Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
The evolution and implications of fitness-associated genetic mixing - a theoretical study (FAGM)

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: 2009-02-01
End date: 2013-05-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Mixing of genetic material coming from different individuals is central for the generation of new genetic combinations, and plays a major role in evolution. Most evolutionary models implicitly assume that genetic mixing has a uniform rate at all times. In contrast, this research will investigate an alternative hypothesis: that genetic mixing is plastic, its rate depending on the state of the organism, so that less fit individuals have a higher tendency for mixing. The research will concentrate on three mechanisms of mixing: sexual reproduction, outcrossing and dispersal. The investigator will develop and analyze mathematical models and simulations of fitness associated mixing, in order to identify conditions favoring the evolution of fitness associated mixing, and to predict its implications for adaptation. This research is a necessary step towards understanding the evolutionary basis and the implications of plastic genetic variation. By improving our understanding of the way genetic variation acts and evolves, the results of this research will affect many evolutionary and ecological models, and guide future experimental efforts. In addition to its direct theoretical significance, it would improve our understanding of how populations react to a changing environment – an issue of critical importance in conservation biology. It may also provide new insights regarding the accelerated evolution of drug resistant pathogen strains in response to successful drug treatment.

Keywords: evolutionary theory,population genetics,genetic variation,genetic mixing,evolution of sex,recombination
Resilient Networked Control Systems (RESILIENTNETCONTROL)

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: Cyprus
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2007-4-3-IRG, 2007)
Start date: 2008-05-21
End date: 2012-05-20
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The proliferation of networks and digital devices over the last decade has solidified their role as important building blocks of the world's economic and social foundation. Numerous emerging commercial, governmental and medical applications are vitally dependent on such systems, and there is undoubtedly a growing need for ensuring that these critical networked systems remain reliable and trustworthy despite malicious or non-malicious disruptions. To address this deficiency, the proposed project focuses on networked control systems (NCSs) and sets the following two-fold objective: (i) develop theory and techniques for monitoring and diagnosing faults or, more generally, abnormalities in NCSs, possibly under limited and/or corrupted information, and (ii) establish control strategies that provide resilience to (potentially malicious) interference while maintaining acceptable performance and while satisfying any privacy concerns that may arise in a given NCS. The research objectives of this project are very timely, since building NCSs that are resilient and trustworthy presents a significant hurdle to reaching the full potential of NCSs. The project will facilitate to the development of a new body of research knowledge by combining several research areas from Electrical Engineering, Computer Science and Applied Mathematics (such as fault diagnosis, supervisory control, detection and estimation, system-level diagnosis, distributed algorithms, and others). Apart from intellectual merit, the project will also be instrumental for the reintegration of the Prof. Hadjicostis (coordinator) into the European research arena, giving him the opportunity to establish a research group on Resilient Networked Systems at the University of Cyprus (host). This process will facilitate knowledge transfer to the host and ultimately lead to courses and educational material on topics that can help train researchers and engineers in emerging technology areas of pan-European importance.

Keywords: control networks,systems theory,algorithms
Establishing a mouse model for ICE Fever, a novel autoinflammatory syndrome associated with procaspase-1 mutations (MODEL FOR ICE FEVER)

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-2007-4-3-IRG, 2007)
Start date: 2008-03-01
End date: 2012-02-29
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

In up to 80% of patients with symptoms of an autoinflammatory syndrome (periodic fever syndrome) a molecular diagnosis is currently not possible. Procaspase-1 (aka IL-1 converting enzyme, ICE) is a component of the CIAS1/NALP3 ‘inflammasome’ and plays critical roles in releasing the proinflammatory cytokine IL-1b. and regulating the NFkB-activating RIP-2 pathway. Sequencing of the procaspase-1 coding region from 200 patients with undiagnosed autoinflammatory syndromes revealed mutations in 8 patients, 7 of whom were heterozygous. The autoinflammatory syndrome associated with these mutations has tentatively been termed ‘ICE Fever’. X-ray crystallography and functional studies revealed that the resulting amino acid changes destabilize interactions within the interface of the mature caspase-1 tetramer and thus reduce proteolytic activity and IL-1b release. One consequence is an overactivity of the pro-inflammatory RIP-2 pathway due to diminished proteolytic inactivation of RIP-2 by caspase-1, potentially leading to autoinflammation. We propose to establish a mouse model for ‘ICE Fever’ by generating transgenic mice in which a single amino acid substitution in the active center has abolished the proteolytic activity of procaspase-1. For transgenesis, a novel ‘switch dual color’ vector will be used that allows to reproduce the wild type, heterozygous and homozygous states. Mice will be monitored in detail for the development of signs, symptoms and laboratory abnormalities suggestive of autoinflammation. Monosodium urate crystals, which are known to activate the NALP3 inflammasome, and the murine air pouch model of inflammation will be used to test for a possible exaggerated innate immune response. This will be the first mouse model for an inflammasome-associated autoinflammatory syndrome. It may afford new insights into the pathogenesis and treatment of ‘ICE Fever’ and into the roles of procaspase-1 and the RIP-2 pathway in inflammation in gener

Keywords: health sciences,pediatrics,immunology,rheumatology
New directions in radio-interferometric wide-field mapping (WIDEMAP)

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: Germany
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2007-2-2-ERG, 2007)
Start date: 2008-04-01
End date: 2011-03-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 45000.0
EU funding (EUR): 45000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The main science driver for our proposal is to develop novel algorithms to produce wide-field maps from radio-interferometric astronomical observations. The technique of Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) achieves the highest resolution of astronomical observations at any wavelength. Until recently, the size of maps produced by VLBI was limited to tiny regions on the sky. Based on our previous experience in pushing VLBI to larger fields, we will develop methods that allow real wide-field VLBI using affordable computer hardware. In combination with the development of new algorithms, we will use special-purpose hardware that was originally developed for graphics processing. This hardware, available in the form of high-end graphics cards, provides high performance for a low price and is well-suited for our applications. Using this type of hardware is currently also explored in other areas, and we plan to combine the main goal with other fields of astrophysics. Closest to the wide-field mapping project are applications in modelling gravitational lenses and calibrating and imaging data from the new LOFAR radio telescope array. On the more distant side, we will explore the opportunities for numerical N-body simulations, one of the active research areas at the host institute.

Keywords: astrophysics,parallel computing,image processing
Web Graph: Learning Models for Prediction and Evolution Monitoring (LEMPEM)

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: Greece
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2007-2-2-ERG, 2007)
Start date: 2008-04-01
End date: 2011-03-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 45000.0
EU funding (EUR): 45000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Data intensive systems flourish in the last decades with an ever increasing rate of data production. A characteristic such case is the Web graph. Given the dynamism of the Web we aim to study the Web graph in terms of learning models and monitoring its evolution. The main problems we study are: • identification of trends and patterns in the web graph, using the spectral properties of the evolving web adjacency matrix. • monitoring of web pages’ ranking over time, and prediction of pages web ranking. • learn models for the evolving web graph with statistical learning techniques. The results of the proposed research will be a framework of approaches and algorithms that will enable effective and efficient: - Query based top-k list predictions (future and historical ones) - Prediction based crawling: based on our ranking predictive modeling, crawling resources can be optimized maintaining at the same time a satisfactory top-k quality All the above are profoundly beneficial for resource management in the context of large scale Web search, and the added value of the above will be the potential use of these techniques by the Web search industry.

Keywords: data & web mining
LINE-1 ACTIVITY IN SOMATIC STEM CELLS: IMPACT AND GENOMIC MOSAICISM. (SOMATIC LINE-1)

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-2007-4-3-IRG, 2007)
Start date: 2008-06-24
End date: 2012-06-23
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

45% of the human genome is made of repeated DNA, and some types can be mobilized within the genome (mobile DNA). LINE-1 or L1 is the only autonomous active mobile DNA within the human genome, with 500.000 copies per haploid genome (~17% of the genome). Overall, L1 is responsible for ~30% of our genome. Due to its activity and number in the genome, the impact that L1 has and have on the genome is notable. L1 mobility can result in several human diseases (due to insertions within genes) and can also participate in gene creation. L1 mobility is an active process in the human population, and we have recently demonstrated that human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) express L1 and can accumulate new copies of L1. As a result, some of these new copies will be transmitted to newborn individuals. Recently, it has been demonstrated that L1 is active in several somatic adult cell types. These are by definition cell types that will not disperse new L1 copies in the population. As a consequence, these results are a paradigm for the notion of L1 as a piece of “selfish DNA”, which is in the genome solely by its ability to replicate within the genome. In the present application, we will determine the level of expression and activity of L1 elements in several somatic stem cell types (neuronal, mesenchymals, and hematopoietic) in order to inspect the impact and mosaicism generated by L1 in somatic human tissues. The determination of the somatic impact of LINE-1 will shed light in several biological processes: from its role in the Central Nervous System, to its implication in several human diseases (is LINE-1 involved in the progression of human diseases as cancer?). Furthermore, its study will allow the design of therapeutic approaches in order to control its activity in somatic tissues. It is worth mentioning that the somatic activity of LINE-1 could be involved in several human diseases.

Keywords: retrotransposon,line-1,alu,transposition,human genome,genomic instability,dna mosaic,human somatic stem cells.
Late medieval notions and ideas of work (LABOR OPUS ARS)

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-2007-2-2-ERG, 2007)
Start date: 2008-03-01
End date: 2011-02-28
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 45000.0
EU funding (EUR): 45000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The main objective of the project “Late medieval notions and ideas of work” (LABOR OPUS ARS) is to examine historical ideas and concepts of work in the late medieval period and origins of work ethics. The research will concern the 13th-15th century sources, and will make part of social history. However, as it will base in a great extent on analysis of scholastic texts, so it will be related to history of philosophy. The project will continue the previous research of the applicant in the framework of the Marie Curie project, concerning origins of management and enterprise ethics. The research will be focused on examining: a) development of the notion of work and its meaning in the medieval language; b) interconnection between the historical evolution of views on labour and the economic and social changes (taking into consideration long time economic cycles); c) inter-civilisation differences in ideas of labour, especially between Medieval-Latin, Byzantine, and Arabic civilisation; d) influence of ethical appreciation of work on the analytic concept of labour as the source of value and wealth. The research will also include scrutiny in collection of manuscripts and ancient book, with particular emphasis on Central European libraries resources (Cracow, Erfurt, Kórnik, Lublin, Olomouc, Pelplin, Prague, and Wien). The name of the project refers to Latin terms: labor; opus which signifies not only certain output of labour, but was also refers to notion of economic value (opus-indigentia); and ars considered largely as a specialised activity. The project presents first of all historical interest, but also searches into foundations of contemporary concepts of work and work ethics, referring to influence of the idea of work on the economic mentality of society in different civilisations, too.

Keywords: social sciences,work,social history,history of ideas,history of philosophy,medieval history,medieval economic ethics,scholastic thought
Written language processing in Hearing and Deaf (WORHD)

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: Italy
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2007-2-2-ERG, 2007)
Start date: 2008-10-01
End date: 2011-09-30
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 45000.0
EU funding (EUR): 45000.0
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

An issue dominating the current debate in the field of written language processing concerns the existence of brain areas dedicated to the visual perception of words. Cohen et al. (2002) suggested that such visual specialization occurs in occipito-temporal region of the left hemisphere, namely at the ‘Visual Word Form Area’ (VWFA). Using Magnetoencephalography (MEG) and presenting words and anagrams for a lexical decision task, Pammer et al. (2004) showed that the activation of the VWFA was temporally preceded by activity in the posterior superior IFG. Such findings question the functional role of the VWFA as exclusively in the visual domain and suggest early top-down influences of frontal areas on fusiform gyrus. A way to further investigate these issue, and in particular the impact of phonology on visual recognition would be to investigate the temporal activation of the brain regions responsible for phonological and visual processing when phonology is impaired but visual recognition is intact, as in deaf readers. WoRHD is an exploration of the impact of auditory deprivation on the cortical network involved in word recognition. Such investigation will show the overall impact of deafness on written language processing, by looking at similarities and differences between neural networks recruited by participants with and without auditory deprivation in a lexical decision task. Specifically, participants with auditory deprivation are prevented forming phonological representations of words and letters, which might affect the functioning of brain areas typically associated with phonological processing and/or their interaction with other regions of the brain. WoRHD integrates in a multimodal approach classical cognitive experimental paradigm with brain imaging techniques such functional MRI, Electroencephalography and Diffusion Tensor Imaging.

Keywords: neuropsychology,cognitive science,experimental psychology
Comprehensive characterization of epigentic reprogramming in cancer (CANCER EPIGENETICS)

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: 2008-03-01
End date: 2012-02-29
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Epigenetics refers to heritable changes in gene expression patterns, brought about by modifications to DNA and chromatin. Aberrant epigenetic activity was shown to play important roles in the tumorigenic process. Two major epigenetic systems are known: DNA methylation and the histone modification machinery, an important component of which is the Polycomb Repressive Complexes (PRC) system. Recent works have suggested that a link between the two systems exists in cancer cells. Previous work on the interaction between DNA methylation and PRC activity was mostly limited to studies of a small number of genes leading to partial and conflicting results. I propose a long term comprehensive study that aims to examine the correlated epigenetic changes in these systems occurring through the spectrum of the tumorigenic process. This is made possible by a new methodology we have developed involving simultaneous genome-wide profiling of DNA methylation and PRC activity followed by robust computational analysis of the data. This gives us a unique ability to probe correlated changes of the various epigenetic systems. The project will be based on an established lab-computational-biotech collaboration and will entail simultaneous genome-wide profiling of epigenetic systems in normal and cancer cells and in various stages of the immortalization/transformation process. Results of the initial phase of this study show significant interplay between the two epigenetic systems. In particular, it appears that the two silencing mechanisms act in parallel to reprogram the cancer epigenome, and that DNA hypermethylation may replace Polycomb based repression near key regulatory genes, possibly reducing their regulatory flexibility. I expect the project to lead to a characterization of the gradual evolution of epigenetic states during the tumorigenic process, and their contribution to the transformation of normal cells to cancer cells.

Keywords: health sciences,epigenetics,dna methylation,polycomb system,cancer
Comparative Proteomics and Function of Secreted Proteins of Campylobacter jejuni (CAMPY SECRETION)

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: Netherlands
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2007-2-2-ERG, 2007)
Start date: 2008-03-01
End date: 2011-02-28
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 45000.0
EU funding (EUR): 45000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Bacterial pathogens often secrete proteins into their environment to institute infection of eukaryotic host cells. Common virulence-associated protein secretion machineries are the well studied type III and IV systems that facilitate proteins to associate with and translocate into eukaryotic cells. The principal bacterial food-borne pathogen Campylobacter jejuni and related species lack these systems but seem to have evolved alternative protein secretion strategies. So far, a few Campylobacter virulence-associated proteins have been identified. Most of these proteins appear to be secreted by the flagellar export system, some in response to host factors. The mechanism of this novel host-induced protein secretion pathway and the function of the secreted proteins, are unknown. The goal of this project is to dissect the mechanism(s) and function in cellular infection of Campylobacter protein secretion. More specifically, it is aimed: 1) to identify Campylobacter proteins and their secretion routes using a subproteome approach; 2) to decipher the regulation of host-induced bacterial protein secretion and their role in cellular infection using defined mutants, tagged recombinant proteins, and multiphoton confocal microscopy, and 3) to unravel the function of selected secreted proteins in host cell infection. This work is expected to expand our knowledge of host-pathogen interactions and to lead to the discovery of the control and function in cellular infection of bacterial protein secretion systems distinct from the classical type III and IV secretion machineries. The results may thus provide novel targets for vaccine and drug development against bacterial pathogens.

Keywords: bacterial pathogenesis,campylobacter jejuni,virulence proteins,host cell infection,protein secretion systems