Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Information Role Models with Applications (IRMA)

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-IEF-2008, 2008)
Start date: 2009-06-01
End date: 2011-11-30
Duration (months): 30.0
Total project cost (EUR): 237684.37
EU funding (EUR): 237684.37
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Picking a role model is a natural way of deciding what to do by emulating a person we admire: children look up to superheroes; chemists and physicists follow Marie Curie. When faced with a difficult choice, solving the problem on our own may seem difficult. Instead, we seek shelter behind our role model and try to imagine what Superman or Marie Curie would have done. There is a parallel to this approach in statistical signal processing. Consider the design of an estimator based on low quality observations. Bayesian theory dictates rules for the optimal design of such an estimator. Suppose there exists a better estimator that has access to superior observations. We can use this better estimator as a role model, and train our estimator to imitate its outputs. Under certain conditions, we have proved that this role-model approach gives the same optimal solution as the Bayesian approach, albeit with a different design methodology that is easier to implement. The motivation for this approach is in adaptive receiver design for wireless communications. During the proposed fellowship, we plan to extend the theory for the role-model framework, to refine its application to receiver design, to study its connection with other problems in information theory, and to investigate possible interdisciplinary applications. For wireless communications, the project will result in optimized low-complexity receiver structures that can save power, increase radio coverage and data integrity, and reduce the cost of mobile handsets. Further applications of role models may include computer science, risk assessment, image processing, and others.

Keywords: radio engineering,engineering mathematics,bayesian estimation,information theory,detection,decoding,ldpc codes,min-sum algorithm,incomplete data,machine learning,supervised learning
Evolutionary epistemology applied to universal symbiogenesis and universal punctuated equilibrium (EEUSUP)

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: Belgium
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-IOF-2008, 2008)
Start date: 2009-07-01
End date: 2011-06-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 143221.14
EU funding (EUR): 143221.14
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Evolutionary theory currently extends the biological realm because it is applied to the humanities, leading to new disciplines such as evolutionary archaeology, evolutionary linguistics and evolutionary psychology. These disciplines are characterized by a universal selectionist approach, i.e. mostly the theory of natural selection is applied to study phenomena such as cognition, language and the rise of symbolism. Although natural selection is the hallmark of the Modern Synthesis, a multitude of evolutionary theories are currently under study, the most important ones are symbiogenesis and punctuated equilibrium. It is interesting, from within an evolutionary epistemological approach, to also investigate how the theories of symbiogenesis and punctuated equilibrium can be universalized and applied to deal with linguistic, cognitive and cultural phenomena. Therefore, from an evolutionary epistemological stance, it will be investigated how one can abstract logical skeletons of symbiogenesis and punctuated equilibrium, that can then be applied to language and culture (besides life).

Keywords: humanities,philosophy,philosophy of science
Biophysical determinants of the adhesion strength of gap junctions (GAPJUNCTION STRENGTH)

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-IEF-2008, 2008)
Start date: 2009-06-01
End date: 2011-05-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 168279.59
EU funding (EUR): 168279.59
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Gap junctions are intercellular channels present in almost all epithelia and in many other specialized tissues. The correct function and formation of gap junctions are involved in diseases such as hypertension, deafness or cataracts. Gap junctions are formed by pairs of hexameric half-channels called connexons, which coaxially dock to connect two adjacent cells, assuring communication, signalling and adhesion between cells. Junctional microdomains are known to be form by thousands of closely packed connexon pairs. Even if the function as intercellular channels of gap junctions is widely studied, the forces supported by connexon pairs and the biophysical mechanism of microdomain formation are still unknown. The overall goal of this project is to determine the biophysical mechanisms of the adhesion strength of gap junctions. The proposed research will make use of state of the art biochemistry methods to purify and reconstitute connexons from eye lens fiber cells into raw membranes extracts. These will be combined with high end biophysical tools, atomic force microscopy and biomembrane force probe, to directly measure the binding forces between connexon pairs and to determine the kinetics and biophysical mechanisms of the aggregation and assembly of gap junctions. The expected outcomes of the proposed research will provide the first direct measure, at single and multiple molecule levels, of the adhesion strength of gap junctions explaining its underlying biophysical mechanisms. The interest of the project covers disciplines such as biophysics, molecular biology and nanotechnology.

Keywords: cell and molecular biology,nanotechnology,biomechanics,biological physics,molecular biophysics
Development of methods for genome-wide association studies (STATGNOFGENOMEWIDEAS)

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-IEF-2008, 2008)
Start date: 2009-09-01
End date: 2011-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 181350.76
EU funding (EUR): 181350.76
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Genome-wide association studies have been very successful - and yet much of the genetic contribution to complex diseases remains unexplained. In-depth mining of GWA data sets may provide evidence of further novel variants: this could be through looking at epistasis, gene-environment interaction, disease sub-phenotypes, rare variants. These analyses can be applied to a range of data sets available to us including type 2 diabetes, Crohn&apos;s disease and anthropological traits including BMI, height and adiposity.

Keywords: genetics,computational biology,medical statistics
SUPPRESSION OF RNA SILENCING BY PLANT PARARETROVIRUSES: PROTEIN VERSUS RNA-BASED? (SUPRA)

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: Switzerland
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-IIF-2008, 2008)
Start date: 2010-02-01
End date: 2012-01-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 181935.46
EU funding (EUR): 181935.46
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Plants defend themselves against viruses by generating virus-derived small interfering (si)RNAs and thereby silencing the viral genome. Viruses counteract this defense by producing suppressor proteins. We have evidence that not only proteins but also viral RNAs could be used as suppressors: the extreme accumulation of siRNAs from a 600 bp leader region of Cauliflower mosaic pareretrovirus (CaMV) suggests that this region acts as a decoy to divert the silencing machinery from the viral coding regions. This highly-structured leader of the pregenomic 35S RNA is a hindrance for scanning ribosomes, which have to bypass it by a shunt mechanism to initiate polycistronic translation. Early literature described a CaMV “8S RNA”, which covers just the leader region. We shall investigate whether 8S RNA of CaMV and related pararetroviruses such as Rice tungro bacilliform virus (RTBV) serves as a precursor of virus-derived siRNAs, whether it is produced by run-off transcription from the gapped viral DNA as a short-stop RNA and/or whether Met-tRNA, which primes viral reverse transcription, is also involved in creating the siRNA precursor. We shall test whether transient or stable over-expression of the CaMV and the RTBV leader region in a single-stranded or a double-stranded RNA form is able to suppress silencing. These studies should reveal whether a short-stop RNA-based suppression is a universal mechanism employed by plant pararetroviruses and, perhaps, also animal retroviruses. Additionally we shall identify protein-based suppressor(s) in RTBV and associated Rice tungro spherical virus, an RNA picorna-like virus, and study whether synergistic suppression of silencing by two or more viral suppressors, whether RNA- or protein-based, might contribute to severity of the rice tungro disease caused by a combination of the two viruses. This will help design new strategies to control the rice tungro disease and, in general, diseases caused by plant pararetroviruses.

Keywords: silencing,silencing suppression,plant virus,pararetrovirus,camv,rtbv,non-coding rna,resistance
Early Mesozoic Biodiversity and Climate Change: marine ecosystem response to global warming and carbon dioxide rise (EMBICC)

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-IEF-2008, 2008)
Start date: 2009-04-01
End date: 2011-03-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 172434.64
EU funding (EUR): 172434.64
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The early Mesozoic (Permian/Triassic boundary to mid-Jurassic) was a critical time in the evolution of life on Earth, and understanding this interval of time is central to understanding the subsequent evolution of the marine biosphere. The earliest Triassic was a time of significant global warming and records the immediate aftermath of the most severe biodiversity loss of the Phanerozoic. The subsequent recovery, as climate ameliorated through the Triassic, was curtailed by another major extinction event in the latest Triassic, associated with an increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, global warming and possible ocean acidification. Recovery in the earliest Jurassic was more rapid than that of the Early Triassic, but was affected by another episode of global warming and oceanic anoxia in the Toarcian. This project aims to understand the responses of the marine ecosystem to these past episodes of major global warming, including analyses of global, regional and local biodiversity loss and recovery. A key aim of this project will be the isotopic analysis of brachiopod shell material to provide the first quantitative palaeotemperature curve of the early Mesozoic. This will be combined with the morphometric and biodiversity analyses to assess how episodes of major global warming directly affect marine invertebrate groups. Ecosystem-level changes associated with global warming and anoxia will be evaluated. These data are to crucial to the evalaution of predicted ecosystem response to present day global warming and marine hypoxia.

Keywords: biodiversity,climate change,marine ecosystems,paleontology,geochemistry
The role of activation-induced cytidine deaminase in inflammation-induced carcinogenesis (INFLAIDCAN)

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-IEF-2008, 2008)
Start date: 2010-03-01
End date: 2012-02-29
Duration (months): 18.0
Total project cost (EUR): 161899.59
EU funding (EUR): 161899.59
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) is a DNA-modifying enzyme essential for somatic hypermutation and class switch recombination in B cells. However, deregulation of AID can induce mutations and chromosomal translocations in B cells thus promoting neoplastic transformation and cancer development. AID expression is controlled by several transcription factors like those of the Rel/NF-kappa B family. The NF-kappa B pathway can be activated by a variety of different stimuli and constitutive activation of NF-kappa B is implicated in various malignancies. Indeed, the well established link between chronic inflammation and cancer has been correlated to constitutive NF-kappa B activation by inflammatory cytokines. Although the expression of AID was originally thought to be restricted to B cells, it has been shown recently that stimulation with inflammatory cytokines also induces AID expression in different epithelial cells. Furthermore, expression of AID has been found in hepatocarcinomas, gastric cancer and bile duct carcinomas suggesting a link between inflammation, NF-kappaB activation, AID expression and cancer development. However, it remains unclear if in the observed cases AID expression is just a by-product of NF-kappa B activity or if AID actively contributes to cancer development and/or progression in vivo. In the proposed research project, I am aiming to address the role of AID in the development and progression of carcinomas in vivo. For this purpose, I am going to compare the tumour incidence and aggressiveness between wt and AID-/- mice in a model for colitis-induced carcinogenesis. In addition, I am planning to generate a reporter system in which the expression of the oncogenic KRasV12 mutant depends on the reversion of a STOP codon by AID. This will decrease the amount of mutations required for tumour development and will allow for the efficient tracking and quantification of AID activity in different tissues in vitro and in vivo.

Keywords: inflammation,cancer,nf-kappa b,aid,translocation
The role of Polycomb genes in normal stem cell and breast cancer stem cell self-renewal and maintenance (BREAST STEM CELLS)

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: Netherlands
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-IIF-2008, 2008)
Start date: 2009-03-01
End date: 2009-12-31
Duration (months): 10.0
Total project cost (EUR): 167157.36
EU funding (EUR): 167157.36
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Breast cancer is the most common malignancy of women in developed nations. Approximately 1 in 9 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and many will receive chemotherapy and achieve long-term cancer control. However, in approximately one-third of these women, cancer will recur. This is thought to be due to the presence of chemotherapy-resistant ‘breast cancer stem cells’. Two Polycomb-group proteins, Bmi1 and Ezh2, are frequently over-expressed in breast cancer, suggesting that these epigenetic regulators may play a role in breast tumorigenesis. Interestingly, Bmi1 and Ezh2 are also known to be involved in the maintenance of adult stem cells and in normal mammary gland development. Based on these observations, we postulate that Ezh2 and Bmi1 are critical for maintaining mammary stem cell identity and that mutations leading to the continuous expression of these Polycomb-group genes contribute to the generation of breast cancer stem cells. This project will study the parallels between the role of Polycomb genes in normal mammary stem cell maintenance and their role in breast cancer. We will use novel transgenic mice that express doxycycline-regulatable short hairpin (sh)RNAs to Bmi1 and Ezh2 alone, or in combination with established mammary tumor models that closely resemble human disease. Using these mice, we will investigate whether a) knockdown of Bmi1 and Ezh2 causes a regression of the normal and/or cancer stem cell compartment and b) whether this can be exploited to eradicate mammary tumors. Understanding the way in which Ezh2 and Bmi1 exert their effects may lead to novel targeted therapies for breast cancers, which may lead to the eradication of those cells that have the capacity to initiate tumor recurrence. We are confident that the proposed studies, many of which are already well in progress, will provide new insight into the factors that contribute to cancer initiation and maintenance and will have important implications for cancer treatment.

Keywords: mouse models,breast cancer,polycomb group genes,cancer stem cells,tumor therapy
How does our brain learn to be social? (SOCIAL BRAIN)

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: Germany
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-IEF-2008, 2008)
Start date: 2009-12-01
End date: 2011-11-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 168717.32
EU funding (EUR): 168717.32
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

People are per definition social animals. Some even argue that the main reason the human brain is so developed is precisely to support the intricate skills required for successful interactions with others in an increasingly complex social environment. Today, our globalized society indeed requires us to adopt different modes of social interaction in different social contexts, whether this is during a meeting, down at the pub, on Facebook, or in your own household. Whereas some of the required skills are presumably innate (e.g., neonate imitation), the vast majority of such skills are learned through culture and education. In this light, our central hypothesis is that people learn to interact socially with their peers. Congruently, the project aims at identifying the mechanisms through which this learning occurs, and propose that these mechanisms are largely similar to those found to be at play in cognitive paradigms such as implicit learning. Relevant questions that will be addressed include: How do we learn to monitor and to some degree control others’ emotional state? How do we build up our “social grammars” — the informal set of rules we follow when interacting with others? Is the knowledge that subtends such “social grammars” conscious or unconscious? Specifically, we will investigate (1) to what degree people learn such social grammars unconsciously, and what happens when they are made conscious of the rules of the grammar; (2) what makes this social learning special – to what degree does it differ from other forms of learning; (3) which brain regions subtend unconscious learning of social interactions (as compared to conscious or non-social learning); (4) whether there is a difference in the degree to which unconscious or conscious social learning breaks down in pathologies such as autism and schizophrenia, in which patients are specifically impaired when it comes to social interaction.

Keywords: social psychology,cognitive science,experimental psychology,neuropsychology,implicit learning,social learning,autism
Linking inducible chemical defences and phytoplankton population dynamics (LIDPOP)

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: Denmark
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-IEF-2008, 2008)
Start date: 2009-03-01
End date: 2011-06-30
Duration (months): 28.0
Total project cost (EUR): 214150.72
EU funding (EUR): 214150.72
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Marine phytoplankton contribute approximately 50% of the global primary production. Despite this, our understanding of the driving forces and processes that structure phytoplankton communities is still rudimentary. Community structure is of fundamental importance for the ecosystem function and food-web dynamics. Some phytoplankton species acts as carbon sinks, others as sources, and community structure may therefore determine the direction of ocean–atmosphere CO2 exchange, with corresponding influence on e.g. the climate system. It is now evident that the effects of grazers and trophic cascades, “top down effects”, has got a strong structuring impact of both freshwater and marine primary producers. The ability to avoid grazers with chemical or morphological defences appears to play a key role in favouring population growth, sometimes allowing single species to escape their grazers and form high density “blooms”. Recently it was discovered that marine phytoplankton can sense their zooplankton enemies and respond with increased toxin production. In the proposed project, we utilize this new mechanism to manipulate defensive traits in phytoplankton and experimentally test the long debated role of chemical defences and hereto overlooked grazer induced chemical defences in phytoplankton population dynamics. We will develop general mathematical models based on experimental data to evaluate the importance of chemical defences for population dynamics and ultimately phytoplankton bloom formation. Furthermore, state of the art analytical chemistry will be applied to identify the chemical signal molecules that induce toxin production in marine phytoplankton. Slow and unsuccessful identification of signal molecules has hampered research in aquatic ecology for decades. Recent development in analytical chemistry, however, suggests that this may change shortly.

Keywords: aquatic ecology,noxious plants,aquatic biology,phytoplankton,population dynamics,ecological modelling,harmful alagal bloom,dinoflagellate,alexandrium