Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Ultra-high-Q Physics: Towards single molecules and phonons (SIMP)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Fundamental constituents of matter
Countries involved: Switzerland,Germany
Call:  (ERC-2007-StG, 2007)
Start date: 2008-09-01
End date: 2012-12-31
Duration (months): 52.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1332000.0
EU funding (EUR): 1332000.0
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

The proposed research program builds on the previously developed ultra-high-Q monolithic micro-resonators by the applicant during his dissertation at the “California Institute of Technology”. These micro-resonators offer unprecedented confinement of light in micro-scale volumes for extended amounts of time and have opened many lab-on-chip applications ranging from nonlinear optics, quantum optics to biochemical sensing. This present proposal is concerned to use ultra-high-Q optical micro-cavities as vehicles to study two novel and emerging research opportunities. The first endeavor investigates the possibility to use radiation pressure to cool a mechanical oscillator to the quantum ground state. The significance of the research program lies in its attempt to exploit the opto-mechanical system as a paradigm for the investigation of quantum processes of mechanical objects – a field which has sparked widespread interest in contemporary physics for quiet some time, but which to date remains experimentally unexplored and which is intimately related to concepts used in fields such as gravitational wave detection or scanning probe techniques. From a conceptual point of view, this research could show how a mechanical, macroscopic object reveals quantum mechanical behavior. Ultra-sensitive measurements are also part of a second, interdisciplinary line of research. To date, only a few widely applied techniques in Biophysics are available for label free detection of ligand-receptor binding, which lack single to resolve single molecule binding events. Building on recent advances of the applicant, the proposed methodology will use membrane functionalized micro-resonators in aqueous solution as novel technique to resolve single binding events. By developing a methodology with which label free single molecule sensitivity in biomolecular recognition can be attained, this research could enable to open new frontiers to Biophysicists.

Keywords: ground state cooling,radiation pressure,micromechanical oscillator,optical microcavities,biomolecular recognition,receptor-ligand binding,biochemical sensing
NANOSTRUCTURED ELECTROLYTE MEMBRANES BASED ON POLYMER-IONIC LIQUIDS-ZEOLITE COMPOSITES FOR HIGH TEMPERATURE PEM FUEL CELL (ZEOCELL)

Framework: FP7 — Cooperation
Programme: Energy
Destination: Hydrogen and fuel cells
Action type: Collaborative project
Countries involved: Spain,Spain,Netherlands,Greece,Italy,France,Spain
Call:  (FP7-ENERGY-2007-1-RTD, 2007)
Start date: 2008-01-01
End date: 2010-12-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2654938.0
EU funding (EUR): 1917401.0
Participants: 7
Project status: CLOSED

The PEMFC represents one of the most promising technologies in the field of fuel cells. One of the keys to the success of the PEMFC technology is the development of improved electrolyte membrane materials which can be produced in mass and can operate within a temperature range of 130-200ºC. The ZEOCELL project will develop a nanostructured electrolyte membrane based on a new composite multifunctional material consisting of the combination of 3 materials: zeolites, ionic liquids and polymers – integrating their beneficial characteristics. The membrane will have an innovative structure comprising a 2D polymer matrix and two zeolite layers, with the following properties: - High ionic conductivity: ≥100 mS/cm at 150ºC.; - Suitability for operating at temperatures between 130-200ºC; - Good chemical, mechanical and thermal stability up to 200ºC; - Durability (<1% performance degradation during the first 1000 hours working); - Low fuel cross-over (<five times lower than Nafion methanol permeability ≤ 3x10-7 cm2 s-1); -Reduced production costs compared to current technology (< 400 EUR/m2). Expert researchers and industries with high technological capacities and potential market make up the project consortium. Their expertise will be: Researchers: INA (small pore of zeolites and membrane development). FORTH/ICE-HT (large pore of zeolites and modeling membrane conduction performance). CIDETEC: (resistant polymer materials, 2D random nanoporous polymer structures and membrane characterization in H2-PEMFC and DAFC). UTWENTE (PBI and PEEK type polymers). CFR-FIAT (2D microstructured polymeric matrix with ordered nanoporous). Industries: SOLVIONIC (Ionic Liquids). SOLVAY (integration of conducting polymers in the nanostructured membranes and characterization of them on single fuel cells). CEGASA (analysis of the suitability for mass-production of the new membrane).

Keywords: high temperature pemfc,zeolites,ionic liquids,polymers,nanostructured materials,electrolyte
Network structure in electronic commerce (ECOMMERCE NETWORKS)

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-2007-4-3-IRG, 2007)
Start date: 2007-10-01
End date: 2009-09-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 50000.0
EU funding (EUR): 50000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

There are numerous networks in eCommerce, including product networks which related products based on shared purchasing patterns. Those “copurchase networks” are interesting to IT economists, since they are endogenously generated by decentralized decisions made by distributed consumers, and thus contain information about the nature of consumer preferences and eCommerce demand. Technology facilitates gathering and analyzing detailed data about the structure of these networks, since it is often publicly available in the form of hyperlinks on the products’ web pages on eCommerce sites. The set of products that cognitively bounded consumers actually pay attention to is affected by such hyperlinks, and thus they are likely to affect demand. Moreover, these hyperlinks create an informative “network” of products, one whose properties my research aims to explicitly associate with economic outcomes. There has been much recent research on the phenomena of complex networks across a diverse set of fields. A similar analysis of economic networks will lead to progress in understanding the nature of consumer preferences and demand patterns. My work is grounded in economic theory, although my econometric models also integrate ideas from social network theories and empirical computer science. Specifically, I will pursue 4 objectives: (1) Estimating the influence of the network on the demand for products by adapting and extending peer effects models. (2) Studying the influence of network structure on the distribution of demand, towards providing a deeper understanding of the economic and technological drivers of the "long tail" of eCommerce. (3) Developing new demand prediction models that exploit information contained in network structures created as a consequence of choices made by consumers. (4) Examining of the properties of demand networks created by consumer choice, towards relating the structural properties of these networks with alternative models of preference and demand.

Keywords: ecommerce,network structure,long tail,co-purchase
Expression and Methylation Status of Genes Regulating Placental Angiogenesis in Normal, Cloned, IVF and Monoparental Sheep Foetuses (ANGIOPLACE)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Diagnostic tools, therapies and public health
Countries involved: Italy
Call:  (ERC-2007-StG, 2007)
Start date: 2008-10-01
End date: 2012-06-30
Duration (months): 45.0
Total project cost (EUR): 363600.0
EU funding (EUR): 363600.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Normal placental angiogenesis is critical for embryonic survival and development. Epigenetic modifications, such as methylation of CpG islands, regulate the expression and imprinting of genes. Epigenetic abnormalities have been observed in embryos from assisted reproductive technologies (ART), which could explain the poor placental vascularisation, embryonic/fetal death, and altered fetal growth in these pregnancies. Both cloned (somatic cell nuclear transfer, or SNCT) and monoparental (parthogenotes, only maternal genes; androgenotes, only paternal genes) embryos provide important models for studying defects in expression and methylation status/imprinting of genes regulating placental function. Our hypothesis is that placental vascular development is compromised during early pregnancy in embryos from ART, in part due to altered expression or imprinting/methylation status of specific genes regulating placental angiogenesis. We will evaluate fetal growth, placental vascular growth, and expression and epigenetic status of genes regulating placental angiogenesis during early pregnancy in 3 Specific Aims: (1) after natural mating; (2) after transfer of biparental embryos from in vitro fertilization, and SCNT; and (3) after transfer of parthenogenetic or androgenetic embryos. These studies will therefore contribute substantially to our understanding of the regulation of placental development and vascularisation during early pregnancy, and could pinpoint the mechanism contributing to embryonic loss and developmental abnormalities in foetuses from ART. Any or all of these observations will contribute to our understanding of and also our ability to successfully employ ART, which are becoming very wide spread and important in human medicine as well as in animal production.

Keywords: embryo,placental angiogenesis,assisted reproductive technologies,cloning,in vitro fertilization,methylation,imprinting,early pregnancy loss
Environmental chemistry and metal cycling in the Baltic Sea (ENCHEM)

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: Sweden
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2007-2-2-ERG, 2007)
Start date: 2008-01-14
End date: 2011-01-13
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 45000.0
EU funding (EUR): 45000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

This project aims to understand how controlling biogeochemical environmental parameters affect the cycling of major and trace metals in surface and bottom waters in the Baltic Sea. Approximately 85 million people in 14 countries live within the Baltic Sea’s drainage area, most of which are members of the European Union. Unfortunately a number of human activities highly affect this unique brackish environment. Consequently, research in the Baltic Sea is of great economical and social concern, as changes will affect the full range of human activities from industry to recreation. Bottom waters are anoxic in large parts of the Baltic Sea, as microbial degradation of organic matter consumes oxygen. The current eutrophication of the sea worsens the anoxia. However, these conditions make it possible to study the effects various redox-conditions have on metal cycling in sediments, water and possibly biota. The Swedish government recently announced a plan for extensive environmental improvement actions to improve the situation in the Baltic Sea. However, actions require careful environmental studies. The brackish Baltic Sea hosts a very specialized ecosystem with a limited bio-diversity. It is therefore sensitive and less apt to handle environmental changes successfully. Now anthropogenic forcing, both in the shape of eutrophication and environmental improvement actions, will affect the sensitive balance, and it is necessary that we know, at least to some degree, what response to expect. The project includes offshore fieldwork in the Baltic Sea and laboratory experiments and analyses. State of the art sampling techniques and laboratory methods will be applied to ensure that high-quality data can be obtained. These sampling and processing techniques include different filtration techniques and Diffusive Gradients in Thin films. Reporting of findings will submitted to leading international journals with focus on environmental chemistry, and presented on conferences.

Keywords: chemical oceanography,biogeochemistry,marine ecosystems and processes,water quality monitoring
Multiscale mathematical modelling of dynamics of structure formation in cell systems (BIOSTRUCT)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Mathematical foundations
Countries involved: Germany
Call:  (ERC-2007-StG, 2007)
Start date: 2008-09-01
End date: 2013-08-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 750000.0
EU funding (EUR): 750000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The aim of this transdisciplinary project is to develop and analyse multiscale mathematical models of pattern formation in multicellular systems controlled by the dynamics of intracellular signalling pathways and cell-to-cell communication and to develop new mathematical methods for the modelling of such complex processes. This aim will be achieved through a close collaboration with experimental groups and comprehensive analytical investigations of the mathematical problems arising in the modelling of these biological processes. The mathematical methods and techniques to be employed will be the analysis of systems of partial differential equations, asymptotic analysis, as well as methods of dynamical systems. These techniques will be used to formulate the models and to study the spatio-temporal behaviour of solutions, especially stability and dependence on characteristic scales, geometry, initial data and key parameters. Advanced numerical methods will be applied to simulate the models. This comprehensive methodology goes beyond the state-of-the-art, since usually the analyses are limited to a single aspect of model behaviour. Groundbreaking impacts envisioned are threefold: (i) The project will contribute to the understanding of mechanisms of structure formation in the developmental process, in the context of recently discovered signalling pathways. In addition, some of the factors and mechanisms playing a role in developmental processes, such as Wnt signalling, are implicated in carcinogenesis, for instance colon and lung cancer. (ii) Accurate quantitative and predictive mathematical models of cell proliferation and differentiation are important for the control of tumour growth and tissue egeneration; (iii) Qualitative analysis of multiscale mathematical models of biological phenomena generates challenging mathematical problems and, therefore, the project will lead to the development of new mathematical theories and tools.

Keywords: mathematical modelling,multiscale modelling,mathematical biology,mathematical oncology,reaction-diffusion equations,pattern formation
Rigorous Mathematical Connections between the Theory of Computations and Statistical Physics (RIMACO)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Mathematical foundations
Countries involved: Greece
Call:  (ERC-2007-StG, 2007)
Start date: 2008-07-01
End date: 2014-06-30
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 749996.0
EU funding (EUR): 749996.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The proposed research aims to enhance the study of randomness in computation by using ideas of statistical physics. In particular, it aims to place the connection between computation and statistical physics --- the subject of wide heuristic discussion for more than three decades --- on rigorous mathematical ground. Its main methodological vehicle is the study of random Constraint Satisfaction Problems (CSPs). CSPs are the common abstraction of numerous real-life problems and occur in areas ranging from aerospace design to biochemistry. Their ubiquity makes the design of efficient algorithms for CSPs extremely important. At the foundation of this endeavor lies the question of why certain CSP instances are exceptionally hard while other, seemingly similar, instances are easy. Probability distributions over instances allow us to study this phenomenon in a principled way, with each CSP distribution controlled by its ratio of constrains to variables (known as constraint density). By now, it has been established that random CSPs have solutions at densities much beyond the reach of any known efficient algorithm. Understanding the origin of this gap and designing algorithms that overcome it is the main focus of the proposed research. Ideas from statistical physics will play an important role here. Specifically, in recent years, physicists have proposed a heuristic but deep theory for the evolution of the solution-space geometry of random CSPs according to which algorithmic barriers correspond to phase transitions in this evolution. Examining the validity of the physics theory is a major research undertaking that must develop and reconcile notions shared by computation and statistical physics, e.g., the role of long-range correlations. A rigorous mathematical theory of such notions will enable a much more energetic exchange of ideas between the two fields, and has the potential to bring substantial fresh ideas to the study of efficient computation.

Keywords: random structures,phase transitions,constraint satisfaction problems
The role of RNA silencing in immunity and development in eukaryotes (FRONTIERS OF RNAI)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Molecular and Structural Biology and Biochemistry
Countries involved: Switzerland,France
Call:  (ERC-2007-StG, 2007)
Start date: 2008-08-01
End date: 2012-07-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 900000.0
EU funding (EUR): 900000.0
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

RNA silencing is a pan-eukaryotic gene regulation process that involves RNA molecules 19-30nt in length. These molecules are produced by RNAse-III proteins in the Dicer family and engage into sequence-specific regulation of complementary DNA or RNA upon their incorporation into effector complexes. RNA silencing serves essential roles in biology but the molecular bases of its mechanisms are still poorly understood. One major aspect of the proposed project is to decipher genetically the composition of RNA silencing effector complexes and to understand how those complexes orchestrate the regulation of fundamental processes involved in cell differentiation, notably the process of dosage compensation during chromosome X inactivation in mammals. The second aspect is part of our ongoing efforts to understand the implication of small RNAs in plant and animal innate immunity, their impact on pathogen’s fitness and evolution, and how pathogens counteract small RNA-directed immune pathways.

Keywords: mirna,sirna,rna induced silencing complex,viruses,x chromosome,differentiation
RNA and Epigenetics: RNAi-Driven Chromatin Modifications (RNAIEPIMOD)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Genetics,Genomics,Bioinformatics and Systems Biology
Countries involved: France
Call:  (ERC-2007-StG, 2007)
Start date: 2009-01-01
End date: 2013-12-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 904940.0
EU funding (EUR): 904940.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

RNA interference (RNAi) mediates chromatin modifications in fungi, plants, drosophila and vertebrates. In the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, where the molecular mechanisms are the most detailed, it is believed that small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) guide the RNA-Induced Transcriptional Silencing (RITS) complex to specific chromatin regions to trigger formation of heterochromatin. Although it is clear that siRNAs are required for RITS localization to chromatin, important events of RITS siRNA-dependent recruitment remain to be elucidated. Additionally, critical aspects of the following RITS-driven heterochromatin formation mechanism need to be clarified. Genetic data indicate that among proteins required for assembly of heterochromatin some act very early in this process to the point that they should interact directly or indirectly with RITS. However, no physical connection between RITS and these enzymes has yet been found. This project proposes to address these fundamental aspects of RNAi-mediated heterochromatin assembly in S.pombe, by coupling interdisciplinary and innovative approaches to classical protein affinity purifications, yeast molecular genetics and chromatin techniques. The first part of the project will concentrate on the characterization of an unprecedented physical connection between RITS and a chromatin-modifying activity. In parallel, we propose to develop two complementary approaches to identify new proteins that physically and/or genetically interact with RITS. Finally, thanks to a UV light-induced crosslinking technology, we intend to study RITS recruitment to chromatin by analyzing its direct interaction with nucleic acids both in vitro and in vivo. As the control of chromatin structure by RNAi is evolutionary conserved, our studies have the potential to bring general insights into how RNAi-based chromatin modifications take place and are regulated in the kingdom of eukaryotes.

Keywords: heterochromatin