Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Building the bridge from a microscopic towards a macroscopic description of the flow of amorphous media (FLAME)

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-2009-IEF, 2009)
Start date: 2010-10-01
End date: 2012-09-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 165145.6
EU funding (EUR): 165145.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Although disordered media are ubiquitous in everyday life in form of emulsions, pastes, granular materials, foams and metallic glasses, there is still little known about a possible macroscopic description of such type of materials. Despite the seemingly very different nature of the so called soft and hard versions of amorphous media, both lead to similar challenges when it comes to theoretical concepts and modeling issues. Here, we propose a bridging technique, starting from a first principle microscopic representation on the bases of molecular dynamics, towards a macroscopic mean field description of the plasticity of amorphous materials. We are considering disordered media, subject to a shear force, that will eventually cause the material to yield under sufficient loading. It is a commonly accepted point of view that the flow of glasses is a net result of individual structural rearrangements on the atomic or molecular level. Hence, it should be possible to derive a mesoscopic stochastic model, that allows for the application of statistical methods to conclude with the much sought after mean-field equations of amorphous plasticity. The establishment of such a description is not only of interest from a unifying theoretical point of view, but will also offer a key tool in practical engineering questions.

Keywords: mechanical and thermal properties,statistical physics,solid state physics,out-of-equilibrium systems,disordered media
The T cell immune response against latent infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TILIM)

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: Denmark
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2009-IIF, 2009)
Start date: 2011-01-01
End date: 2012-12-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 206629.0
EU funding (EUR): 206629.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

One third of the world's population is infected with latent TB, which therefore constitutes the largest reservoir for TB. In 5% of latently infected individuals TB will eventually re-activate, and it is believed that most new TB cases is indeed due to re-activation of latent TB. TB is a chronic disease, and during the long interaction with the host, the immune response against TB antigens tend to focus on only a few dominant epitopes. The idea for the project is that while a response against the dominant epitopes will lead to partial protection, it is not enough to eradicate M.tb resulting in a lifelong latent infection. Moreover, a response against dominant epitopes will wane with time resulting in re-activation of TB, and spreading of the disease. As a consequence, an immune response against only dominant epitopes within M.tb antigens is not enough to fully control the infection and stop the spread of the disease. Recently is has become increasingly clear that concerning chronic diseases, responses against subdominant epitopes, not induced by the natural infection, can be highly protective (1), and our working hypothesis is therefore the following: To increase the control over a chronic persisting M.tb infection (and prevent re-activation of TB), a response against the subdominant epitopes is required. To examine this we intend to test the vaccine efficacy of both dominant epitopes (epitopes induced by the natural infection) and sub-dominant epitopes (epitopes not induced by the natural infection) given post exposure to animals harbouring a persistent infection.

Keywords: tuberculosis,vaccine,bacteria,infection,t cells
The role of protozoa and phage enemies as driving force for bacterial virulence (VIRUEVO)

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,United Kingdom
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2009-IEF, 2009)
Start date: 2010-04-01
End date: 2012-03-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 181103.2
EU funding (EUR): 181103.2
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

Bacterial virulence has been traditionally thought to co-evolve in reciprocal selection with its host organism. However, in nature pathogens are embedded within a web of interactions which could indirectly affect evolution of bacterial virulence. Recent findings suggest that protozoan predation could increase pathogen virulence because bacterial defensive adaptations can correlate positively with bacterial ability to harm hosts. Yet, protozoan predation could also decrease bacterial virulence if increased allocation to anti-predatory traits is traded off with pathogen virulence. Thus, different type of protozoa could select for different anti-predatory adaptations which have opposite consequences for the evolution of bacterial virulence. Selection by other enemies such as phages (parasitic viruses) or abiotic environment could also select for bacterial traits that have correlated effects on pathogen virulence. However, despite indirect evidence that evolutionary interactions with natural enemies can drive bacterial virulence evolution, the direct, experimental evidence is lacking. In this proposal I concentrate on how protozoa and phage enemies affect the evolution of a bacterium’s (Pseudomonas fluorescens) defensive and virulence traits in two- and multi-species study systems in different environmental conditions. I will first perform microcosm experiments where I expose bacteria to single or multiple enemies, and then determine evolutionary changes in bacterial traits and measure the virulence in invertebrate host. The main aim is to determine how different microbial enemies indirectly select for bacterial virulence, and how defence and virulence related traits are correlated. Importantly, I will learn to work with P. fluorescens-phage system and perfect my skills in virulence assays. The concept of proposal is novel, merges knowledge between two labs and will strengthen the status of Europe as leading region in the study of experimental evolution.

Keywords: bacteriophages,ecology,environment,evolution,microbiology,predation,protozoa,trade-off,virulence,bacteriology,animal ecology
Regulation of epidermal stem cells by a molecular clock during tissue homeostasis and cancer (EPISTEMCLOCK)

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-2009-IEF, 2009)
Start date: 2010-04-01
End date: 2012-03-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 205678.0
EU funding (EUR): 205678.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Most adult tissues contain a reservoir of adult stem cells that maintain homeostasis. Loss of stem cell function can lead to severe tissue dysfunction, accelerated aging, and cancer. We study epidermal stem cells (epSCs) as a model of adult stem cell function. In steady state conditions, epSCs express high levels of ¨molecular breaks¨ that make them refractory to activating stimuli, remaining quiescent, unspecified, and strongly adhered to their niche. However, epSCs can eventually respond to such stimuli thus egressing the niche, and feeding into the differentiated compartment. It is not known yet why some stem cells respond to activating stimuli or what is the nature of this stem cell heterogeneity. Tilting the balance towards excessive or reduced stem cell response may cause premature aging, lack of regenerative potential, or carcinogenesis. We have identified the molecular clock as a possible mechanism regulating epSC function. We hypothesize that epSC heterogeneity is due to a molecular oscillator that establishes their refractory or permissive state towards stimuli. The questions we aim to answer are: How does the clock machinery establish populations of stem cell at different states at the systems level, and how this is deregulated in carcinomas. To address these we will disrupt the clock in epSCs in vivo to study the consequences over homeostasis and carcinogenesis; we will use fluorescent reporter mice to monitor the stem cell clock during homeostasis and tumor progression; we will FACS purify stem cells at different clock states in vivo, and deep sequence their entire transcriptome to study their molecular characteristics; and we will study any correlations between the clock and grade, chemotherapy response, and clinical outcome of human squamous carcinomas. We expect to uncover a novel mechanism for stem cell regulation in tissues which disrupted may lead to tissue dysfunction and pathology.

Keywords: epidermal stem cells,molecular clock,cancer
Paediatric Medical Trust (PMT)

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-2009-IEF, 2009)
Start date: 2010-09-15
End date: 2012-09-14
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 180603.2
EU funding (EUR): 180603.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The Paediatric Medical Trust fellowship is a multidisciplinary collaboration between a post-doctorate student from Italy (Dr. Petrocchi) in Clinical Child/Developmental Psychology and academics/practitioners from the UK in Psychology (Professor Rotenberg, Dr. Sargeant), Paediatric Medicine (Professor Lenny), Health and Rehabilitation (Dr. Rimmington), and the Asthma UK Health Organization (Ms. Versnel). The academics/practitioners have expertise in interpersonal trust, paediatric illnesses, and research methods. The purpose is to: (a) provide paediatric medical psychology training to the post-doctoral student to establish her career in that field, (b) obtain qualitative and quantitative research findings regarding the effects of interpersonal trust and other psychosocial factors on the treatment of children with serious illnesses, (c) redress the scarcity of professionals in Paediatric Medical Psychology, (d) establish guidelines for establishing and maintaining trust in the treatment of children with serious illnesses, and (e) redress the problem of non-adherence to prescribed medical regimes by children with serious illnesses. The fellowship is the first comprehensive and quantitative examination of the role that interpersonal trust plays in the treatment of children with serious illnesses and to develop evidence-based guidelines for establishing that trust. The qualitative study will comprise interviews or focus groups with children with asthma, children with diabetes, their parents and their paediatricians/physicians. The quantitative study will comprise an 8-month longitudinal study of 135 children with asthma. It will examine the extent to which children’s and parents trust beliefs in physicians and other psychosocial factors predict children’s adherence to prescribed medical regimes, physical health and quality of life. The fellowship will result in benefits to industry, children with serious illnesses, their parents and their paediatricians/physicians.

Keywords: social sciences,psychological sciences,psychology,applied psychology,developmental psychology,health sciences
MODELLING OF ELECTROMAGNETIC TRANSIENTS AND PLC ENERGY SERVICES (EM TRANS PLC)

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-2009-IEF, 2009)
Start date: 2010-10-01
End date: 2012-09-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 223547.2
EU funding (EUR): 223547.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Power Line Communication (PLC) technology enables broadband data transfer through power lines. Although promising it is still not fully developed and standardized. One major concern is the EMC radiation problem that is still controversial. However, it seems that experimental or commercial deployments are working practically without complaints. PLC channel is a power transmission line (TL) itself. It may be subject to unwanted disturbances and failures caused by electromagnetic (EM) transients of lightning and switching surges. TL operation in transient mode is important to study in order to understand how power lines can be used to store and realize energy. The protection against EM transients is especially difficult because of its unpredictability and the complexity of their interaction with the electrical system. Although impressive progress has been made the investigation of EM transients continues by perfecting the theories of its generation and propagation, modelling and improving the techniques of protection. However, there is still a lack of systematic knowledge that validates different models’ capability. Consequently, an important research is expected within summarizing transient effects and development of diagnostic tools for predicting and detections of transient effects and possible failures in the power system. This coincides with a new and challenging idea for use of PLC within network quality and management applications. Power service could benefit from PLC to increase its operating efficiency and quality of the power energy supply. Moreover, it would be just one fragment among future add-on services of an “intelligent” power network that PLC can offer. Thus, the objective of the proposed Project is actually twofold: to summarize up to date knowledge about modelling EM transients involving transmission line and antenna approach; and to investigate the possibilities of PLC technology in detection of possible failures caused by transients.

Keywords: electromagnetic transients,power line communication,electromagnetic compatibility,numerical modelling in electromagnetic,computer simulation,high frequencies.
Uncovering the nature of human sentence processing: a computational/experimental approach (HUMSENTPROC)

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-2009-IEF, 2009)
Start date: 2010-09-01
End date: 2012-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 179603.2
EU funding (EUR): 179603.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The project’s research objective is to further our understanding of how people process language. This is accomplished by developing and implementing a range of computational models of sentence processing, each embedding different psychological mechanisms. Next, the models' ability to account for a large body of experimental data is evaluated. On the basis of how the model(s) fit the data, we can isolate the most plausible psychological mechanisms for sentence processing. The notion of "word surprisal" is used to link the models to the data. Formally, word surprisal is defined in terms of informativeness of a word in sentence context. Quantitative measures of surprisal can therefore be extracted from different probabilistic language models. Empirically, surprisal can be viewed as the extent to which the word came unexpected to a reader or listener, having a measurable effect during sentence processing. To capture both aspects of word surprisal, the project combines psycholinguistic experimentation and computational modelling. On the experimental side, word-reading times and ERP data will be collected to obtain measurements of the surprise experienced by readers on encountering words. On the modelling side, several probabilistic sentence-processing models will be implemented to obtain estimates of word surprisal which serve to predict the empirical data. Matching the model's surprisal estimates to the experimental findings will identify the model(s) that provide(s) the most accurate description of human sentence processing. This will inspire the development of a more advanced model that simulates sentence processing more adequately. The main training objective is for the applicant to obtain the necessary knowledge, skills and experience to set up and perform psycholinguistic reading-time and EEG experiments. This complements his current expertise in computational methods, putting him in an ideal position to perform further integrative research in cognitive science.

Keywords: psycholinguistics,computational linguistics,cognitive science,sentence processing,word surprisal,event-related potentials,self-paced reading,cognitive modelling,structural equation modelling
PROGRAMMED ACCELERATION OF EVOLUTION OF THE BIODEGRADATIVE GENE INVENTORY (PROACTIVE)

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: Spain
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2009-IIF, 2009)
Start date: 2011-01-01
End date: 2012-12-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 214054.0
EU funding (EUR): 214054.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Evolution of the ability of microorganisms to degrade xenobiotic compounds, including many environmental pollutants, is slow and limited by a whole set of physiological and regulatory bottlenecks. This Project aims at harnessing natural mechanisms of generation of diversity and selection to accelerate in vivo evolution of the bacterial biodegradative gene inventory and to understand how they function in relation to the genomes of the strains bearing the enzymatic activities. Specifically, we propose to develop auto-evolving bacterial strains designed to rapidly activate a massive mutagenesis program on the molecular bottlenecks for biodegradation of target aromatics as soon as they face a given non-degradable compound. The workplan includes [i] reconstruction of ancestral catabolic enzymes to be included in an expanded biodegradative gene inventory [ii] in vivo selection for the best assembly of ancestral biodegradative genes with the potential to deal with recalcitrant compounds or mixtures thereof and [iii] a mutagenesis phase engineered to be triggered upon induction by an external signal. The result of these steps is the generation/selection of novel catabolic pathways towards an otherwise non-degradable compound. The proof of concept will involve the catabolism of test recalcitrant compounds (e.g. chloroaromatic pollutants) by bacteria endowed with a rapid evolving capacity in chemostats. This Project which builds on sound Synthetic Biology approaches will provide a proof-of-principle of a general approach to evolutionary engineering. The frame has potential impact in both environmental clean-up and the production of high-added value compounds. We argue that PROACTIVE and the technologies that are expected to emerge from it, can make a difference in the way new reactions are pursued in many biotechnological endeavours, and it will open new avenues to address otherwise intractable environmental pollution problems.

Keywords: biodegradation,catabolic pathways,accelerated evolution,synthetic biology,evolutionary engineering
Cell fusion as regenerative tool for stroke treatment (STROKECELLFUSION)

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-2009-IEF, 2009)
Start date: 2010-07-01
End date: 2012-06-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 152917.0
EU funding (EUR): 152917.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

In the last years it has been shown that transplanted adult bone marrow derived stem cells (BMSCs) have the ability to fuse with cells of other types and restore several pathologies such as congenital liver failure and muscular dystrophy. On the nervous system, it was recently reported that bone marrow transplantation (BMT) made 24 hours after the stroke leads to a functional outcome. Cell fusion is one of the underlying mechanisms as it has been shown that it is indirectly implicated in the formation of vasculature after stroke. Thus, stroke is a pathology susceptible to be treated with this cell therapy mechanism. Despite the great potential of this mechanism of regeneration, the low frequency of fusion events, especially in the brain, has veiled and hindered the true regenerative potential of cell fusion. Therefore, the main objective of this project is to identify fusogenic factors that will increase cell fusion events to an effective level for cell therapy of neurological disorders. For this, firstly we will screen in vitro new putative fusogenic with the help of an in vitro cell fusion detection system and FACS analysis. Later, chitosan nanoparticles will be developed for the controlled release of the putative fusogenic factors. Finally, we will evaluate the in vivo efficacy of these factors trough a series of intravenous BMT co-administered with nanoparticles loaded with the selected factors in the mouse model of stroke. We will correlate an increment in the cell fusion events with the putative improvement in stroke symptoms. With this project we will improve our knowledge about adult stem cell plasticity and explore cell fusion process as a neuroregenerative process for the treatment of stroke.

Keywords: stem cells,stroke,cell fusion,drug delivery,natural materials,regenerative medicine,bone marrow transplantation,health sciences