Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
DNA Excitonics (DEX)

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: Germany
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IIF, 2013)
Start date: 2014-10-01
End date: 2016-09-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 161968.8
EU funding (EUR): 161968.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The bases that make up the DNA double helix absorb ultraviolet light. There is much debate about the way nature avoids radiation damage to DNA. Furthermore, the unique characteristic of an organized sequence of closely spaced base pairs, exploited in living organisms, can be used to tune the electronic structure for photo physical functionality in future applications. To understand the special properties of the DNA double helix that make it possible to avoid radiation damage, and their use in applications, new state of the art laser experiments are in progress in the host group. However, although these experiments give a wealth of information about the properties of DNA, due to their highly complex nature their interpretation is far from straightforward. New theory is necessary to interpret these measurements. This project aims at the establishment of a unique collaboration between theory and experiment to understand how the closely spaced DNA bases control its optical properties, and how manipulation of the base sequence can be exploited for applications. In particular, the transport of energy through the helix after absorption of light and the possibility of charge separation will be clarified. To this end, a new theory will be developed in close collaboration with experimental work. The theory will find direct application to DNA, but will also be applicable to related systems such as conjugated polymers and biological light-harvesting complexes, where both energy transport and charge separation are directly relevant for the function.

Keywords: two-dimensional spectroscopy,dna,exciton dynamics,charge separation
Search for new physics at the LHC and preparations for the CMS detector upgrade (LHC-PHYSICS)

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: Belgium
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IEF, 2013)
Start date: 2014-03-01
End date: 2016-02-29
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 235000.0
EU funding (EUR): 235000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

With the discovery of the Higgs boson last summer at the CERN laboratory's Large Hadron Collider (LHC), decades of searches for this predicted fundamental particle in the Standard Model theory of particle physics concluded with a triumph of science. Compelling reasons remain, however, to expect new physics to appear at the collision energies generated by the LHC. In 2015, the LHC will resume with collisions at even higher energies, launching a new pivotal period at the energy frontier of particle physics. With the first objective of the proposed project, the applicant aims to search for new physics with the CMS detector at the LHC, using collisions with leptons in the final state. Such final states provide very clean signatures, increasing the potential for discovery. The long-term physics program at the LHC will depend on the outcome of such new-physics searches in the next years. In either scenario, the LHC is already planned to be upgraded to reach much higher collision rates in a decade from now. Upgrades to the CMS detector are a must, for which the R&D phase has recently started. As a second objective, the applicant plans to join this upgrade R&D through the development of the so-called track-trigger, a project requiring training in the field of modern electronics, which at the same time is ideally aligned with the long-term prospects of new-physics searches with leptons. Both objectives were chosen at the forefront of present-day particle physics. By allowing the applicant to deepen her expertise, and by providing connections beyond her own field, these objectives yield ample training opportunities in the host laboratory and its network, at a timely moment for the applicant's career development.

Keywords: cern,lhc,collision,cms,detector,particle physics,standard model,new physics,supersymmetry,tracker,upgrade,fpga,track-trigger
Molecular Dissection of Immunomodulatory Function of Polysaccharides (MEDPOL)

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-2013-IIF, 2013)
Start date: 2014-04-01
End date: 2016-03-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 309235.2
EU funding (EUR): 309235.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Edible polysaccharides from plants and microbes have attracted attention because of their potential functions to improve our health. Although several polysaccharide products have been commercialized, the mechanism by which such polysaccharides benefit our health is yet unclear. I hypothesize that such polysaccharides may modulate the immune function through interaction with the glycan-binding protein (GBP) receptors on immune cells. To prove the hypothesis, I will take a multidisciplinary approach involving immunology and biology of carbohydrates (glycobiology). My aims are: (1) to evaluate the effect of polysaccharides on primary human and mouse immune cells; (2) to analyse the interaction between polysaccharides and the immune cells in vivo by state-of-the-art flow cytometry; (3) to identify the GBP partner for each polysaccharide by a facile reporter assay system. This research will deliver crucial knowledge on how polysaccharides function, and the potential impacts are far-reaching as the results will inform the design, development and efficacy-testing of potent novel carbohydrate-based foods, therapeutics and healthcare products. Since I am building my independent research group at the host, Institute for Food Research in UK, I will have outstanding opportunities to transfer my knowledge and expertise from Japan and the USA to the UK and Europe. My scientific expertise and experimental approaches in biology of carbohydrates (glycobiology) and immunology will be integrated through proactive collaboration with other groups, mentoring young scientists, presenting at scientific conferences, publications and through public outreach activities. Mutual transfer of knowledge will build a dynamic multidisciplinary research platform to elucidate the bioactivity of polysaccharides in the immune system. Such a new platform will be integrated to form long-term collaborations between the EU, Japan and USA, enhancing European excellence and competitiveness.

Keywords: glycobiology,immunology,food polysaccharide,bacterial polysaccharide,carbohydrate chemistry,dendritic cell,macrophage,immune cell regulation,glycan-binding protein,lectin
Preclinical efficacy testing of hydrogen sulfide donors against diabetic complications (H2S IN DIABETES)

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-2013-IEF, 2013)
Start date: 2015-02-01
End date: 2017-01-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 309235.2
EU funding (EUR): 309235.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Diabetic complications are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in diabetic patients. Oxidative stress and inflammation contributes to the loss of endothelial function and dysfunction of the vascular endothelium plays a major role in diabetic macrovascular and microvascular complications. We found that hydrogen sulfide can reduce the hyperglycemia-induced mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in endothelial cells and can prevent diabetic vascular dysfunction in aortic rings. However, it has not been possible to test the protective effect of hydrogen sulfide against long-term diabetic complications because of its short half-life. Novel slow-release hydrogen sulfide donors were generated that allow long-term hydrogen sulfide treatment. We now propose to test the protective effect of slow-release hydrogen sulfide donors against glucose-induced ROS generation and the development of diabetic long-term complications. We aim (1) to identify the most potent hydrogen sulfide donor compounds against hyperglycemia-induced ROS generation in endothelial cells (2) to test the efficacy of the lead compounds in human microvessels and (3) determine the efficacy of the most potent drug candidates against diabetic nephropathy in streptozotocin-induced diabetes (Type 1 diabetes model) and in db/db mice (Type 2 diabetes model). The mechanism of action of hydrogen sulfide against mitochondrial ROS generation suggests that slow-release hydrogen sulfide donors may be applicable against diabetic complications in humans. We expect that the proposed preclinical efficacy studies will initiate rapid clinical translation and these promising drugs will be used in human diabetic complications.

Keywords: hydrogen sulfide,gasotransmitter,oxidative stress,reactive oxygen species,endothelial dysfunction,mitochondrial ros production,vascular dysfunction,diabetes mellitus,drug discovery
Strong interactions of periodically-driven trapped ions, cold atoms and molecules (STRONG NEUTRAL-ION)

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-2013-IEF, 2013)
Start date: 2014-10-01
End date: 2016-09-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 202405.8
EU funding (EUR): 202405.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

In the proposed project we will develop a theoretical framework for analyzing periodically-driven phases of ultracold matter in a nonperturbative way, focusing on a general understanding of the structure of solution sets in parameter space. This will enable us to present original ideas for reaching new regimes of quantum many-body physics. Cold, trapped, strongly interacting ionic and neutral atoms and molecules, subject to periodic electromagnetic fields, will be studied using novel analytical and numerical tools. We will investigate new ideas for sympathetic cooling of particles trapped in oscillating fields, and we will study soliton and vortex solutions nucleated about crystallized ions immersed in a BEC. The proposed theoretical research will be accompanied by exchange of ideas and close collaboration with leading experimental groups, aspiring to advance the scientific and technological fronts of the field with impact also in emerging interdisciplinary fields such as cold quantum chemistry. Moreover, the mathematical framework employed to describe the periodically trapped interacting atomic systems, will be applied to a deep and innovative analysis of Floquet topological insulators – yielding completely new results in a different field, yet one which has close connection and can be realized with cold atomic systems. As a unique outreach activity, the fellow will initiate a two-year project to guide high-school students in original research work, following a similar successful project that he has carried previously. The new project will be planned to involve a small-scale collaboration between students in his home country and the host country.

Keywords: trapped ions,coulomb crystals,cold atoms,degenerate quantum gases,sympathetic cooling,ac traps,paul traps,floquet-lyapunov theory,solitons,vortices,floquet topological insulators
Critical transitions and self-organization in sleep micro-architecture (CRITICALSLEEP)

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: Israel
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IIF, 2013)
Start date: 2014-10-01
End date: 2016-09-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 256148.4
EU funding (EUR): 256148.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Humans and animals exhibit brief awakenings from sleep (arousals), which are traditionally viewed as random disruptions of sleep caused by external stimuli or pathologic perturbations. However, our recent findings show that arousals represent previously unrecognized intrinsic aspects of sleep, and exhibit complex temporal organization and scale-invariant behavior characterized by a power-law probability distribution for their durations. In contrast, sleep-stage durations exhibit exponential behavior. The co-existence of these two very different processes in the sleep regulatory mechanism has not been observed in any other physiological system, and resembles a special class of non-equilibrium physical systems exhibiting self-organized criticality (SOC). Such organization of arousals makes it unlikely that they are merely a response to random stimuli, however, the role arousals play in healthy sleep and in sleep disorders remains unknown. Since our preliminary analyses show that SOC-type dynamics persist throughout the sleep period in humans and across several mammalian species with different sleep architecture, we hypothesize that arousals are an integral part of healthy sleep and relate to basic neuronal interactions. To address this hypothesis we will combine human sleep data and bio-molecular/genetic animal experiments with modern approaches from statistical physics of non-equilibrium systems and the theory of complex networks. Our objective is to uncover basic principles of self-organization in sleep that would elucidate the interrelation between sleep-stage dynamics and arousals, and to derive novel and more sensitive diagnostic markers of sleep disorders.

Keywords: sleep regulation,neuronal networks,self-organized criticality,arousals,sleep disorders,sleep transitions
Directions for BSM Physics after the First Run of the LHC (BSMAFTERLHC8)

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-2013-IEF, 2013)
Start date: 2014-10-01
End date: 2016-09-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 207928.8
EU funding (EUR): 207928.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

In the proposed project, various aspects of the phenomenology of physics Beyond the Standard Model (BSM) will be analyzed, aiming to an improvement in our understanding of what might complete the SM at high energies. After the first run of the LHC, with the discovery of a Higgs boson, valuable new information about possible extensions of the SM is available. Thus, a first emphasis of the project is put on Higgs physics. A comprehensive survey of Higgs production and decay in classes of Gauge-Higgs Unification models will be presented and interpreted in the light of the experimental results, taking into account effects from resonances and fermion mixings that have been usually neglected so far. Both options of embedding the SM fermions into fundamental and adjoint representations of SO(5) will be considered. A focus will be on effects from a realistic lepton sector, realized with the help of an A4 symmetry, that leads to interesting effects in Higgs physics due to a rather composite $\tau$ lepton. Moreover, a model-independent analysis of possible new physics effects in Higgs-pair production will be provided, taking in particular into account constraints from single Higgs production. This analysis will lead to additional valuable information about the Higgs sector. Beyond that, the flavor sector of less restricted 4D realizations of the Pseudo-Goldstone Higgs setup will be studied, considering all possible constraints and in particular new results from the LHCb experiment. These will also be interpreted in the general BSM context. Concerning lepton flavor, the room for having a composite $\tau$, as considered before, will be analyzed in detail. In the more conceptual part, an alternative approach to the hierarchy problem, assuming new physics at larger scales, will be entertained. Finally, possible interesting implications of see-saw models for LHC or linear-collider physics will be analyzed.

Keywords: particle physics phenomenology,physics beyond the standard model,higgs physics,flavor physics,effective field theories,composite models,(warped) extra dimensions
Characterizing the Gene Regulatory Networks Mediating Gut Immunocompetence in Drosophila (GUT IMMUNITY GRNS)

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-2013-IEF, 2013)
Start date: 2014-09-01
End date: 2016-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 268685.6
EU funding (EUR): 268685.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The emergence of a gastrointestinal tract within the body cavity is one of the major innovations in animal evolution allowing the transition from an intra- to an extracellular mode of digestion. With this emergence came the opportunity for infectious agents to exploit this intestinal ecosystem for their own transmission. Gut-bearing organisms therefore evolved complex mechanisms to defend themselves against these agents, making them “gut immunocompetent”. This involved a process of continuous adaptation and counter-adaptation in the two competing species, host and pathogen, rendering gut immunocompetence a complex trait with a large genetic component. Important progress has been made to elucidate the biological processes underlying gut immunocompetence, revealing an intricate interplay between immunological, stress, and neuronal signaling as well as gut regeneration and wound repair. However, how this multilayered regulatory network is encoded at the molecular level and how genetic variation of the host species contributes to this trait is still poorly understood. Here, we propose a global and interdisciplinary study, combining regulatory genomics and bioinformatics, to elucidate the genetic and molecular mechanisms underlying gut immunocompetence and its variation in Drosophila melanogaster. By determining the regulatory targets of transcription factors involved in the interplay between the immune response pathways, relating them to known physiological outputs, and computationally mining the genetic variants that may lie at the basis of the observed phenotypic variation, we expect to elucidate the regulatory networks mediating gut immunocompetence and how they are impacted by genomic variation. This would not only constitute a breakthrough in the field of innate immunity, but a sound foundation for understanding the molecular driving forces that impact genetic variation of a complex trait in general.

Keywords: systems biology,functional genomics,innate immunity,gene regulatory networks,drosophila,chip-seq,rna-seq
Politics of difference: Child marriage and prestige consumption among the Romanian Gabor Roma – with a special focus on the post-socialist transformation (PDCMPCARGR)

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-2013-IEF, 2013)
Start date: 2015-02-01
End date: 2017-01-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 309235.2
EU funding (EUR): 309235.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The project focuses on the practices and ideologies of the politics of difference (in Ŕomani language: Ŕomani politika ‘Roma politics’) characteristic of the Gabor Roma living in Romania. Roma politics is a tournament of value serving to construct, represent and manipulate social and economic differences. The prestige relations between Gabor Roma individuals and families are primarily defined on the basis of the results achieved in the ethnicized, symbolic arenas of Roma politics. The project pays special attention to two of these symbolic arenas: prestige consumption and marriage politics based on child marriage. It reveals that in order to obtain a deeper and more context-sensitive understanding of the social relations and interactions in Roma groups it is necessary to simultaneously investigate the politics of difference and the ethics of sociability, and how they impact each other. One of the central questions of this multi-disciplinary research is how the post-socialist transformation has affected these symbolic arenas and the pre-revolution Gabor Roma concept of social success. Today, child marriage within Roma groups is a social problem found throughout Europe. (See the statement of the European Parliament published in March 2013: http://www.plan-eu.org/pressrelease/european-parliament-turns-spotlight-tackling-child-marriage/). Since Gabor Roma—referring to their own cultural autonomy—insist on child marriage, which is prohibited under EU regulations, a complex conflict of law and value has evolved. The research—which can be defined as a type of cultural brokerage—can significantly contribute to a detailed understanding of this symbolic conflict between Roma customary law and EU laws, as well as possible solutions. In this way, the research findings will be useful not only for anthropologists, but also for European policy-makers concerned with the regulation of marriage and the protection of women and children’s rights in the European Union.

Keywords: politics of difference,child marriage,marital alliance,(prestige) consumption,cultural diversity,romania,roma ethnic groups