Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Complex Supramolecular Architectures via the Micellization of Semicrystalline-Coil Block Copolymers: Synthesis and Hierarchical Self-Assembly (SUPRANANOASSEMBLY)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Intra-European Fellowships
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IEF, 2010)
Start date: 2011-04-01
End date: 2013-03-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 272636.8
EU funding (EUR): 272636.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The development of nanostructured soft materials based on the solution self-assembly of polymers is an area of intense global interest. The self-assembly of semicrystalline-coil block copolymers is virtually unexplored but offers new opportunities to prepare well-defined micelles and enhances the opportunities to fabricate and manipulate novel nanostructures with tailored properties. This represents an important challenge for the successful exploitation of their potential for future technological applications ranging from stimuli-responsive nanoscaffolds to composite materials with improved functional characteristics. Recent advances in processing approaches using crystalline-coil systems with metalloblocks have provided new levels of tailorability to the self-assembled structures formed by block copolymer assemblies in solution. The generalization of this approach to other materials renders feasible the precise bottom-up formation of a broad range of unique functional nanostructures. As a result of the distinctive physical properties and functions of the constitutional components, diblock copolymers containing crystalline stereocomplexed polylactide or polycaprolactone segments will be studied as they provide an exciting opportunity to access novel hierarchically structured polymeric nanoobjects with predetermined properties. This interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research proposal requires a wide range of skills and combines the expertise of the applicant (polymer synthesis and self-assembly in the solid state) with that of the host laboratory (polymer chemistry, block polymer self-assembly in solution, materials chemistry, and nanoscience). The proposed fellowship will bring a promising young researcher to the UK for 2 years to be followed his return, preferably to Greece, or relocation elsewhere in the EU.

Keywords: polymer chemistry,micellization,supramolecular chemistry,block copolymers,nanofabrication,ring opening polymerization,biodegradable structures,crystallization,hierarchical self-assembly
The mechanism by which CML23/24 affects the circadian clock (CIRCADIAN CLOCK)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Intra-European Fellowships
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IEF, 2010)
Start date: 2011-03-01
End date: 2013-02-28
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 201049.6
EU funding (EUR): 201049.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

In response to daily light and temperature cycles, organisms have evolved a 24 h circadian clock, which in plants controls gene expression, stomatal opening and the timing component of photoperiodism. The genetic structure of the circadian network in Arabidopsis can be separated into three components: a central genetic oscillator and entrainment and outputs pathways. However, the reality is less clear, as circadian-outputs may modulate inputs to the clock and there is also a loop of cytosolic signalling molecules that forms part of the plant circadian clock. In this context, it has been proposed that one of the intermediates in the cold signalling pathway, cyclic adenosine diphosphate ribose (cADPR) is required to drive circadian oscillations of cytosolic-free Ca2+ ([Ca2+]cyt) and also modulate the nuclear transcriptional feedback loop of the Arabidopsis circadian oscillator. However, we have a poor understanding of the mechanisms by which Ca2+ regulates circadian clock gene expression. Previous results obtained in Dr Webb’s lab have identified genes encoding the calcium-binding proteins CALMODULIN-LIKE 23 (CML23) and CML24 as Ca2+-signalling components that regulate the circadian network. This project will use a multidisciplinary approach including a mathematical model, molecular biology and biochemistry to determine key molecular targets of CML23/24, identify CML23/24 interacting proteins and determinate their effects on oscillator function and identify genetic interactions between CML23/24 and clock/light signalling genes. It will allow us to establish that CML23 and CML24 are components of the circadian network in Arabidopsis forming a cytosolic feedback loop together with cADPR and Ca2+. This will establish the relationship between daily [Ca2+]cyt dynamics and the control of the circadian network.

Keywords: natural sciences,circadian clock,calcium,calmodulin,signalling,arabidopsis
Cradle-to-gate and efficiency studies of major materials used in electrical and electronic equipment (C2GE3E)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Intra-European Fellowships
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: France
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IEF, 2010)
Start date: 2011-04-01
End date: 2013-07-21
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 179048.0
EU funding (EUR): 179048.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) are made of hundreds of components using thousand of materials in their lifespan. The complexity of material flows, coupled with the uncertainty of their sustainable use, makes it evident that a sound method of quantification and assessment is in order. The project aims to quantify the cradle-to-gate of the plastics and metals used in EEE in order to assess their life cycle and efficiency. Inputs and outputs to each process will be accounted by using the material balance principle whereas efficiencies will be calculated using exergy analysis. Exergy represents the potential for work or available energy, and it is not conserved, making it a useful property in determining losses, efficiency and irreversibilities of a system. The results of the C2GE3E project will help obtaining a wider knowledge of the material and energy requirements for the production of EEE but also the wastes generated through their lifespan. The project includes a case study based on a multifunctional mobile phone which uses scarce metals. Research in those metals is crucial to estimate the potential for mass production of emerging technologies and will help develop prospective assessments about future demands and reusing and recycling potential to meet the goals set by the Waste EEE directive. Dr Talens Peiró is a motivated young researcher that expects to advance in the research of life cycle and exergy analyses. The Marie Curie fellowship will provide her a highly qualified supervision by Prof. Ayres who works in efficiency studies since 1970s and did the first studies in life cycle and exergy analyses back in the 1990’s. The fellowship will offer a unique opportunity to advance her career as an independent researcher by consolidating her post-doctoral activities, improving her research, teaching, and vocational skills and enhance her international and multi-cultural experiences.

Keywords: environmental impact,chemical engineering,mineral engineering,metal technology,plastics technology
Scaning chemical pollution as an ecological impact of non-native fish introductions: an experimental approach (SCENT)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Intra-European Fellowships
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IEF, 2010)
Start date: 2011-11-01
End date: 2013-10-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 271636.8
EU funding (EUR): 271636.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The proposed MC Fellowship will look for the first time into the concept of pheromone pollution within biological invasions, as we strongly suspect this is facilitating the establishment of introduced fish species in novel ecosystems from the results of preliminary experiments. In the same way that introduced species can disrupt native species genetics through hybridisation, they can also disrupt highly-evolved reproductive behaviours through a complex exchange of pheromones signals in chemical complexes of similar character. Species-specific modifications to separate similar pheromone systems, and prevent a generic response, have not previously been required due to geographical isolation, whereas today these species are increasing living in sympatry in European freshwaters. Correspondingly, a dominant individual of an invasive fish that uses chemical signals to modify behaviours among subordinates could, when introduced, also affect the individual behaviours of native species. This has been discovered in the most invasive fish in Europe, topmouth gudgeon Pseudorasbora parva, which has a sexual pheromone complex that causes the total inhibition of spawning in two small-bodied, nest-guarding cyprinids from continental Europe (sunbleak Leucaspius delinateus; IUCN Red List of Threatened Species) and North America (fathead minnow Pimephales promelas). Therefore, the overall aim of the project is to examine the concept of pheromone pollution as a facilitator of the establishment and invasion of P. parva in novel ecosystems. This will be completed through experimental studies of reproductive pheromone interactions between P. parva, and both L. delineatus and P. promelas, and so has high significance for the conservation of European fish diversity. The project will then provide fundamental information for guiding the formulation and implementation of EU policy and management decisions on the invasive species that are impacting most on the biodiversity of Member States.

Keywords: natural sciences,environmental science,animal ecology,biological invasions,chemical communication,endangered fish species,induced behaviour,invasive species
Shearwaters' Olfaction: a comparative study of sensory ecology in the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean (SOMA)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Intra-European Fellowships
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: France
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IEF, 2010)
Start date: 2011-11-01
End date: 2013-10-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 185748.0
EU funding (EUR): 185748.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Petrels (order Procellariiformes) are seabirds found in worldwide oceans with a high diversity of species and characterized by pelagic and wide-ranging lifestyle. Some recent study showed that their well-developed sense of smell plays a key role in locating patchily distributed food resources in the ocean, in nest finding at night, and for mate recognition. However, different species of petrels tested responded differently to olfactory stimuli according to their ecology. This suggests that odours responsiveness may be linked to specific adaptations, but sensory ecology of petrels is understudied and comparative studies are virtually missing. We hypothesize that different environmental constraints in close seas and open oceans, may have led to rely differently on olfactory cues. Here, we propose a comprehensive comparative study aimed to investigate how olfaction contributes to behaviours such as homing, foraging, individual and predators’ odour recognition and migration routes, using Cory’s shearwaters as model species. We will try to identify the evolutionary adaptations to different environments, comparing sensory ecology of different populations of this species breeding in the Mediterranean Sea and in the Atlantic Ocean. We will also integrate ecological and behavioural data with chemical and phylogenetical analyses. The results of this study will be fundamental for the knowledge and conservation of this species. The Host institution is so far the only one in Europe dealing with olfaction and sensory ecology of seabirds. The proposed research, characterized by the promotion of international collaboration among different European Members, will bring the European Research Area in the forefront of olfactory and sensory ecology research, and to be a reference for the world research in this rising domain.

Keywords: animal ecology,sensory ecology,behavioural ecology,petrels,olfaction,foraging,homing,migration,calonectris diomedea,cory's shearwater,mediterranean sea,atlantic ocean
Reducing drag over wings (REDWING)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Intra-European Fellowships
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Italy
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IEF, 2010)
Start date: 2011-05-23
End date: 2012-03-22
Duration (months): 10.0
Total project cost (EUR): 189112.0
EU funding (EUR): 189112.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

A great challenge in both fundamental and applied fluid mechanics research is to reduce friction drag on bodies immersed in a fluid. Even small amounts of drag reduction on airplanes, ships, cars, wind- and water-power plants could save several billions Euros annually and help preserve earth’s resources. The present project combines recent developments in numerical simulations of fluid flows, novel theory of poroelasticity and inspiration from biological observations, to devise passive flow control techniques. The control strategies are based on coating the surface (such as the wing of an airplane) with either rigid and permeable roughness elements or with a soft, porous and elastic composite to achieve drag reduction. The properties and initial parameters of the coated surfaces are chosen based on biological observations of how animals use scales and pelage to reduce drag. The proposed project will, in addition to significantly broaden the fellow's research experience, incorporate efficient and targeted complementary training to produce an independent scholar who will perform high quality multi-disciplinary research in fluid mechanics. For example, the fellow will organize and deliver one advanced-level course, co-advise a graduate student on a daily basis, initiate new international collaborations as well as attend complementary training courses available at the host organization.

Keywords: fluid dynamics,aerodynamics,hydrodynamics,computational fluid dynamics (flight physics),biomimetics,poromechanics,numerical algorithms
Nanoscale Photoactivation and Imaging of Synaptic Spine Dynamics (DYNASPINE)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Intra-European Fellowships
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: France
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IEF, 2010)
Start date: 2012-03-01
End date: 2014-02-28
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 186748.0
EU funding (EUR): 186748.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Synapses are physical sites of communication that transmit and transform information between neurons in a very rapid and dynamic way. Not surprisingly, malfunctioning synapses are at the root of some of our most prevalent neurological and psychiatric disorders. As synapses are smaller than what diffraction-limited light microscopy can resolve, and densely packed in light-scattering brain tissue, it has been extremely difficult to study their physiology in mechanistic terms. As a result, we still lack an understanding of the basic dynamic organization of neurotransmitter receptors and their molecular partners at mammalian synapses. While electron microscopy provided detailed snapshots of where glutamate receptors are located inside synapses, this technique does not convey dynamic or functional information. Since existing optical approaches, such as 2-photon glutamate uncaging, do not have sufficient spatial resolution, progress in this area relies on fundamental breakthroughs in live-cell-compatible techniques relying on focused visible light. We propose to utilize novel STED superresolution microscopy to image and concurrently activate synapses in live spines by superresolution STED photo-uncaging of glutamate. STED microscopy offers optical resolution an order of magnitude higher than current 2-photon or confocal techniques, and we aim to unravel functional and structural nano-dynamics of spines and synapses during plasticity. Specifically, as part of a collaborative effort, we will (1) evaluate newly engineered photosensitive glutamate-containing compounds for superresolution STED-based photo-activation, (2) advance STED microscopy technology to concurrently activate and image synapses beyond the diffraction limit, and (3) use this new methodology to probe synaptic physiology in brain slices with unprecedented resolution. These advances will enable us to address timely questions regarding the dynamic behavior of neurotransmitter receptors in individual spines.

Keywords: neurobiology,neurophysiology,brain research,microscopy,optics,physical sciences
Calculation of Pharmacokinetic Properties of Druglike Molecules using Integral Equation Theory (IETSOL)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Intra-European Fellowships
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IEF, 2010)
Start date: 2012-02-01
End date: 2014-01-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 192849.6
EU funding (EUR): 192849.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Accurate calculation of the hydration free energies of organic molecules is a long-standing challenge in computational chemistry and is important in many aspects of research in the pharmaceutical and agrochemical industries. For example, many of the pharmacokinetic properties of potential drug molecules are deﬁned by their in vivo solvation and acid-base behavior, which can be estimated from their hydration free energies. Commonly used methods to calculate hydration free energy (e.g. continuum solvent models and explicit solvent simulations) are either too inaccurate or too computationally expensive for routine use in the pharmaceutical industry. In a recent blind test for the calculation of hydration free energies of druglike molecules using existing methods, the best predictions were in the range RMSE = 2.5 – 3.5 kcal/mol, which equates to a ~2 log unit error in the related pharmacokinetic property (estimated from G(solv) = −RT ln K). [Guthrie, J.P. J. Phys. Chem. B, 2009, 113, 4501] Integral equation theory (IET) is an alternative framework for the calculation of hydration free energies. IET retains information about the solvent structure (in the form of density correlation functions), but estimates the solute chemical potential without the need for long explicit solvent simulations. In a recent proof-of-concept study, Palmer (the “experienced researcher”) and Fedorov (the “scientist in charge”) demonstrated that using IET it is possible to calculate hydration free energies of druglike molecules more accurately than with other existing methods (RMSE for a test set of 19 molecules was less than 1.2 kcal/mol). [Palmer, D.S. et al. J. Chem. Phys., 2010, 133, 044104] The purpose of this proposal is to build upon earlier work and to develop real-world tools for predicting the pharmacokinetic properties of druglike molecules using IET.

Keywords: pharmaceutical chemistry,computational chemistry,solvation,integral equation theory,pharmacokinetics,solubility,pka,drug discovery,pharmaceuticals,hydration free energy,energy landscapes
Fast and accurate simulation of nuclear quantum effects in ab-initio molecular dynamics by a generalized Langevin equation (NQEAIMD)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Intra-European Fellowships
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IEF, 2010)
Start date: 2012-07-01
End date: 2014-06-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 200049.6
EU funding (EUR): 200049.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Computer simulations of matter at the atomic level provide insights complementary to experiments in a number of different physical, chemical and biological problems. The quantum nature of nuclei is usually disregarded, because of the computational burden inherent in an accurate treatment. However, these nuclear quantum effects have important, qualitative consequences, in particular when light atoms such as hydrogen are present. Moreover, inelastic neutron scattering techniques have been developed in the past years, which probe experimentally the quantum distribution of proton velocities, and would benefit from the availability of inexpensive modeling tools. Here we propose the development of a new methodology for treating nuclear quantum effects, which reduces computational effort without sacrificing accuracy by combining in a unified formalism path integral molecular dynamics and the "quantum thermostat", based on correlated-noise stochastic equations. We expect in this way to be able to treat routinely nuclear quantum effects together with an accurate, first-principles evaluation of inter-atomic forces, while so far this has only been attempted occasionally and with great computational effort. These theoretical developments will be accompanied by applications to problems of fundamental and technological relevance. After having demonstrated the reliability of our approach on a few simple, controlled examples, we will tackle the problem of ab-initio water, in particular with reference to recent inelastic neutron scattering experiments performed at ISIS. At a later stage we will choose a more complex problem to demonstrate our approach. Among the possible applications, hydrogen-storage materials are particularly promising, also considering the opportunity of a collaboration with the experimental group of Prof. Bill David, who has been performing leading-edge experiments on complex hydrides in the past few years at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratories in Oxfordshire.

Keywords: quantum chemistry,computational physics,molecular dynamics,path integrals,nuclear quantum effects,generalized langevin equation