots. The challenges are to develop an experimental system that reproduces Zn deficiency in laboratory and to develop analytical methods that enable the identification and determination of the mass fluxes of DMA. We propose to use pot and hydroponic experiments with different Zn supply. The Zn deficiency in the soil/solution, will allow us to predict the stimulation of DMA production. The latest generation of LC-MS/MS with hugely improved sensitivity will be used to quantify the concentrations of DMA and Zn-DMA complexes. Moreover, we will establish an accurate stability series for Zn and other cations complexing with DMA and we will determine the reaction mechanisms and structure of Zn with DMA. The stability series will address the question of whether competition by other cations prevents the formation of the Zn-DMA complex in soil. Understanding the reaction mechanisms of Zn with DMA and establishing its structure will give invaluable insights into the stability of the complexes. We will achieve this conducting carefully designed laboratory and theoretical chemistry experiments. A prompt application of this research will enable plant breeders to select genes to enhance crop production in low Zn conditions.

Mots clés : rice  oryza sativa l, deoxymugineic acid  dma, genotype nutrient uptake differences, solubilization, anaerobic soil, rhizospere

Participants :
- Imperial College London (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 319400.64 €
Projet BioPhoCS (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Chemistry
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Organic sulphur compounds containing C-S chiral centres represent one of the most intriguing classes of chemicals due to their peculiar properties conferred by the unique chemistry of sulphur. Chiral sulphur compounds are known for their olfactory properties as flavours and fragrances and are ubiquitous in natural products and pharmaceutical ingredients such as penicillins and verticillins. Both the flavouring and pharmaceutical properties of chiral sulphur compounds are often determined by their absolute configurations. Therefore, the development of novel, robust and sustainable methods for the enantioselective construction of C-S bonds is of great importance in chemistry. In view of the lack of efficient and stereoselective methods in assembling asymmetrical C-S bonds, within this project we aim to construct enantiopure sulphur compounds through photo- and bio-catalysis. Various strategies have been designed to achieve this target, exploiting blue/green light photocatalysis and biocatalysis by reductase enzymes such as KRED, ADH and ERED. The ability of these enzymes to biocatalyse the enantioselective reduction of thioketones and thioalkenes obtained via photocatalysis, will be investigated. In addition, the combination of photocatalytic synthesis of substrates with the biocatalytic construction of enantiomerically pure C-S bonds in one-pot cascade processes will be developed. These methods will be finally applied to the synthesis of chiral volatile sulphur compounds as odorous excipients, while in-situ NMR kinetic studies of the photo-biocatalytic reactions will be carried out to get a better understanding of the reaction mechanisms. The successful development of these strategies will allow chemists and industries to access facile and sustainable approaches to prepare a wide range of challenging chiral thiols and sulphides to be used in the manufacturing of pharmaceutical ingredients, fine chemical tools (ligands, catalysts), agrochemicals and fragrances.

Mots clés : biocatalysis, reductase, photocatalysis, sulphides, thiols, cascades, enantioselective reduction

Participants :
- University of London (Royaume-Uni) — Partner, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 93722.4 €
- University of London (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 131211.36 €
Projet UncoveRNAi (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Organisms such as plants, worms or insects rely on RNA interference (RNAi) to mount an antiviral immune response. On the other hand, it is widely believed that the type I interferon (IFN-I) pathway replaced antiviral RNAi as a primary line of defence against viral infections in chordates. However, recent work from multiple teams, including the host laboratory, has described a possible antiviral role for RNAi in cultured mammalian cells and in mice during infection with different RNA viruses. The importance of RNAi as an antiviral mechanism in mammals remains a matter of great controversy, in part due to a dearth of in vivo studies. In particular, the cell type(s) performing RNAi in vivo remains unknown, as is the relative importance of antiviral RNAi compare to the IFN-I response. I propose to decipher the mechanism and importance of antiviral RNAi in mice, by answering three main questions: 1) Where is antiviral RNAi happening? I will identify cell types implicated in antiviral RNAi using reporter viruses and permanent genetic marking of RNAi-competent cells. In parallel with these unbiased approaches, I will study antiviral immune responses in specific cell types likely to rely on antiviral RNAi, such as stem cells. 2) How is antiviral RNAi happening? I hypothesise that antiviral RNAi relies on truncated isoforms of Dicer expressed in specific cell types, and/or production of viral DNA as a means of boosting the RNAi response. I will explore both possibilities in detail. 3) What is the importance of antiviral RNAi? I will specifically ablate antiviral RNAi in cell niches that use this defence mechanism to assess its importance with respect to IFN-I. Overall, my work aims at dissecting antiviral RNAi pathways in mammals and assessing their in vivo significance. This work will provide answers to important questions in the field of antiviral immunity and will potentially open up new areas of research in human health.

Mots clés : antiviral rna interference, cell intrinsic immunity, type i interferon, dicer, stem cells

Participants :
- The Francis Crick Institute (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 212933.76 €
Projet COLOSTEO (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Staff Exchanges
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Osteoporosis constitutes a major public health concern. The economic burden of osteoporotic fractures in EU is expected to increase 25% by 2025 compared to 2010. These estimates may indicate an inefficiency of current drugs for osteoporosis. Actually, the use of pharmacological agents for osteoporosis has been decreasing in EU, probably due to the reported side effects. Therefore, there is a need for innovative agents to reduce the burden of osteoporosis. Colostrum is a promising agent against bone loss since it has natural constituents that are directly involved in bone metabolism. As a nutraceutical, colostrum confers an advantage over pharmacological drugs since it can avoid side effects. However, the possibility of its use as a nutraceutical agent for osteoporosis have only received attention within the scientific community. The knowledge produced on the effects of colostrum on bone metabolism has not yet been transferred to the market because academic institutions lack on expertise to create a new product. On the other hand, industry has knowledge on product development, but lack expertise on research skills. In accordance, what hinders the creation of an innovative product based on colostrum for prevention of osteoporosis is the absence of an intersectorial collaboration. As consequence, there is a clearly gap between research on the matter and its application. COLOSTEO aims to fill in this gap by creating an intersectorial collaboration to exchange knowledge and expertise towards the creation of an innovative nutraceutical product based on colostrum to prevent osteoporosis. This aim will be achieved by bridging two academic with two industrial institutions that through intersectorial secondments will exchange knowledge, ideas and expertise towards the creation of an innovative nutraceutical product based on colostrum to prevent osteoporosis.

Mots clés : nutraceutical, bone health, bone loss, first milk, ageing

Participants :
- Centro de estudios superiores de la industria farmaceutica sa (Espagne) — Partner, beneficiary, Organismes privés (hors enseignement), subvention : 0.0 €
- University of Thessaly (Grèce) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 207000.0 €
- Saluris network sl (Espagne) — Partner, beneficiary, Organismes privés (hors enseignement), subvention : 207000.0 €
- Christos papadopoulos & sia oe (Grèce) — Partner, beneficiary, Organismes privés (hors enseignement), subvention : 207000.0 €
- University of Porto (Portugal) — Partner, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 207000.0 €
Projet RESCBONE (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Osteoporosis is an age and gender-related condition characterised by reduced bone mass, impaired micro-architecture and increased risk of low-trauma fractures. Osteoporosis-related fractures are a major health concern and impose a huge economic burden on European health care systems. In the young, bone adapts its mass and architecture in response to strains engendered by mechanical loading. However, this response in blunted in the aged. We have shown that the anabolic response to load is similarly impaired in an age and gender-related manner in mice. Counter-intuitively, this response can be “rescued” in aged female mice if short periods of loading are imposed against a background of disuse rather than activity. We hypothesise that this “rescue” involves increased recruitment of bone forming osteoblasts. The primary objective of this proposal is, to establish whether the age and gender-related decline in bone’s adaptive response to mechanical loading in mice can be attributed to insufficient recruitment of osteoblasts necessary to form new bone and, if so, whether this deficiency can be “rescued” by appropriate manipulation of bones’ loading environment. To achieve the objectives in this proposal, we will investigate bones from aged male and female mice, which have been subjected to mechanical loading with or without prior disuse. These will be compared with similarly treated bones of young mice. Our studies should further elucidate the mechanisms underlying the age-related decline in bones’ adaptive response to mechanical loading. We hope that these studies could identify novel therapeutic targets to augment bones’ natural anabolic response to physical activity/loading. This could be of particular relevance in maintaining bone mass in situations of aging, paralysis or even space flight. The proposal will strengthen the CV of the applicant and further collaboration between European laboratories.

Mots clés : bone, mouse, mechanical loading, immunohistochemistry, micro array

Participants :
- University of Bristol (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 195454.8 €
Projet S-OS (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Osteosarcoma (OS) is a very aggressive malignant bone tumor that develops primarily during childhood and adolescence. It is characterized by rapid growth, a strong tendency for recurrence and an extremely high metastatic potential. In the last three decades OS survival in the presence of metastasis has stagnated at a dismal 30%, clinical trials proved unsuccessful and no major breakthrough in the treatment of OS has been reported. To stop OS mortality, alternative therapeutical approaches urgently need to be explored. Studies into the molecular and cellular events underlying OS revealed complex and heterogeneous genetic alterations, which challenge the prospect of finding and exploiting an unique molecular driver underlying OS. Because OS onset occurs at sites of rapid bone growth during the adolescent growth spurt, microenvironmental factors and tumor stroma may have a defining role in OS development and progression. Surprisingly, the intercellular cross-talk between OS cells and components of the tumor stroma, in particular mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), have been poorly investigated. Here I intend to demonstrate that tumor secreted vesicles called “exosomes” function as a key microenvironmental factor in OS progression by controlling tumor-stromal cells interactions. Specifically, we aim to explore whether MSC become pro-tumorigenic and pro-metastatic upon interaction with OS exosomes in bioluminescent mouse xenograft models. To identify the molecular signals (i.e. proteins and regulatory RNAs) in OS exosomes responsible for altering MSC behavior, we will employ state-of-the-art proteomics and deep-sequencing techniques. Finally, by means of functional assays we wish to discover the mechanisms by which OS exosome “educate” MSCs. The identification of and interference with this completely unexplored layer of communication will lay the groundwork for novel therapeutical approaches to stop OS high mortality rate.

Mots clés : osteosarcoma, mesenchymal stem cells, exosomes, tumor microenvironment, intercellular communication, in vivo monitoring, deep sequencing

Participants :
- Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Pays-Bas) — Partner, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 919.77 €
- Amsterdam University Medical Centers (Pays-Bas) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 164679.03 €