Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Extending the sensitivity of MOVPE grown pyramidal quantum dots into near infrared (NIRAMIDS)

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: Ireland
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-RG, 2010)
Start date: 2010-11-01
End date: 2014-05-04
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 45000.0
EU funding (EUR): 45000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Semiconductor quantum dots have been at the centre of a significant research effort in the recent years. They are viewed as one of the important tools to address quantum information challenges, and overcome technological limitations in terms of device performances. Nevertheless, present technologies are far from having solved all the technical challenges involved. The aim of this proposal is to develop new epitaxial, ordered, position controlled quantum InGaAsN dot structures by metalorganic vapour phase epitaxy (MOVPE) at Tyndall National Institute, a leading institute in the development of new growth capabilities. The growth will be conducted on lithographically prepatterned substrates (GaAs) and will help overcoming many of the current oddities and difficulties, while allowing to obtain semiconductor quantum dots suitable for telecom applications. The project will improve the capability of controlling QD electronic states and will provide the scientific community with better tools to deal with quantum information tasks, e.g. strain free pseudomorphic dots and long wavelength capability. The activities at Tyndall will be complimented with photophysical studies done in collaboration with world-class spectroscopy groups in Italy and the Netherlands.

Keywords: surface physics,experimental physics,spectroscopy,solid state physics,optoelectronics,physics of semiconductors,epitaxy,quantum dots,iii-v semiconductors,nanosystems,nanodevices
Regulation of viral miRNAs processing (MIREG)

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: France
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-RG, 2010)
Start date: 2010-10-01
End date: 2013-09-30
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 45000.0
EU funding (EUR): 45000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The discovery of RNA interference in plant and Caenorhabditis elegans, and all related RNA silencing processes, was one of the major progresses in modern biology and has added a higher degree of complexity to our understanding of the regulation processes in cell. The most abundant and studied eukaryotic regulatory RNAs are miRNAs. Although the mode of action of miRNAs is well known, the principles governing their expression and activity are only beginning to emerge. Approximately 50% of mammalian miRNA loci are found in close proximity to other miRNAs. These clustered miRNAs are transcribed from a single polycistronic transcription unit leading to a primary transcript which is successively matured by a nuclear (Drosha) and a cytoplasmic (Dicer) RNase III-type enzyme to yield small RNA duplexes. Expression of many miRNAs is spatially and temporally highly controlled. More attributed to transcriptional control, this phenomenon is also now related to differential processing of precursors, or degradation of mature miRNAs. Recently, viruses infecting mammalian cells (mostly of the herpes family) have been shown to express their own miRNAs. These miRNAs can act both in cis, to ensure accurate expression of viral genomes, and in trans, to modify the expression of host transcripts. They regulate fundamental processes in the cell such as immunity, apoptosis, or key steps for optimal infection environment establishment. The project will address how viral miRNAs are processed and how this processing is regulated. We intend to approach the question in a structural way, using the large miRNA cluster found in Kaposi’s Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus (KSHV) as a model to uncover mechanisms explaining the sequential steps leading from a long RNA molecule containing numerous hairpins to short RNA duplexes. Interestingly, although all 12 KSHV miRNAs derive from a single pri-miRNA in latently cells, dramatic differences in their levels of expression were observed.

Keywords: structural biology,molecular biology,small rna,regulation,rna biology,maturation
Automata Based Interfaces for Dynamic Resource Scheduling in Control Systems (RSCS)

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-2010-RG, 2010)
Start date: 2010-09-01
End date: 2014-08-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The proposed project addresses the emerging need for efficient resource utilization in embedded control software. The main objective is to combine control theory and scheduling theory in such a way as to remove the need for strict requirements on hard deadlines for control software components without compromising the ability to use them in safety-critical applications. To this end, I will conduct research on interfaces for components of software control systems that allow integration of dynamic scheduling mechanisms in safety-critical systems by providing formal performance and stability guarantees. The main benefit that we can expect from dynamic scheduling mechanisms is that resource utilization can be made more efficient by allowing adjustments to resource allocation in response to time varying needs. Specifically, I will study the possibility of using automata-based dynamic schedules that, I will show, give a good balance between expressivity and analyzability, thereby allowing better interface between scheduling and control. The specific research objectives are: 1) Expansion of the scope of automata-based interfaces; 2) Proposal of practical mechanisms for dynamic resource allocation in control systems; 3) Development of experimental tools for demonstrating the advantages of the new approach; 4) Contribution to formal methods and hybrid system theories. In summary, because complete co-design of control and scheduling may become prohibitively complex for most systems, I propose to develop engineering methodologies that will take into account the interaction of scheduling and control without breaking the separation of concerns between control and software engineers. Innovations and progress beyond the state the art include: 1) new links between formal languages and hybrid systems theories, 2) mathematical tools for analysis of switched and hybrid systems, 3) new methodologies for the design of efficient and reliable embedded control systems.

Keywords: formal methods hybrid-systems switched-systems control automata real-time tta
Characterization of regulatory roles of SWI/SNF-type chromatin remodelling complexes in the control of development and hormonal, biotic and abiotic stress responses in Arabidopsis (SWI/SNF-CRCS)

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: Poland
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-RG, 2010)
Start date: 2010-09-01
End date: 2013-08-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 45000.0
EU funding (EUR): 45000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Chromatin remodelling complexes (CRCs) of the SWI/SNF family are implicated in numerous regulatory processes of eukaryotic growth, differentiation and development. Multiplicity of genes encoding SNF2-type ATPase and SWI3-type SWI/SNF CRC subunits in Arabidopsis suggests that CRCs carry different combinations of these core components. In yeast two-hybrid screens, we have identified potential auxiliary proteins of Arabidopsis SWI/SNF CRCs and analyse their in vivo interactions with CRC core components by FRET assays. We also accomplished subcellular localization of core CRC subunits by in vivo imaging and established a powerful technology for purification of SWI/SNF CRCs. Our results indicate that the BRM ATPase and ATSWI3C CRC subunits occur in common SWI/SNF complexes and mutations inactivating their genes cause similar phenotypic changes. By Affymetrix transcript profiling and qRT-PCR studies, we have identified a set of genes, which show similarly altered transcription in the atswi3c and atbrm mutants. Furthermore, we characterized genetic interactions of atswi3c mutations with known mutations that affect the functions of key genes controlling physiological and developmental responses to different hormones, and stresses. The proposed reintegration project is based on a focused multidisciplinary approach aiming at precise definition of regulatory functions of SWI/SNF CRCs. Complementary tasks of the experimental work plan aim at the i) identification of primary regulatory targets of SWI/SNF CRCs using transcriptome analysis in combination with inducible knock-down SWI3 subunits; ii) mapping of SWI/SNF-binding domains in target genes using chromatin precipitation; iii) analysis of SWI/SNF CRC-regulated functions in stresses and pathogen signalling pathways. The project is expected to provide a novel insight into regulatory mechanisms by which distinct classes of SWI/SNF CRCs participate in the control of physiological and developmental responses in Arabidopsis.

Keywords: chromatin remodelling,regulation of gene expression,stress signalling,chromatin crosslinking,maldi,pathogenesis
Manycore Application Development and Modeling Environment (MADAME)

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: Germany
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-RG, 2010)
Start date: 2011-01-03
End date: 2015-01-02
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The multicore revolution (parallel computing on a chip) is predicted by many to be a major disruptive change for the IT industry. The biggest challenges lie in the productive yet efficient usage of parallel computing resources for the large class of programmers who are not experts in parallel hard- and software architecture. Continuing industry trends leading to increased heterogeneity and asymmetry, together with execution environments that demand dynamic adaptability, will further exacerbate the programming challenges. The MADAME proposal is designed to help programmers develop efficient parallel programs by providing two complementary components. The first component is an efficient monitoring toolset for manycore computing that extends previous work in the area of OpenMP profiling. The second component is a modeling approach that lets users understand performance vs. productivity tradeoffs when developing their code and allows the detection of scalability issues by estimating run-times on platforms that need not be available in real hardware yet. The models are also designed to be used at runtime by upcoming manycore operating systems as a means to communicate quality of service (QoS) requirements and tradeoffs.

Keywords: multi-/manycore computing,performance monitoring,application modeling,heterogeneous and asymmetric computing
Identifying Strategies to Manipulate the Immune System to Increase the Control of Tumors and Metastases (ISMISICOTAM)

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-2010-RG, 2010)
Start date: 2010-10-01
End date: 2014-09-30
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The number of cancer patients is increasing and effective treatments are still limited. The identification of tumor associated antigens (TAA) has allowed for the stimulation of the immune system to recognize and destroy solid tumors. The most common strategy is to increase tumor specific cytotoxic CD8 T cell responses by vaccination of the patient with dendritic cells (DCs) pulsed with TAA peptides. Despite a great deal of efforts, these therapies have not proven efficient at complete rejection of tumors and metastases. While CD8 T cells have been at the center stage of anti-tumor immunotherapies, the role of CD4 T cells in tumor immunity has remained largely underappreciated, although some reports have shown that CD4 T cells alone are able to protect against transplanted tumors in mice. Given the multiplicity of CD4 T cell functions, finding ways to enhance productive anti-tumor CD4 T cell response is of tremendous therapeutic interest. This proposal aims at identifying strategies to manipulate the immune system for increasing the control of tumors and metastases. Emphasis will be put on the interactions between CD4 T cells, DCs, and Natural Killer (NK) cells. The project will address the following questions: (1) Are solid tumors overall poorly immunogenic for CD4 T cells? (2) What cells are relevant at the tumor and draining lymph node sites for the TAA uptake and presentation? (3) Can one enhance anti-tumor CD4 T cell responses by manipulating NK cell functions? If so, is the increase of CD4 T cell responses beneficial for the control of both the tumors and metastasis? To answer these questions, I will use molecular biology, cellular immunology and in situ imaging of the anti-tumor response by microscopy. Overall, I expect the results to lead to major advancements within the field of tumor immunology, and to possible translation to clinic.

Keywords: tumor,metastase,cd4 t cells,natural killer cells,dendritic cells,antigen,mouse
Network dynamics of auditory cortex and the impact of correlations on the encoding of sensory information. (NETDYNCORTEX)

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: Spain
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-RG, 2010)
Start date: 2010-09-01
End date: 2014-08-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Populations of neurons in the cerebral cortex represent sensory information, motor commands and other cognitive functions in their seemingly stochastic activity. Population coding works by distributing the information over the spiking activity of many neurons because single neuronal activity is very unreliable. The statistical structure of the variability across the neural population, i.e. the correlations among neurons, has an enormous impact on the encoding of information in the activity of a neuronal population. Because correlations are viewed as a consequence of shared inputs between nearby neurons, the stochasticity is thought to be an inevitable consequence of the hard-wired connectivity and to limit the efficiency of sensory coding. We have recently shown that recurrent neural networks can generate an asynchronous state with arbitrarily low correlations despite large amounts of shared input (Renart, de la Rocha et al 2010). This implies that correlations are not necessarily the consequence of shared inputs and that encoding in the brain need not be intrinsically stochastic. Our goal is to investigate the origin and functional consequences of the observed cortical stochasticity by studying: (1) the relation between brain state, circuit dynamics and correlations and (2) by quantifying their impact on sensory information representation. We will combine recordings of the spiking activity of large cell populations (50-150) in vivo, with the analysis of computational network models. We will characterize the statistics of spontaneous and stimulus-evoked activity in auditory cortex of (1) anesthetized rats and (2) freely moving rats performing a sensory discrimination task. We will quantify the encoding efficiency of auditory circuits across brain states and will develop a computational model to provide a mechanistic understanding of the data. The results will help to elucidate the neuronal correlates of auditory perception and the basis of a neural code.

Keywords: systems neuroscience,computational neuroscience,sensory encoding,firing rate,spike synchrony,neural network dynamics,neuronal noise,auditory cortex.
Study of the molecular mechanisms that regulate SCN5A expression (SODIUM CHANNEL)

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: Spain
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-RG, 2010)
Start date: 2011-10-01
End date: 2015-09-30
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Sudden cardiac death syndromes are an important cause of mortality in young individuals in developed countries. The SCN5A gene, which encodes the alpha subunit of the cardiac sodium channel, plays a key role in controlling the sodium currents during the action potential. When malfunctioning due to loss-of-function genetic defects, SCN5A may be responsible for lethal diseases like Brugada syndrome or familial conduction disease. However, little is known regarding SCN5A gene expression regulation, both at the transcriptional or posttranscriptional level. In this project I am proposing to further elucidate the molecular mechanisms that regulate the expression of the SCN5A gene. Using in vitro, cell culture and in vivo experimental approaches, I propose to study the following objectives: 1) To characterize the transcription factors implicated in the transcriptional regulation of the SCN5A promoter in cell culture, EMSA and ChIP experiments; 2) To study the role of DNA methylation in SCN5A expression by analyzing the presence of methylated DNA in cardiac cell derived genomic samples from a cohort of individuals; 3) To study the role of microRNAs with putative binding sites at the 3’UTR of the regulatory region of SCN5A to the cardiac sodium channel. We anticipate that these studies will bring new insights and better understanding of promoter regulation and sodium channel expression. Because of the clinical relevance of this cardiac channel in many arrhythmias, we predict that these studies will have an impact for the future diagnosis and treatment of patients with cardiac arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death syndromes.

Keywords: molecular biology,cardiovascular diseases,cardiac arrhythmias,cardiac sodium channel,gene expression,promoter regulation,dna methylation,micrornas
Geometric and combinatorial foundations for emerging information and inference systems (SUBSPARSE)

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: Switzerland
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-RG, 2010)
Start date: 2010-11-01
End date: 2014-10-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Recent developments in sensor technology, robotics, communications, signal, and semantic processing and computation have enabled the emergence of new information and inference systems (IIS) within the Information and Communications Technologies umbrella of the Seventh Network Program that accomplish automatic reasoning tasks using a potentially large network of coordinated stationary and mobile platforms carrying sensors of diverse modalities. The promise of IIS lies in their ability to continuously and robustly optimize their performance by intelligently exploiting massive amounts of sensor data in addition to their ability to effectively navigate and coordinate their sensing and computational assets.To date, the core issues underlying IIS have been studied largely in isolation in different communities. It is our belief that real progress on IIS requires a coordinated effort based on a unified mathematical and algorithmic foundation that supports not only efficient sensing, processing, data fusion, and decision making, but also direct performance analysis and prediction. This Marie Curie project will develop a principled theory of IIS that provides predictable, optimal performance for a range of different IIS problems through the effective utilization of the available network of resources. The mathematical foundation of our approach represents a profound re-thinking of the sensor data models and representations based on sparsity and combinatorial optimization algorithms based on submodularity. By unifying concepts from statistical signal processing, geometrical modeling and combinatorial optimization, we develop novel theories and rigorous algorithms towards the fundamental intellectual problem of automated scientific discovery. We will apply and evaluate our approaches on natural image understanding and environmental monitoring to provide a broad scaffold for framing numerous signal processing and machine learning problems encountered in diverse data modalities.

Keywords: signals,speech and image processing,sparsity,submodularity,compressive sensing,combinatorial and discrete optimization,representations,dictionary learning,bayesian experimental design