Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Engineering of an Artificial Capsidic Enzyme for Aqueous Dirhodium Catalysis (ACCARC)

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: Switzerland
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IEF, 2011)
Start date: 2012-04-01
End date: 2014-03-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 192622.2
EU funding (EUR): 192622.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Artificial metalloenzymes are expected to bring together the best of the two worlds of homogeneous and enzyme catalysis, combining broad substrate scope with high activity and reaction selectivity under mild conditions. Herein we propose to construct an artificial metalloenzyme based on a dirhodium active site in the capsid scaffold of the protein ferritin. Catalytically competent dirhodium compounds are derived from dirhodium tetraacetate, which possesses fourfold symmetry, with the ligands symmetrically arranged around the equator of the rhodium dimer. The transition metal core is active in a wide range of reactions including cyclopropanation, C-H activation and O-H insertion. These transformations play an important role in the synthesis of natural products, pharmaceuticals, and other industrially relevant targets. We will exploit the fourfold-symmetric pores of the capsidic protein ferritin to construct a dirhodium binding site. A ferritin mutant will be produced with four glutamate residues pointing in the channel lumen, suitable as ligands for the rhodium dimer. After derivatization with dirhodium the artificial capsid will be employed as a catalyst in organometallic reactions, such as the cyclopropanation of diaza carbonyl compounds with olefins in aqueous solution. The catalytic properties of this first dirhodium enzyme will be fine-tuned by the highly modular secondary ligand environment of the protein. The dirhodium binding site will also be introduced at the inner mouth of the fourfold channel, resulting in an active site inside the capsid. High local substrate concentrations and the presence of a second, complementary reaction center inside the capsid might allow multi-enzyme cascade catalysis, thus paving the way toward artificial nanoreactors with tailored properties.

Keywords: biochemistry,chemical engineering,organometallic chemistry,enzyme engineering,homogeneous catalysis,enzimology,molecular design,de novo design
Characterization of the role of DNA methylation, hydroxymethylation and TET proteins in progesterone-mediated signaling in breast cancer cells. (HYDROXYMETHYLATION)

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: Spain
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IEF, 2011)
Start date: 2013-03-13
End date: 2015-03-12
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 176053.2
EU funding (EUR): 176053.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Hormone-dependent cancers affect millions of people worldwide and are a great burden to society, both financially and in terms of healthcare resources. The steroid hormone progesterone plays critical roles in a variety of physiological functions as well as in the carcinogenesis of hormone-dependent cancers including breast and endometrial cancers. Progesterone regulates gene expression through histone modifications and chromatin remodeling. However, the role played by DNA methylation in this context has not been determined. DNA methylation (5-methylcytosine) generally represses gene transcription via methyl-binding proteins. Changes in DNA methylation levels are observed in carcinogenesis as well as in the dynamic regulation of genes which rapidly respond to stimuli. Ten-eleven translocation (TET) proteins hydroxylate the 5-methylcytosine during the demethylation process synthesizing 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC). 5hmC inhibits the interactions of methyl-binding proteins and can influence both long- and short-term regulation of gene transcription. The goal of this proposal is to identify DNA methylation and hydroxymethylation changes induced by progesterone in breast cancer cells. We will use hMeDIP-sequencing and combined glycosylation restriction analysis to measure the differential levels of 5-methylcytosine and 5-hydroxymethylcytosine marks. Furthermore, we propose to characterize the role of TET proteins in progesterone-mediated signaling. To this end, we plan to analyze gene expression and DNA methylation/hydroxymethylation changes in hormone-treated cells in the presence and absence of TET proteins. In addition, we will investigate TET binding in untreated and hormone-treated cells by ChIP assay. The outcome of this project will clarify the biological functions of 5-hydroxymethylcytosine in hormonal-mediated gene regulation and could lead to the identification of new targets for the diagnosis and treatment of hormone-dependent cancers.

Keywords: health sciences,hormone-dependent cancer,progesterone,5-methylcytosine,5-hydroxymethylcytosine,tet proteins,gene regulation,demethylation
Contaminant analysis in Food by Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry: towards a generic extraction and screening for pesticides and veterinary drugs (CONFIRMS)

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: Switzerland
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IEF, 2011)
Start date: 2012-07-01
End date: 2014-06-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 184709.4
EU funding (EUR): 184709.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The presence of potentially hazardous pesticides and veterinary drugs in food remains a major concern among European consumers. It is important to monitor their residues to ensure that they are not found in food at levels presenting an unacceptable risk to humans. A variety of multiresidue analytical methods are used in official routine laboratories to help ensure the safety of food and feed in Europe. However, highly polar analytes cannot be usually included in these methods due to their different physic-chemical characteristics. Also, the number of residues routinely analyzed is limited and data are collected only for those targeted compounds, so other potentially harmful, non-targeted analytes or their metabolites are not detected although being present in the sample. The project’s general main goal will be the development of generic, faster and more cost-efficient multiresidue methods for the extraction and analysis in food samples of a wide range of pesticides and veterinary drugs, both target (focusing on highly polar problematic analytes) and non-target compounds (including metabolites), using state-of-the-art analytical equipment, i.e. liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. These methods will permit more food samples to be monitored due to the lower cost and time per test. In combination with the broadened spectrum of detectable contaminants and the additional safety provided for unexpected residues, the project will significantly increase food safety in Europe. The overall work will be carried out at the “Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Analytical Chemistry” (LCAP) at the University of Geneva, a long-experienced group in the development of methods for the analysis of drugs and metabolites with modern techniques. As part of collaboration, the developed methods will be transferred to the “Laboratory of Contaminants” at the Food Authority Control (SCAV) of Geneva in order to routinely implement them as a complement to their own procedures.

Keywords: analytical chemistry,contaminants,pesticides,veterinary drugs,food,liquid chromatography,mass spectrometry
Empiricism vs Rationalism: The Rise of a Historiographical Narrative (EVR)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: International Incoming Fellowships
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: United Kingdom,United Kingdom
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IIF, 2011)
Start date: 2012-06-01
End date: 2013-12-31
Duration (months): 19.0
Total project cost (EUR): 165484.78
EU funding (EUR): 165484.78
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

For most of the twentieth century, Anglophone philosophers and historians held that early modern philosophy was dominated by the contrast between Descartes', Spinoza's, and Leibniz's rationalism and Locke's, Berkeley's, and Hume's empiricism. In the light of growing scepticism surrounding this narrative, the proposed research will shed light on its history. It will determine when the narrative entered into English histories of philosophy; how it came to shape the university curriculum in Great Britain and Australasia; what roles the programmes of British Idealists and American Pragmatists played in this process; and how the standard narrative was appropriated by Anglophone philosophers in the twentieth and early twenty-first century. Unfolding at the intersection between philosophy and the history of ideas, universities, and philosophical historiography, the project will shed light on how philosophy shapes its past. The project builds on innovative research done by the Fellow, Dr Alberto Vanzo; the convergence of interests and complementarity of expertise between the Fellow and the Scientist in Charge, Prof. Tom Sorell; and the strengths of the Host Institution, the Department of Philosophy of the University of Birmingham. The project will result in five journal articles; an online work-in-progress workshop; a symposium and associated publication; a workshop and guide for philosophy teachers in universities and high schools; and 35 blog posts. The project will catalyze long-term collaborations by promoting the constitution of an international network of scholars, with a strong European participation. The project will achieve a wide, early dissemination of results within and beyond the scholarly community, using the blog to reach out to educated laypeople and the teacher's workshop and guide to bring the teaching of early modern philosophy in line with current scholarship. Thus, the project will consolidate and expand European excellence in research and education.

Keywords: philosophy,history of philosophy,intellectual history,history of universities,historiography,empiricism,rationalism
Heterogeneous activity underlying the control of animal behaviour by a fungus (HETEROGENIUS)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: International Outgoing Fellowships
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Germany
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IOF, 2011)
Start date: 2012-08-16
End date: 2015-08-15
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 266289.0
EU funding (EUR): 266289.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

One of the most dramatic examples of parasites controlling behaviour is the manipulation of ants infected by the fungus Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, causing them to bite into vegetation before dying. Most work so far has described the ant’s behaviour. I plan to study the process behind this behaviour from the fungal genome point of view. The environment experienced by the fungal parasite changes dramatically as it goes from infection to manipulation. Therefore, the transcriptome of this mind controlling fungus is expected to be highly heterogeneous. To test this hypothesis and elucidate the complex genetic mechanisms behind adaptive parasite manipulation of host behaviour I will use a single cell, whole transcriptome analysis protocol I pioneered and apply it to this emerging model. This will allow me to sample cells in different parts of the ant’s body during different phases of the lifecycle. I will combine this with LC/MS in fungal cells transferred between artificial ant environments to elucidate the fungal metabolites that are secreted in different parts within the host. Recently, it has been discovered that manipulated biting behaviour is synchronized at noon. This indicates that the fungal circadian clock might have a big influence on this parasitic behavioural control. Therefore, I will combine my findings with chronobiology to test the hypothesis if this heterogeneous activity is a function of circadian rhythm. An important additional objective of this proposal is advanced training facilitating my transition to independence.

Keywords: evolutionary biology,behavioural biology,natural sciences,animal ethology,environmental genomics,ecological genetics
Cyp-450 biosynthesis of Lyngbya majuscula natural products (LYNGBYA-KENYA)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: International Incoming Fellowships
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IIF, 2011)
Start date: 2012-04-26
End date: 2014-04-25
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 209033.4
EU funding (EUR): 209033.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The filamentous marine cyanobacterium, Lyngbya majuscula (order Oscillatoriales) is a prolific source of modular natural products, some of which have shown promise for the treatment of cancer, diabetes, HIV and Alzheimers disease. However, the failure to grow its axenic cultures (because of the lack of the nifH gene) suggests that obtaining the natural products from the cyanobacterium in sustainable yields is enigmatic. My investigations into the Kenyan L. majuscula molecular diversity established it to be encapsulated by a sheath of brightly coloured epibiotic bacteria (EB) species, representative of a group of phyla that are an especially important source of novel natural products in drug discovery. Consistent with the paucity of natural product genes (a mere 3%) observed in the L. majuscula 3L draft genome sequence, there are serious concerns on whether the nearly 300 compounds isolated pan-tropically from L. majuscula originate from the cyanobacterium or EB cohabiting with it or both. This study therefore aims to investigate the heterologous cytochrome P450 (cyp450) mediated biosynthesis of L. majuscula natural products from EB cohabiting with it. The Kenyan L. majuscula is the source of the modular homodolastatin 16 (HMDS 16) and antanapeptin A (ANTAP A). Specifically, EB will be screened for polyketide synthase (PKS)/nonribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS) megasynthase gene clusters targeting HMDS 16 and ANTAP A. Gene clusters encoding for HMDS 16, ANTAP A and cyp450 flanking the clusters will be amplified from cDNA using specific primers for the gene models. PCR amplification products will be cloned and resulting plasmids transformed into a Saccharomyces cerevisiae shuttle vector for co-expression with cyp450. Methanolic extracts of the recombinant cultures will be analysed for modular natural products and the results compared with those of EB in direct culture and of L. majuscula. Structural elucidation of natural products will utilise LC/MS/NMR spectrometry.

Keywords: lyngbya majuscula,cyp450,nrps/pks,hmds 16,antap a,gene cluster,lc/ms/nmr,kenya
A New Approach to Electrocatalytic CO2 Reduction Based on Supramolecular, Dinucleating Catalysts (CO2REDUCTDINUCLEAT)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: International Outgoing Fellowships
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Spain
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IOF, 2011)
Start date: 2012-09-15
End date: 2014-09-14
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 170327.1
EU funding (EUR): 170327.1
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

In this project it is wanted to synthesize a new family of homobimetallic complexes with designed characteristics for the activation and conversion of CO2. The principles derived from these studies will be applied to electrocatalysis or photocatalysis, for the reduction of CO2 to biocombustibles like MeOH, HCHO or OHCOCOOH, with high values for the activity, turn over number (TON), and rate of the reaction (turn over frequency, TOF) as well as the lifetime of the catalyst. Why is this goal proposed? Because recently, there has been considerable focus on the rapid increased concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and in particular CO2 is of major concern. This rise in greenhouse gas concentrations has been linked to the warming of the global climate observed since the mid-20th century, and is projected to result in extensive environmental damage. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its fourth assessment report, published in 2007, suggested that the observed warming is “very likely” due to greenhouse gas emissions from anthropogenic sources, particularly the burning of fossil fuels. This concern, coupled with the projected need for independent and renewable energy sources, has focused considerable attention on the potential use of solar energy for the production of chemical fuels. A particularly attractive scheme would involve the use of solar energy to produce an electrical current, which would then be employed for the reduction of CO2 to provide carbon-neutral energy sources as alternatives to fossil fuels. Thus, the main two targets of this project are important issues in the modern society: global warming and the need of new sources of energy.

Keywords: technological sciences,natural sciences,coordination chemistry,homobimetallic complexes,environmental chemistry,catalysis,support co2,chemical fuels,solar energy
Spectral Mesh Processing for Craniofacial Dysmorphology (SP-MORPH)

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: Ireland
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IEF, 2011)
Start date: 2012-09-01
End date: 2014-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 191938.2
EU funding (EUR): 191938.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

There is heightened interest in the resolution and quantification of craniofacial dysmorphology based on: 1) its association with, and ability to inform on, diseases of early brain development, such as Down syndrome, fetal alcohol syndrome and schizophrenia; 2) increasing availability of 3D imaging technologies that overcome many of the limitations inherent to two-dimensional approaches. In this project, the candidate will develop techniques for the analysis of facial surfaces based on spectral decomposition methods. As opposed to traditional methods, based on a reduced set of landmark points, spectral mesh processing (SMP) allows analysis of the whole facial surface; recent work indicates its suitability for analysis of intrinsic properties of the object, such as symmetry, believed to be a crucial component of dysmorphology. As a novel and very active trend in computer graphics and vision, SMP still involves a number of important technical challenges for its use in engineering applications, where input data would usually need to undergo one or more pre-processing steps, often with the need for human intervention before such spectral methods can be used. The present proposal aims at addressing the above issues to develop highly automated algorithms for spectral analysis. This is expected to allow for increased precision in overall analysis, which is especially relevant in neuropsychiatric disorders, where craniofacial dysmorphology is considerably more subtle than, for example, in Down syndrome. The project will benefit greatly from the availability of a large and unique collection of facial scans acquired in the context of clinical studies of neuropsychiatric disorders of developmental origin, which guarantee the necessary test data for a thorough assessment of the techniques developed Wide interest in the literature regarding SMP suggests that the results from this project would have a broad application beyond craniofacial dysmorphology.

Keywords: 3d mesh processing,spectral decomposition,craniofacial geometry,neuropsychiatric disorders
MIGRANT WOMEN WRITERS ON THE MARGINS OF EUROPE: THE CASE OF HUNGARY (MIGLIT)

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: Hungary
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IEF, 2011)
Start date: 2012-08-30
End date: 2013-12-29
Duration (months): 16.0
Total project cost (EUR): 130482.93
EU funding (EUR): 130482.93
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The central objective of this research project is the investigation of Hungary’s immigrant women’s textual production in the comparative context of European migrant literatures. The diversity of languages and cultures in motion is central to contemporary European experience. Such diversity is represented in a variety of textual forms (poetry, fiction, memoir, drama, multimedia, etc) that challenge existing concepts of genre, audience and cultural production which shape our current European experience. These emerging varieties of cultural expressions connect diverse communities and have the potential to better contextualise our understanding of cultural patterns within Europe. A significant body of migrant women’s textual expression has been produced in contemporary Hungary by native speakers of Hungarian who have immigrated to Hungary from neighbouring countries such as Romania, Slovakia, Croatia or Slovenia. The present study’s short term objective is to examine this work intensively and also to problematise the manner in which this work has been conceptualised within, and integrated into, the Hungarian literary establishment. In addition, it proposes to examine the almost totally neglected topic of literary expression in Hungarian by non-native speakers. The long term objective of the proposed research is to place the findings of this study in a European context. The project is of clear relevance to the programme as it will contribute to a better understanding of current cultural developments in postcommunist spaces, and the ways contemporary migrants tend to articulate their positions within the European cultural framework; it will also add significantly to the mapping of contemporary women’s writing in Europe.

Keywords: migration studies,gender,humanities,comparative literature,literary criticism,social sciences,sociology,social psychology,anthropology