Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Productivity and carbon transformations on the Greenland Ice Sheet (PROGRIS)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: European Re-integration Grants
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2009-RG, 2009)
Start date: 2009-10-01
End date: 2011-09-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 30000.0
EU funding (EUR): 30000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Glaciers cover 10% of the Earth’s land surface and represent an important, yet very little studied, ecosystem. The biogeochemical cycling of carbon in the glacial ecosystem is largely influenced by microbial communities on glacier surfaces that mainly consist of heterotrophic and photoautotrophic bacteria. They have the potential to play a significant role in regional carbon budgets by means of primary and secondary production and respiration, and it is very important to evaluate their contribution on a large scale. However, to provide a credible supraglacial carbon budget, a study is needed in which C concentration and transformation rates in the supraglacial environment are related to the limiting factors, including the source of microbes and nutrients. Quantification of such a relationship will provide a powerful tool for global carbon budget models. The underlying hypothesis of the proposed research is that the productivity of the supraglacial ecosystem is constrained primarily by the source of microbial cells, and secondarily by rock-derived nutrients. The principal source of microbes and rock-derived nutrients is wind-borne debris originating in deglaciated areas close to the glacier margin. Thus, the main hypothesis to be tested in this study is that there is a relationship between the distance of a site on the glacier surface from the glacier margin and the abundance and activity of the local microbial community. The objectives of this study are to quantify the spatial distribution of surface debris on the Greenland Ice Sheet along a gradient from the glacier edge to the equilibrium line, to determine the quantity and quality of C and the abundance of microbes on the surface, to measure primary and secondary production and respiration of the supraglacial microbial community and to derive a relationship between the position along the gradient and the quantity and quality of C and its transformation rates.

Keywords: biogeochemistry,ecosystems,carbon cycle (climate change)
Integrated Computational Model Framework for the Study of Atherosclerosis (ICOMATH)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: International Re-integration Grants
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Greece
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2009-RG, 2009)
Start date: 2011-02-07
End date: 2014-02-06
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 75000.0
EU funding (EUR): 75000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Atherosclerosis, a disease of large- and medium-size arteries, is the major cause of death in most of the Western world. The blood flow and its interaction with the arterial wall deformation are considered to play a significant role in the pathobiological mechanisms (i.e. LDL concentraton) involved in the process of atheroma formation. Therefore, a unified computational model framework is proposed herein, which integrates blood flow dynamics and arterial wall mechanics, and based on the findings, it aims at describing the biological events that trigger the atherogenic process and its progression, through the study of LDL transport. It is believed that such an integrated computational model framework will provide a better understanding of the pathobiology of the disease and the underlying biological processes.

Keywords: biomedical engineering,atherosclerosis,blood flow,arterial wall mechanics,computational model
Crystallization in Ionic Liquid Solutions (CRYSTILS)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: European Re-integration Grants
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Portugal
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2009-RG, 2009)
Start date: 2010-04-01
End date: 2013-08-28
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 45000.0
EU funding (EUR): 45000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Crystallization is an essential process in the manufacture of products as varied as pharmaceuticals, electronic devices or biomimetic materials. In order to obtain a crystalline product with desirable characteristics (e.g. crystal size, morphology, structural organization) for specific applications it is crucial to control the mechanism and kinetics of crystal nucleation and growth. Yet, our understanding of the crystallization reactions remains limited, especially for organic, polymeric, and protein crystals. It is recognized that the specific chemistry of a solvent affects crystal growth and nucleation kinetics, morphology, crystal size distribution and purity of precipitates. Usually different solvents with respective properties are used for particular purposes, and organic solvents are ubiquitously applied in crystallization strategies in research and industry. However there is great concern in limiting the use of organic solvents because of their negative environmental and health impact. Ionic liquids (ILs) have earned special attention from the scientific community as alternatives to replace traditional volatile organic compounds. Some attempts have been made to exploit the unique properties of these salts in crystallization processes. Nevertheless the complexity of such systems and as yet not fully characterized chemistry of ILs make understanding of the underlying mechanisms and control of resulting precipitate characteristics quite difficult. The aim of this project is to use ILs as crystallization additives in order to design the aqueous solvent with predictable and controllable effect on respective characteristics of inorganic and protein crystals. Such an approach results from a novel concept that explains dependence of the crystallization reactions on additives present in solution by their effect on water structure and dynamics.

Keywords: ionic liquids,crystallization
Multi-modal Diffusion Tensor Imaging of Active Neurons: Searching for Functional and Other Biophysical Components (MMDTIAN)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: International Re-integration Grants
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Israel
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2009-RG, 2009)
Start date: 2010-03-01
End date: 2014-02-28
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) is a central tool in brain research and in the clinical neurological diagnosis. Despite its popularity in research and in clinical applications, the biophysical mechanisms underlying DTI are not fully understood. For example, with respect to essential parameters such as the amplitude of change of the apparent displacement post insults, the orientation of maximal change and its timing, theoretical models of displacement fail to describe the kinetics of water displacement following insults. Moreover, it was suggested that neuronal activity can directly modify the diffusion weighted MR signal to provide functional images with high temporal and spatial resolution. Our working hypothesis is that water displacement that occurs due to active cellular mechanisms, contributes significantly to the signal measured in DTI. We are interested in quantifying the contribution of various cellular events to the signal measured in DTI, where a pivotal mechanism that will explored is the suggested water displacement that is linked with neuronal activation. To address the limits of detectability of neuronal excitation via MR, we suggest employing a three-source, multi-modal system: MRI, electrical potential mapping and fluorescence microscopy of neuronal organotypic cell cultures. The use of organotypic cultures bypasses major sources of physiological artifacts such as blood flow and pulsation. MRI is performed with a low-field open MRI system. Electrical recordings will be performed simultaneously with a multi-electrode array system that will provide 2-D ‘imaging’ of neuronal electrical activity and optical microscopy will allow imaging of Calcium release. This multi-modal imaging system will allow testing previously proposed mechanisms of neural detection by MRI and will provide a test-bed to enable us to develop new ones.

Keywords: biomedical engineering,neurobiology,neurophysiology,brain research,tomography,mri,diffusion tensor imaging,function,water,biophysics
Investigation of the electronic properties of nanostructures at the atomic scale by means of low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy in ultrahigh vacuum conditions (STSON NANOSTRUCTURES)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: European Re-integration Grants
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Spain
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2009-RG, 2009)
Start date: 2009-11-01
End date: 2012-10-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 45000.0
EU funding (EUR): 45000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The main goal of the research project that I propose for the next three years is the study of the electronic properties of nanostructures at the atomic scale. The investigation will be performed by means of low temperature scanning tunnelling microscopy/spectroscopy in ultrahigh-vacuum environments (UHV-LTSTM), a unique technique which allows the study of these electronic properties in a local way with atomic resolution. Thanks to this technique it will be possible to get the local electronic information of the nanostructures with ultimate energy resolution (&lt;1meV) and also to modify the systems in a controlled way by direct manipulation using the STM tip. This will open the possibility to selectively modify the local environment of the nanostructures to study and also to create new nanostructures using as elemental building-blocks atoms and/or individual molecules. The investigation will be structured in three main research lines: On one side the electronic properties of nanostructures electronically decoupled from the substrate by means of ultrathin insulating films will be studied Two main kind of nanostructures will be examined; bidimensional metallic films and molecules both in single and self-assembled arrangements. In a second line these same nanostructures, now adsorbed on epitaxial graphene, will be investigated. Special emphasis will be put in the influence of the Dirac quasiparticles of graphene in the electronic properties of the nanostructures and also in understanding and/or controlling how the adsorption of these nanostructures locally or even globally modify the electronic properties of graphene itself. The third research line will be focused on the study of phase transitions in the metal semiconductor systems Pb/Si(111), Pb/Ge(111) and Sn/Ge(111) at 4K. One of the fundamental questions to understand the temperature evolution of these 2D systems is precisely to know which is the true ground state at the lowest temperature.

Keywords: scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy,graphene,surface physics,single molecules,electronic,magnetic and superconductive properties,nanoelectronics
Mechanistic and Evolutive Development of Spine Biomechanical Modelling (SEVBIOM)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: European Re-integration Grants
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Spain
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2009-RG, 2009)
Start date: 2009-10-01
End date: 2011-09-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 30000.0
EU funding (EUR): 30000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Lumbar spine finite element (FE) modelling can bring important information about load distributions in tissues involved in low back pain. However, current verifications of spine models cannot validate predictions at single tissue level (Noailly, 2007). Mechanistic models of spine tissues, respecting the link between composition, structure, and biophysical properties, can ensure accurate local predictions, but their use in complete segment models is still poorly developed. Thus, this project aims to mechanistically describe and validate the behaviour of a L3-L5 lumbar spine bi-segment FE model, by focussing on intervertebral disc collagen fibres and proteoglycans. Further mechano-biological developments of the model will be also initiated. In a first step, the lumbar intervertebral disc proteoglycan matrix will be modelled as an osmo-poroviscoelastic (OPVE) material. For the annulus fibrosus, proteoglycan matrix will be coupled to a previously developed fibre-reinforced composite model. The OPVE theory will be validated with a pre-existing lumbar disc FE geometry associated to a set of model-specific static and dynamic in vitro measurements. In a second step, the OPVE theory will be used to validate both the tissue and segment mechanics predicted by a previously developed L3-L5 lumbar spine bi-segment model. At tissue level, verifications will be done by correlating predicted intervertebral disc and vertebra load distributions with load-related tissue structures (Smit, 1997), compositions (Brickley-Parson, 1984), and cell phenotypes (Bruehlmann, 2002). Finally, a proteoglycan mechano-regulation theory will be developed, based on the influence of hydrostatic stresses and principal strains on the fixed charge densities described by the OPVE model. The new theory will be assessed thanks to the large amount of reported data about disc experimental mechano-biology. Beyond this project, the evolutive model should be further coupled to a transport model.

Keywords: biomechanics,computational models,numerical analysis,orthopaedics,computational biology
THE DEBATE BETWEEN ISLAM AND THE WEST IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (DEBIWIST)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: International Re-integration Grants
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Türkiye
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2009-RG, 2009)
Start date: 2010-02-01
End date: 2014-01-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Perceptions of Eastern scholars about modern European civilization—is not well documented. The subject has been a growing field, especially in the US, during the last decade but critical groundwork is not yet complete. Thus, it is still difficult to assess the attitudes of early modern Muslim intellectuals and statesmen toward modern Western civilization, and specifically its sciences and technology, in any comprehensive way. “The Debate between Islam and the West in Science and Technology” (“DEBIWIST”) project will address these lacunae in the following ways: First, it will document the changing perceptions of European civilization held by native intellectuals in Turkey and Egypt between 1850 and 1950. Its focus will be considerations of Western sciences and technology, and Middle Eastern justifications for acceptance or rejection based on religious grounds. The study will concentrate on major thinkers from different sectors (religious and lay, and traditional and European-style educated thinkers or scholars) of each society. The second objective is to contribute in-depth and scholarly information and analyses to current debates about the compatibility of Islam and European civilizations. It will do this by examining case studies from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Here, research will analyze data from Egypt and Turkey that counters the “Clash of Civilizations” arguments presented in Samuel Huntington’s 1993 article and emphasizes the cooperation between Islam and Europe on a deeper academic level. The third objective is to contribute to and expand the area studies within the European context. Although European scholars established the precedents in Islamic studies, American universities have taken the lead in research and publication in Middle Eastern studies. This project will identify and aggregate researchers at Bilkent with a long-term goal of establishing a Middle Eastern studies concentration.

Keywords: humanities,social sciences,area studies,history of science and technology,islam,middle east history and politics,political and social movements,european civilization,islamic civilization
Computational study of hydrogen storage in metal-doped materials (COMHMAT)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: International Re-integration Grants
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Greece
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2009-RG, 2009)
Start date: 2009-11-01
End date: 2013-10-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The efficient storage of hydrogen is the bottleneck in the development of fuel-cell powered vehicles. Currently, technical targets for hydrogen storage capacity have not been met by any existing technology. The European Union has set research needs for hydrogen storage in very high priority in view of the expected benefits of fuel cells in facing the global warming problem. Experimental studies have concluded that a promising method for storing hydrogen is by adsorption in metal-doped porous materials. Physically, in this method, the metal nanoparticles cause dissociation of hydrogen gas and H atoms subsequently migrate to the porous adsorbent. The phenomenon is called spillover and its mechanism is currently not understood. We aim to use a multi-scale modeling approach, consisting of ab-initio DFT calculations, Monte Carlo simulations and macroscopic modeling, in order to: a) Understand the mechanism of spillover and the effects of material properties and operating conditions. b) Quantify the capacity of hydrogen storage by spillover on a variety of metal-doped porous materials, including graphitic materials, carbon nanotubes, carbon foams, graphite-oxide materials, metal-organic frameworks and covalent-organic frameworks) c) Predict materials that would be expected to have high hydrogen storage capacities through the mechanism of spillover.

Keywords: hydrogen storage,nanomaterials,spillover,metal-doping,computational,ab-initio,monte-carlo
Graphene nanoribbon based chemical sensors (GNRSENSE)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: International Re-integration Grants
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Israel
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2009-RG, 2009)
Start date: 2010-01-01
End date: 2013-12-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Significant progress and novel discoveries have been made in the past two decades in the science of nanometer scale carbon based materials. Novel physical phenomena characterizing low dimensional systems have been discovered leading to the development of prototype devices. Graphene nanoribbons have very recently emerged at the front of this field due to their unique electronic, magnetic and mechanical properties and the ability to fabricate them in a controllable and reproducible manner. Despite the considerable progress that has been made in the controlled fabrication and the understanding of the physical properties of graphene nanoribbons, currently, much less is known regarding their chemical nature. The large surface to volume ratio and the existence of reactive edges are expected to considerably enhance their chemical reactivity with respect to related systems such as carbon nanotubes and infinite graphene surfaces. Thus, understanding the surface and edge chemistry of graphene nanoribbons and utilizing it for chemical sensing purposes is a major challenge. It is the purpose of this research program to address this challenge. To this end, our proposed program will focus on the development and implementation of a new model that will allow the accurate treatment of the electronic and transport properties of finite extended systems such as graphene nanoribbon surfaces. Using this model we will study in depth the process of molecular adsorption on the surface and edges of nanoribbons and its influence on the electronic properties of the ribbon. Furthermore, we propose to study new schemes to control the reactivity of the ribbon and the selectivity of the adsorption process. We believe that the proposed research program will enhance the understanding of the chemical nature of graphene nanoribbons and will provide guidelines for the design and fabrication of novel nanoscale sensing devices.

Keywords: graphene,nanoribbon,sensor,transport,extended,electronic,model,theory,dft
Conditioning regimens shape the homeostasis of adoptively transferred T cells: Effects on autoreactivity and role in anti-tumor therapy (T CELL HOMEOSTASIS)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: International Re-integration Grants
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: France
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2009-RG, 2009)
Start date: 2010-01-01
End date: 2013-12-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The ability of adoptively-transferred T cells to mediate an immune response is modulated by the host environment. It has previously been shown that donor T cells proliferate and acquire memory-like characteristics when injected into lymphopenic hosts while in hosts with a « full » T cell compartment, they remain naïve and do not acquire effector function. As it is important to optimize the persistence and responsiveness of transferred T cells for immunotherapy strategies, we assessed whether T cell fate is dependent upon the conditioning regimen used to achieve lymphopenia. We induced lymphopenia in C57Bl/6 mice by sub-lethal irradiation or chemotherapy using busulfan with cyclophosphamide (Bu/Cy) and found that the relative engraftment of CD4 and CD8 T cells was markedly changed by the conditioning protocol: Irradiation-induced lymphopenia resulted in a skewed proliferation of donor CD8 T cells with a CD4:CD8 ratio of &lt;1:5 whereas Bu/Cy-induced lymphopenia resulted in a massive proliferation of donor CD4 T cells with only minimal proliferation of CD8 T cells. These results clearly demonstrate that lymphopenic conditions are not equivalent in their potential to foster the regeneration of T cell pools. I propose to study the characteristics of the host and adoptively-transferred T cells generated in these two lymphopenic environments, with specific assessment of TH1, TH17 and Treg subsets. As the host microenvironment modulates T cell persistence and function, the effects of these regimens on the fate of stromal cell and APC populations will also be monitored. Moreover, I will study the consequences of irradiation and Bu/Cy conditioning on the reconstitution and function of adoptively-transferred T cells harboring a re-directed tumor-specific TCR in mice harbouring B cell lymphomas. The identification of parameters that enhance the survival and reactivity of adoptively-transferred tumor-specific T cells is important for the development of immunotherapy strategies

Keywords: radiotherapy,immunology,chronic diseases,anticancer therapy