Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Prenatal diagnosis – indices of fetal developmental disturbances enabled by advanced signal identification techniques (PRENATAL DIAGNOSIS)

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: 2009-05-15
End date: 2011-05-14
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 161563.92
EU funding (EUR): 161563.92
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Fetal programming of mental and cardiovascular diseases by adverse prenatal environmental influences is a main issue of developmental medicine. However, the number of measurable functional parameters in the human fetus is limited. The assessment of key parameters of the underlying processes of fetal brain maturation could foster the early detection of developmental problems, the design of therapeutic strategies and save immense cost for public health. Biomagnetic measurements of fetal heart rate patterns (HRP) and fetal auditory evoked responses (fAER) may open a new non-invasive diagnostic window. Up to now the signal to noise ratio of these recordings is non-sufficient and they are too short for an appropriate consideration of fetal state behaviour. Consequently reliable clinical studies reflecting developmental disturbances could not be performed. The goal of the project is two-fold: (1) to improve the identification of fetal heart beats and fAER in longer and non-stationary recordings, (2) to explore for the first time simultaneously behavioural state dependent HRP, indices of fetal heart rate variability and reliable fAER indices; both appropriate to data of a longitudinal study involving intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) and antenatal steroid (glucocorticoid GC) administration. This will be achieved by innovative developments of advanced signal separation and identification methods to improve the signal to noise ratio in the biomagnetic recordings and novel signal analysis approaches best suited for nonlinear and nonstationary signals. The host group provides a unique data bank of functional, clinical and biomagnetic measurements from normal fetuses and those with possibly developmental disturbances by IUGR or GC. The developed methods will be evaluated on the study data set mentioned above and will be prerequisite for a significant improvement of the signal quality, reduction of dropouts and the design of advanced indices of fetal brain development.

Keywords: prenatal diagnosis,fetal development,biomagnetic measurements,signal processing,human embryology
Acoustic Monitoring of Marine Rainfall (ACOUSTIC RAINFALL)

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: Greece
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-IIF-2008, 2008)
Start date: 2009-10-01
End date: 2011-09-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 201028.97
EU funding (EUR): 201028.97
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Understanding the distribution and change of oceanic rainfall patterns is a major component of global/regional water cycle and climate change. Underwater acoustic measurements of rainfall can be used to detect and classify marine rainfall type and subsequently quantify the rainfall rate and its drop size distributions. These measurements if proven robust and accurate can be used to (1) provide continuous measurements of precipitation characteristics in the Oceans and (2) as in situ reference to physically validate satellite observations. In turn, the acoustic measurements of rain need to be evaluated using near-range high-quality weather radar and if possible co-located rain gauge arrays and disdrometers. These type of data will be available from the POSEIDON project operated by the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR) and represents a unique data set worldwide to pursue this concept. Dr. Nystuen is the world leader in the interpretation of the underwater sound to measure rainfall. By working closely with scientists from HCMR Dr. Nystuen will be able to transfer knowledge and understanding of the technique to European scientists and allow them to become competitive for future grants applying the acoustical measurement of rainfall to validate radar and satellite rainfall observations and other related opportunities.

Keywords: marine rainfall underwater acoustic measurements,natural sciences
Topoisomerase Function in genome and epigenome regulation during Neuronal Differentiation (TOPONEURONAL)

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: 2009-03-01
End date: 2011-02-28
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 191431.3
EU funding (EUR): 191431.3
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Transcriptional regulation defines the identity of pluripotent and differentiated cells. DNA Topoisomerases are enzymes that catalyze the unlinking of the DNA strands by making transient DNA strand breaks and allowing the DNA to rotate around these breaks, a process essential for DNA replication, transcription, chromosome condensation and segregation (Champoux, 2001). A mammalian-specific distinct type of topoisomerase, topoisomerase II beta (TopIIβ), is only abundantly expressed in terminally differentiated cells and is required for neurogenesis (Yang et al, 2000). TopIIβ is proposed to act at the ‘potentiation’ level of transcription to make gene promoters amenable for transcription as a prerequisite for their subsequent development-specific activation. This function could be achieved by regulating higher order chromatin organization of target genomic regions and/or direct interaction with known partners such as condesin and PcG proteins (Lupo R. et al., 2001) and other epigenetic modifiers such as chromatin remodeling complexes. We propose to define the contribution of TopIIβ activity towards epigenetic regulation of neuronal differentiation. We will combine a sophisticated in vitro mouse differentiation system with genome-wide identification of TopIIβ target genes. These will be directly related to existing datasets on development-specific targets of DNA methylation and Polycomb marking (Mohn et al., 2008).To delineate how these local characteristics translate into spatial organization of chromosomal regions we will study genomewide networks of chromosomal interactions for selected target genes using the 4C methodology. This will be functionally complemented by analysis of mouse stem cells lacking topoisomerase II beta protein. We ultimately aim to generate a model of how topoisomerase II beta proteins contribute to epigenetic reprogramming and nuclear reorganization events that take place during cellular differentiation of pluripotent stem cells.

Keywords: genomics,neurobiology,topoisomerases,higher order chromatin conformation,stem cells,neuronal lineage
Flow-aligned polarised Raman of biomacromolecular entities (FAPRMOL)

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: 2009-05-26
End date: 2011-05-25
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 181350.76
EU funding (EUR): 181350.76
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Existing spectroscopic methods do not provide satisfactory data on structure, orientation and interactions of biomacromolecules in their native environments. This is especially true of membrane proteins, a major class of drug target. The structure of formulated glycoprotein biopharmaceuticals and their interactions with their targets are also a challenge for UV spectroscopies due to extremely high concentrations and the near invisibility of the sugars to UV radiation. Infra red methods suffer from water absorbance dominating the analyte signals. We will therefore develop a new technique called flow-aligned polarised Raman (FAPR) spectroscopy, which will have many of the advantages of existing techniques, including using aqueous environments, while avoiding their pitfalls by using visible radiation. We expect to gain new structural data on the studied molecules using FAPR. The applicability of this method will be verified on membrane peptides and proteins and glycoproteins.

Keywords: physical sciences,chemistry,instrumental techniques,chemical physics
Development and application of new Nuclear Magnetic Resonance methodologies for structure determination of solid or semi-solid samples (SSNMRMETHOD)

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: 2010-01-01
End date: 2011-12-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 164310.52
EU funding (EUR): 164310.52
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

The focus of my research project is the development of new solid-state Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) methodologies that allow the determination of the structure of solid or semi-solid samples. Materials of this type are central to many interesting biophysical questions but, because they are typically insoluble and non-crystalline, they are not amenable to structure determination by traditional biophysical techniques such as solution-state NMR or single-crystal X-ray diffraction. They may also have complicated intermolecular interactions that are not easily probed by single-molecule studies. Solid-state NMR may prove particularly informative for the study of these systems because of its inherent atomic resolution and its requirement for only local order. I plan to develop new NMR methods, based on Switched Angle Spinning, to study these kinds of materials. The group of Prof. M. H. Levitt at the University of Southampton is highly recognized in the scientific community for the development of a theory that allows NMR experiments useful to specific purposes, as structure determination, to be designed using symmetry principles. Taking advantage of the knowledge of the host organization, I plan to apply this approach to the development of new experiments allowing the measurements of either homonuclear and heteronuclear dipolar couplings for selected couples of nuclei, giving access to very detailed structural details.

Keywords: structural chemistry,physical chemistry,spectroscopy,solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance
A NORTH AFRICAN PERSPECTIVE ON MODERN HUMAN ORIGINS (ATERIAN)

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: 2009-07-01
End date: 2011-11-30
Duration (months): 29.0
Total project cost (EUR): 161686.39
EU funding (EUR): 161686.39
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The archaeological record of North Africa is becoming increasingly important for several reasons, including the human fossil record and the early evidence of behavioral modernity. The purpose of this proposal is to examine the Aterian lithic industry in the context of modern human origins. In particular, this proposal seeks to point out the assessment and definition of Aterian technocomplex, the role of tanged pieces in this system and the appraisal of paleoenvironmental context. Those data will make possible a technological and cultural comparison with adjacent areas, including Egypt and Levant. So, this proposal aims to re-define Aterian trough a deep and modern oriented lithic analysis and through the application of a technological analytic approach. This kind of analysis proposes to integrate traditional typological definitions with technological, morphometrical, statistical one, related to use wear approaches. The typological characteristics of Aterian lithic assemblages have been better explored than their technological aspects until now. In fact, the analysis of Aterian has tended to focus almost exclusively on the presence or absence of tanged pieces, the only tools being recognized as uniquely Aterian. This project seeks to put this lithic industry in the larger context of the technological system devoted to blank production. The analysis of the Aterian lithic industries from Jebel Gharbi, issued from the Italian-Libyan Archaeological Project, will be the starting point to reach objectives. Lithic collections are partially conserved in Italy (in the Museo delle Origini of La Sapienza University) and partially in Libya (Department of Antiquities, Tripoli). Moreover, new Aterian evidence will be collected during planned field season 2009 and 2010 in Jebel Gharbi.

Keywords: aterian,lithic technology,north africa,human origins,behavioural modernity.
Analysis of the kinetochore architecture and dynamics using a mass spectrometry based integrative structural approach (KINETOCHORE MAP)

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-IEF-2008, 2008)
Start date: 2010-01-01
End date: 2011-12-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 190297.28
EU funding (EUR): 190297.28
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

A mechanistic understanding of a living cell requires the characterization of the architecture and dynamic assembly of its macromolecular complexes. The proposed project describes a novel integrative approach to determine the topology of protein networks and higher order assemblies using chemical crosslinking, state of the art mass spectrometry (MS) and cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET). This MS based strategy will enable the high-throughput detection and integration of structural data of biological systems. As a promising target we have chosen a giant key cell division structure, the human kinetochore, which is crucial for faithful chromosome segregation during cell division. Up to now, a comprehensive understanding of its cell cycle-regulated assembly and the nature of interactions between its protein components remain elusive. To investigate the architecture of the kinetochore we propose to apply a novel MS based crosslinking strategy that allows monitoring of protein interfaces at primary structure level. We plan to combine this technology with cryo-ET of the native kinetochore structure and of affinity-purified kinetochore complexes. Based on the spatial restraints obtained by MS, subunits can be fitted into electron density maps with high confidence, which will facilitate the generation of a 3D topological map of the entire kinetochore. Currently, there is no mechanistic understanding of the temporal dynamics of kinetochore protein assembly/disassembly which presumably involves cell cycle-controlled synthesis and degradation, as well as post-translational cues. To measure alterations in protein levels and phosphorylation status, we will investigate purified subcomplexes or whole cell lysates by quantitative targeted MS methods pioneered by the host institution. The resulting abundance information of proteins and their phosphorylation sites promises to reveal the stoichiometric relationships of kinetochore components and their cell cycle-regulated assembly.

Keywords: kinetochore architecture,chromosome segregation,macromolecular assembly,mass spectrometry,crosslinking,distance constraint,selected reaction monitoring,cryo-electron tomography
Nonlinear spectral problems and wave propagation in crystals (NSP)

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-IEF-2008, 2008)
Start date: 2010-01-01
End date: 2011-12-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 152831.96
EU funding (EUR): 152831.96
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Nonlinear spectral problems frequently occur when damping effects or frequency dependencies are included in a model. Many physically relevant spectral problems induce symmetries in the spectrum. Numerical methods that ignore structure often break these qualitatively important symmetries, which may lead to physically meaningless or unstable results. The importance of preserving eigenvalue symmetries of a matrix polynomial has been discussed in recent years. However, the whole chain, from spectral symmetries of the non-linear problem on an infinite-dimensional space to the numerically calculated eigenvalues has not been studied. The aim of this project is to analyze all steps in the chain and to use the new results to develop highly effective numerical software for calculations of plasmon resonances and band gaps in dielectric and metallic photonic crystals. Such crystal structures that are designed for controlling propagation of electromagnetic waves have numerous applications including telecommunication, solar cells, integrated circuits, and possibly in the future optical or plasmonic computers.

Keywords: physical sciences,applied mathematics,nonlinear spectral analysis,structured eigenvalue methods,operator pencil,photonic crystal
Temperature Perception in Crop Plants (TEMPIC)

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-IIF-2008, 2008)
Start date: 2009-08-01
End date: 2011-07-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 173568.66
EU funding (EUR): 173568.66
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The objective of this proposal is to discover components of the ambient temperature perception pathway in Brachypodium distachyon. This will help us understand the way in which crop plants perceive and respond to changes in ambient temperature, including climate change. A gene expression atlas for the major ambient temperature responses in Brachypodium will be created using microarrays, to identify genes that show a continually variable expression across the ambient (i.e. non-stress inducing) temperature range. These experiments will be compared to data from Arabidopsis to identify the level of conservation in temperature perception pathways between monocots and dicots. The promoters of temperature responsive genes identified through this analysis will be fused to the firefly Luciferase gene to develop ambient temperature reporter lines. Selected lines will be used in forward genetic screens (using fast neutron irradiation mutagenesis) to identify key components of the Brachypodium temperature sensing pathway. This analysis will be complemented by functional characterisation of temperature sensing genes identified in parallel screens in Arabidopsis that have been carried in the Wigge lab as well as using the expression atlas data. These reverse genetics approaches will use RNA interference technology to knock-down the activity of the genes of interest. The phenotypes of these plants will be assessed to determine the direct role of each candidate within the temperature perception pathway. Taken together, this project aims to provide novel information about the way in which our major crop plants will respond to changes in ambient temperature by continuing the development of Brachypodium as a model organism for temperate cereals, such as wheat and barley, and identifying genetic components within the monocot temperature perception pathway.

Keywords: natural sciences,temperature perception,abiotic stress,brachypodium distachyon,crop plants,microarray transcript analysis,fast-neutron mutagenesis,rna interference
Developing Nonlinear Tools for Environmental Modeling and Chemoinformatics (DENOT-EM-CI)

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: Finland
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-IEF-2008, 2008)
Start date: 2009-06-01
End date: 2011-05-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 169150.52
EU funding (EUR): 169150.52
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

We propose the development of nonlinear tools for Environmental Modeling and Chemoinformatics. The methods and tools developed will be applied to modeling environmental changes in the Baltic Sea. The applicant will join the Centre of Excellence in Adaptive Informatics (AI) of the Academy of Finland, Department of Information and Computer Science, Helsinki University of Technology, under the supervision of Dr. Amaury Lendasse, Docent and Senior Researcher, head of the Time Series Prediction and Chemoinformatics Group. Dr. Lendasse is also an associate member of Statistique Appliquée et Modélisation Stochastique, Université Paris I--Panthón Sorbonne, led by Prof. Marie Cottrell. A multidisciplinary approach is proposed, involving time series prediction, feature selection and dimension reduction, Environmental Modeling and Chemoinformatics. The research will be done in cooperation with other groups of the AI Centre as well as researchers from a number of countries, in particular Prof. Michel Verleysen, Machine Learning Group at the Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium;Docent Ilppo Vuorinen, Archipelago Research Institute at the University of Turku, Finland, and Docent Satu-Pia Reinikainen, Laboratory of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry at the Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland. During the project, the applicant will spent 6 to 8 weeks per year in the Archipelago Research Institute at the University of Turku. The applicant is currently a Ph.D. student at University of Seville, Spain. He is also with the Spanish Research Council, where he works as a junior researcher towards his PhD. His thesis defense is scheduled for November, 2008. He has already visited the host group in summer 2007 and spring 2008. The methods and tools developed will be a significant contribution to Chemoinfomatics, in the line of the Obernai declaration (2006). Immediate applications of this research will have a direct impact in forecasting environmental changes in the Baltic region. This is of special relevance in the context of the EU Water Framework Directive.

Keywords: environmental modeling,chemoinformatics,time series prediction,applied informatics,adaptive informatics,modeling tools,nonlinear modeling,dimension reduction,variable selection