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

Mindfulness is a cultivated state of awareness which has been shown to enhance psychological resilience, emotion regulation, and well-being. Mindfulness training entails the development of particular modes of attention, intention, body awareness and presence - all of which are also foundational skills for the performer. Evidence suggests that a mindfulness training programme for performers would develop key professional skills whilst at the same time enhancing performers' mental health resilience, currently an area of concern. The proposed project will develop and test the efficacy of a mindfulness training programme for Deaf and hearing performers through an exploration of mindfulness practices which focus on the body. The ER will examine the role of the physiological mechanisms which underpin awareness, and which are instrumental in the development of mindfulness; these are interoception, proprioception and exteroception. The ER will use the resulting information to design an embodied mindfulness practice for performers. The project utilises an innovative practice-led research methodology, with two groups of subjects: Deaf and hearing actors. The ER will investigate, document, discuss and provide evidence-based support for a performance training practice that can deliver enhancements to both physical awareness and mindfulness. By analysing the links between proprioception, interoception, awareness and mindfulness, and by examining the Deaf experience of embodiment, the ER will contribute new knowledge on the role of the body in mindfulness practice, and will develop an embodied mindfulness training that is fully accessible to both Deaf and hearing actors.

Mots clés : actor training, mindfulness, proprioception, interoception, body awareness, british sign language, deaf culture, deaf gain, embodiment, embodied mindfulness

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

Minimising the welfare cost of climate change requires effective adaptation policies. Consequently, the EU strategy on climate change adaptation prioritises the creation of ‘frameworks, models and tools to support decision-making and to assess [the effectiveness of] various adaptation measures’. Accurate measurement of welfare cost is a prerequisite for effective policy prioritisation. The current state of the art quantifies welfare costs using aggregated methodologies. This has been shown to bias cost estimation and does not capture the socioeconomic distribution of welfare impacts. This bias may therefore affect the effectiveness of adaptation measures. Integrating climate impact models (with which Prof Lotze-Campen and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research [PIK] are experts) with Spatial Microsimulation (SM) modelling (with which the experienced researcher, Dr. Farrell, is an expert) provides a framework to estimate micro-level welfare impacts and thus overcome these deficiencies. Furthermore, this project integrates these estimates into decision-making models to aid policy. This project provides: (1) a timely contribution; (2) a strong multidisciplinary focus; (3) a transfer of SM knowledge to PIK, improving their ability to quantify the welfare impacts of climate change; (4) strong training in climate science and decision-making tools for Dr. Farrell; (5) strong communication/dissemination strategy drawing on resources of Dr. Farrell and PIK. The value of this project is in the collaborative opportunities provided by the research fellowship. PIK provides the best possible opportunities for mentorship and training/professional development for Dr. Farrell. This establishes Dr. Farrell as the leading expert in an emerging field of micro-based welfare estimation of climate change impacts and, coupled with the integration of the research networks of Dr. Farrell and PIK, provides a platform through which many further career developments are possible.

Mots clés : environmental economics, climate change, spatial microsimulation, distributional impact, adaptation

Participants :
- Leibniz Association (Allemagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 159460.8 €
Projet MitoTAGs (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2014)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Mitochondria generate most of the energy cells require to function. Deficits in the mitochondrial energy-generating machinery affect 1:5,000 children and cause progressive, debilitating, and usually fatal pathologies collectively known as primary mitochondrial disease. To date, there is no cure for mitochondrial disease and existing treatments are highly ineffective and mostly palliative. High-energy-requiring cells, such as neurons, are especially affected in mitochondrial disease. However, not all neuronal populations are equally affected. Furthermore, the molecular determinants of neuronal vulnerability to mitochondrial disease have not been adequately elucidated, representing a challenge for the development of efficient treatments for these pathologies. To improve on current knowledge on mitochondrial disease and to provide better therapeutic targets, this proposal focuses on developing ground-breaking molecular biology tools that will allow the identification and dissection of the molecular determinants of neuronal vulnerability in mitochondrial disease with unprecedented definition. I will develop novel techniques to isolate the mitochondrial translatome by using ribosomal tagging, as well as to assess intact mitochondrial function, with cell-type specificity. These novel approaches will have a high impact in mitochondrial disease research, with the overall aim of identifying novel therapeutic targets that will lead to effective treatments for mitochondrial disease. Furthermore, the high applicability of the tools generated will allow significant breakthroughs in the research of other pathologies with mitochondrial affectation such as diabetes or neurodegenerative processes.

Mots clés : neuron, mitochondria, adeno associated viral vectors, mitochondria ribosome tagging, mitochondria tagging, loxp system

Participants :
- Autonomous University of Barcelona (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 170121.6 €
Projet MitoNuEco (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2020)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : SIGNED

Mitochondria play a key role in energy metabolism through cellular respiration and provision of carbon skeletons for biosynthetic pathways, and act as gatekeepers for stress and cell death pathways such as apoptosis. The balance of these processes depends on the correct interaction between two different genomes, the mitochondrial and the nuclear genomes. As demonstrated by hybridization events, the cost of mitonuclear mismatches is metabolic dysfunction and potentially severe fitness loss. Temperature and dietary regimes are also well-known metabolic stressors influencing mitochondrial functions, metabolomic network structure and gene expression. Hence their variation can exacerbate mitonuclear incompatibilities. Understanding the ability of animals to face the potential modification of their habitats is of vital importance. Climate change predictions estimate an increase in temperature and its variability, changes in in food web structures and in the distribution of populations. Events that may generate mitonuclear mismatches (such as hybridization between separate populations) are therefore expected to increase in frequency following the shifts in thermal niches. The objective of this research is to test how far mitonuclear interactions contribute to thermal and dietary adaptation or breakdown in changing environments. Drosophila melanogaster is a leading model system to examine mito-nuclear interactions and adaptation. I will specifically employ experimental fly lines characterized by mitonuclear match and mismatch to investigate how temperature and diet modulation impact the major fitness effects of mitonuclear incompatibilities. This will be tested at the level of mitochondrial functions, gene expression and life-history trade-offs. The proposed project will be unique in its field, providing fundamental insights into how genetic and environmental factors interactions might translate to ecological population dynamics in a mutating world.

Mots clés : mitonuclear interactions, temperature, diet, drosophila melanogaster, energy metabolism, global warming

Participants :
- University of London (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 224933.76 €
Projet MechanoMVP (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2018)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Mitral valve prolapse (MVP) is the most frequent form of degenerative mitral valve (MV) disease and is a major cause of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. No medical therapy is currently available. Familial and population genetic studies have identified genes causally related to non-syndromic MVP, such as FLNA, encoding for Filamin A protein. These findings have paved the road to study mechanisms and signaling pathways involved in the development and progression of MVP that will then be useful to identify potential therapeutic targets. This relies on two complementary approaches: a comprehensive phenotyping of the FLNA-MVP patients and the implementation of experimental models. In the MechanoMVP project, I propose to study stress-related mechanisms and regulation of signaling pathways involved in the development and progression of MVP based on the comprehensive analysis of the unique knock-in rat model for FLNA-P637Q mutation, as well as the related-cellular models, recently developed at the host institution. The specific actions I will conduct through this project are the comprehensive phenotyping of the unique rat model using multimodality imaging and biochemical approaches coupled with the cellular and molecular analyses done on mutant and WT valvular cell models. Based on this integrative approach mixing genetics, pathophysiological and mechanistic experimentations, and a multimodality/gold standard imaging phenotyping, MechanoMVP will provide landmark data in the field of MVP. In the context of a frequent CV pathology increasing with age and the rapid aging of the population, MVP and its ensuing adverse CV events will exponentially grow in the coming next years. With the only use of surgery to “treat” MVP patients, this disease will considerably increase the health care and socio-economic burden. MechanoMVP will open new avenues for the development of therapeutic approaches.

Mots clés : animal model, cellular and molecular mechanims, genetics, mitral valve prolapse

Participants :
- Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale (France) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 196707.84 €
Projet CompADC (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2019)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Modern information and communication technology has been propelling the rapid expansion of signal spectrum bandwidth towards the level of hundreds of GHz and even 1 Terahertz. Such wideband analog signals produced in physical world must be converted to a stream of data bits via analog-to-digital conversion (ADC), for ultra-fast and flexible digital signal processing (DSP). However, the random electron fluctuations in semiconductors set a fundamental limitation on the performance of electronic (ADCs), leading to an inherent trade-off between the sampling accuracy and bandwidth. State-of-the-art electronic ADCs typically have only GHz-level analog bandwidth, which is becoming an increasingly severe limitation on high-speed DSP applications. Although the adoption of mode-locked lasers (MLLs) can overcome some limitations using the ultra-stable pulse train for precise time-domain sampling, the GHz-level repetition rate and the challenging integration of MLLs prevents any usability of photonics-assisted ADC in practical applications. In the CompADC project, I propose to develop a radically-new photonic ADC scheme using chip-scale dual optical frequency combs, enabling real-time digitization of ultra-wideband RF and microwave signals with a bandwidth of > 100 GHz. This envisaged performance is enabled by the emerging dissipative Kerr soliton (DKS) microcombs generated in SiN microresonators, which produces a new type of on-chip mode-locked emission of optical pulses with repetition rates exceeding 100 GH. These phase-locked dual microcombs (signal comb and local oscillator comb) will perform precise frequency-domain decomposition and parallel frequency down-conversion of ultra-wideband microwave signals to the detectable range of lower-speed electronics. This CompADC approach has the clear potential to offer unparalleled performance and chip-scale integration for modern ultra-wideband signal processing and communication applications.

Mots clés : microwave photonics, integrated photonics, ultrafast signal processing, photonic analog to digital conversion

Participants :
- Board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology (Suisse) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 203149.44 €
Projet VHPC (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2016)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Physics
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Modern information processing is based on the degrees of freedom (DOF) of electrons, which are known as charge and spin. Manipulating DOF of electrons is the core function of information-processing unit such as transistor and photodetector. Finding and manipulating new DOF for electrons may open up possibility for next-generation information processing, such as quantum computing. Recently, a new DOF of electrons—valley pseudospin—was found in two dimensional (2D) hexagonal lattices, whose band structures manifest a pair of valleys at the corner of the hexagonal Brillouin zone (labeled as K and -K valley), giving rise to a valley DOF that is in close analogy to electron spin. As 2D hexagonal crystal, graphene, with ultrahigh carrier mobility and ultrafast optoelectronic signal processing ability, has great potential as carrier of valley DOF and intriguing prospect for both fundamental research and practical application of valleytronics. Therefore manipulating valley pseudospin of electrons in graphene would greatly advance the study of valleytronics. This proposal presents the first experimental study of Berry optoelectronics in gapped graphene, in particular extremely strong Valley Hall effects and Valley Hall dynamics. The implementation includes three sections. The first is to break inversion symmetry of graphene crystal by fabricating graphene/boron nitride heterostructure and dual-gate bilayer graphene device. This symmetry breaking allows the Bloch electrons in K and -K valleys to experience valley-contrasted orbital magnetic moments and Berry curvatures, which result in valley-dependent optical selection rule and valley Hall effect. This supplies us paradigm for infrared and terahertz photodetection for section two. In section three, we explore the dynamics of confining charge carriers in a specified valley, by measuring the time-resolved behaviors.

Mots clés : pseudospin, valleytronics, graphene, valley hall effect, berry curvature, infrared photodetector, terahertz photodetector, time resolved measurement, ultrafast laser, pump probe

Participants :
- Institute of Photonic Sciences (Espagne) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Recherche, subvention : 158121.6 €
Projet Metabeyond (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2017)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Information Science and Engineering
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Modern state-of-the-art optoelectronic devices are subject to constant miniaturization. While electronic modules are still scalable, photonic components remain bulky, due to drastically larger wavelengths of photons compared to electrons. Light-matter interactions in the nanoscale can be engineered with metamaterials, by controlling the structural complexity of materials systems. However, practical fabrication limitations do not allow good precision beyond tens of nanometers, neither do they yield high-quality material properties. By contrast, two-dimensional (2D) materials like graphene or transition-metal dichalcogenides open routes for controlling light-matter interactions down to single atom thickness. To date, graphene-photonics investigate either a single sheet, or multiple ones separated by hundreds of nanometers-microns. I propose exploring a new regime of atomic-scale photonics, studying interacting 2D materials in van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures with periodicity in the Angstrom-scale. The transport properties of vdW stacks are already being explored, and their experimental realization is within reach with growth, exfoliation and intercalation. Contrary to conventional nanophotonics where light-matter interactions are tailored by controlling the geometrical features of metamaterials, at the atomic-scale arises the notion of (meta)materials by material design. Combining lattice vibrations, excitons and plasmons, supported in the large canvas of newly discovered 2D materials spanning dielectric, semiconducting and metallic properties, respectively, can lead to functional Angstrom-scale metastructures. Addressing both technological needs and fundamental science issues, my objectives include: taking advantage of graphene’s low-electron mass for surpassing the reflective properties of noble metals, utilizing the low mass density of vdW systems for tailoring Casimir forces, and exploring anisotropic vdW arrangements for directional light emission.

Mots clés : plasmonics, photonics, metamaterials, van der waals heterostructures, mesoscale systems

Participants :
- University of London (Royaume-Uni) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 183454.8 €
Projet CoCa (Horizon 2020, appel à projets 2015)
Action : Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
Panel : Life Sciences
Statut du projet : CLOSED

Molecular mechanisms that determine survival, differentiation and movement in multicellular organisms depend on extracellular matrix (ECM) integrity and cells interacting with the ECM. Collagens are the most abundant proteins in the ECM. Their primary function is to provide structural support to cells and to maintain biomechanical integrity of tissues. However, collagens are not just structural proteins. They act as extracellular modulators of signaling events and serve critical regulatory roles in various cell functions during embryonic development and adult homeostasis. It’s increasingly important to understand these mechanisms in cancer biology. Disruption or imbalance in collagen dynamics is associated to tumor formation and progression by directly acting on the development of tumoral stroma, cancer-associated fibroblasts and angiogenesis. Hence, targeting aberrant ECM may provide an effective avenue to combat cancer. Fibrillar collagens are among the first components to be compromised in cancers. This research proposal focuses on the role of the regulatory fibril forming collagen V whose upregulation has been reported in several types of human tumors. Combining my skills in cancer biology with the expertise of the host lab in ECM biology, I will investigate the versatile regulatory roles of collagens in ECM dynamics. I will focus in particular on the formation of the tumoral microenvironment and the complex mechanisms by which the properties of ECM instruct the development of cancer.


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

Monsoons affect more than half the world’s population yet the dynamics of monsoons are poorly understood. Climate models struggle to accurately simulate monsoons and projections of how these circulations will respond to climate change are highly uncertain. A transformed understanding of monsoon dynamics has the potential to improve both climate models and predictions of how this key feature of the climate system will respond to global warming. This project will use idealised climate-model simulations to quantify the impacts of clouds, water vapour, carbon dioxide, and ocean heat transport on changes in monsoon dynamics. These atmospheric and oceanic processes have recently been shown to affect the Hadley circulation and midlatitude storm tracks, but their influences on monsoons are unknown. To isolate and quantify the effect of each process on the monsoon response to climate change, a novel set of simulations employing the radiation-locking technique and a simple dynamic representation of ocean heat transport will be performed. This reduced-complexity methodology will deliver a greatly improved mechanistic understanding of monsoons under climate change. The enhanced knowledge of monsoon dynamics that results from this project will ultimately lead to improvements in climate models and to better predictions of how monsoons will change in the future, with important benefits for societies around the world.

Mots clés : monsoons, atmospheric dynamics, clouds, water vapour, carbon dioxide, ocean heat transport, radiative transfer

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

Most common disease-associated genetic variants are thought to fall into gene regulatory regions, where they affect the interaction between transcription factors (TFs) and DNA and induce transcriptional changes. To understand the extent of, and the mechanisms underlying variation in binding of TFs to DNA, genome-wide TF and chromatin state profiling studies were performed which revealed that non-coding variants frequently mediate coordinated changes in TF binding and chromatin mark enrichment over regions that span more than 100 kb. These regions were termed “variable chromatin modules” (VCMs), providing a conceptual framework of how regulatory variation might shape complex traits. However, little is known about the formation, function, or plasticity of VCMs. This is because vast amounts of epigenomics data have so far been required for identifying VCMs, making their identification costly, labour-intensive, and only applicable to easy-to-culture cell types. Recent work has demonstrated the value of ATAC-seq for defining regulatory element hierarchies that conceptually resemble VCMs. Here, I propose to extend these principles by developing an experimental and computational workflow for VCM identification using single-cell ATAC-seq. This will allow sample multiplexing for sequencing followed by genotype-based demultiplexing, thereby increasing throughput, minimizing sample input, and mitigating variation between samples (Aim 1). I will apply this workflow to study VCM plasticity during human mesenchymal stromal cell differentiation (Aim 2). The resulting data will be used to identify VCM-linked metabolic disease-relevant genetic variants, whose role in VCM formation will be validated using CRISPR-Cas9 (Aim 3).


Participants :
- Board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology (Suisse) — Coordinator, beneficiary, Enseignement supérieur ou secondaire, subvention : 203149.44 €