Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Evolution of gene regulatory networks by means of natural selection and genetic drift (EVOGREN)

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: Greece
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IEF, 2013)
Start date: 2014-04-01
End date: 2016-03-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 168794.4
EU funding (EUR): 168794.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Evolution is a process that largely occurs within populations. Contrary to common belief, the evolution of complex genome architecture is not driven by natural selection alone. In small populations, genetic drift overwhelms weak selective forces, yielding populations that evolve “in principle” neutrally. Non-adaptive stochastic forces such as mutation, recombination, and genetic drift, also influence genetic material composition under neutrality. On the other hand, selection optimizes expression levels by operating on sequence polymorphisms at gene regulatory regions. Slightly deleterious mutations on the regulatory regions of genes, that affect the binding of transcription factors may increase in frequency by chance alone. Other non-adaptive processes such as gene duplications can change the distribution of the links on each node (gene) of the network. Here, I propose to study the evolution of gene regulatory networks in the population level, by means of genetic drift and natural selection. I will focus on the effects of mutation, recombination, genetic drift and various forms of natural selection (e.g. stabilizing and positive selection) on the polymorphism patterns of the promoter regions. The goal is to identify polymorphism patterns that are created exclusively by natural selection and not by non-adaptive processes.

Keywords: population genetics,gene regulatory networks,selective sweeps,expression levels,coalescent theory,wagner's model
Ultrahigh resolution NMR tools for chemistry and structural biology (RTACQ4PSNMR)

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: 2014-03-03
End date: 2016-03-02
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 221606.4
EU funding (EUR): 221606.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Solution NMR spectroscopy is among the most important techniques in natural science, particularly for structural biology and organic chemistry research. Spectral resolution and sensitivity are the key parameters controlling access to structural information at the atomic level; at present it is resolution that limits the complexity of structural problem, whether chemical or biological, that NMR can be applied to. Multidimensional NMR has allowed huge strides to be made in studies of the 3D structure and dynamics of complex molecules, but in each dimension the multiplet structure caused by homonuclear couplings sets the resolution limit. Very recently, an improvement to one of the most widely-used and prototypical techniques, the HSQC experiment, has been published by the NMR methodology group at Manchester University headed by Gareth Morris and Mathias Nilsson. This uses for the first time suppression of homonuclear proton-proton couplings in real time during HSQC data acquisition, and results in a simultaneous improvement of a factor of two or more in both resolution and sensitivity, marking a significant breakthrough. Initial results confirm that the basic approach is viable in macromolecular systems, including proteins. Similar approaches should be applicable to a wide range of multidimensional techniques, and have the potential to increase significantly the structure-determining power of NMR. This project sets out plans for the development of a range of novel real-time acquisition methods, including for example improved 3D triple-resonance pulse sequences for protein backbone assignment, and exploiting synergies between real-time homonuclear decoupling and non-uniform data sampling methods to maximise the efficiency of structural studies of complex systems by NMR.

Keywords: pure-shift,real-time detection,homonuclear decoupling,proteins
SOCIAL INNOVATION AGAINST THE CRISIS: HOW LEADERSHIP PRACTICES AND CIVIC CAPACITY IMPROVE NEIGHBOURHOOD DEVELOPMENT (SOCRISIS)

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: Spain
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IOF, 2013)
Start date: 2014-09-01
End date: 2016-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 233597.3
EU funding (EUR): 233597.3
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The global economic and financial crisis has aggravated social problems in disadvantaged urban areas, intensifying the dynamics of urban segregation. Despite the global nature of the crisis, its consequences and the initiatives to combat it vary locally from place to place. Aiming to foster new and effective responses to the current crisis in Europe, this project will compare social initiatives developed at neighbourhood level in Spain and USA, two countries where the effects and the national policies against the crises have moved in opposite directions. We can observe how local social innovation experiences are democratically emerging from below as alternative responses to manage the consequences of the current global crisis. However, the resilience capacity of disadvantaged neighbourhoods to face the crisis is not the same everywhere. This research project is concerned about those factors explaining the geographical variability of local responses to the global crisis. Drawing upon a comparative case study analysis of social innovation experiences at neighbourhood level in New York and Barcelona, this research project aims to go further on the understanding of how social change happens amidst scarcity. Understanding social innovation as a socio-ecological process, we will deal with the traditional tensions between structure and agency to explain how social change could happen and be effective. In this vein, two main analytical dimensions will be studied in depth: neighbourhood civic capacity (structure) and practices of relational leadership (agency). As a result, good practices of social innovation will be identified and new knowledge will be produced in order to understand better how neighbourhood civic capacity and collaborative leadership contribute to social innovation effectiveness and scalability.

Keywords: social innovation,crisis,neighborhood,leadership practices,relational leadership,collaborative leadership,civic capacity,social change,scalability,urban segregation,governance
Radiation and Tumour Blood Vessels (TUMOUR BLOOD VESSELS)

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: 2014-04-01
End date: 2016-03-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 221606.4
EU funding (EUR): 221606.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The tumour microenvironment plays a significant role in regulating tumour growth, metabolism, DNA repair, metastasis and response to therapy including radiation treatment. In particular, the oxygenation of a tumour greatly affects the response to ionizing radiation as hypoxic cells are more resistant to radiation then normoxic cells. Conversely radiation influences the microenvironment of the tumour by alterations in the tumour vasculature. With high single doses of radiation (>15Gy), vascular destruction is seen. At lower single doses or with daily fractionated doses (multiple smaller doses), there is little evidence of vascular destruction. Under some conditions tumour hypoxia is reduced after irradiation, potentially attributable to decreased interstitial pressure, increased perfusion and decreased oxygen consumption. Furthermore, apoptosis of the endothelial cells has been reported after tumour or intestinal irradiation. Attempts to enhance the efficacy of radiation therapy by using anti-angiogenic or anti-vascular agents however; have been limited by their transient nature. As this summary indicates, the effects of radiation on the tumour vasculature are still incompletely understood, but of substantial clinical importance. Therefore the aim of the proposed project is to delineate the vascular response in tumours to radiation. Direct observation of the vasculature during and after radiation with state of the art microscopic techniques should resolve many of these outstanding issues. Therefore we will a) develop experimental approaches to observe angiogenesis in murine tumours with video microscopy, b) determine the underlying mechanisms for vascular normalization and c) determine the nature of vascular response to radiation. These studies will help characterize the processes accounting for the vascular response to radiation and allow the development of strategies to enhance radiation therapy through this understanding.

Keywords: tumour blood vessels,radiation therapy,endothelial cells,tumour cells,apoptosis,multiphoton microscopy
Chondrocyte ion channel function and regulation in health and disease (CHONDRION)

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: 2014-10-01
End date: 2016-09-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 231283.2
EU funding (EUR): 231283.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The aim of this fellowship is to provide the researcher with an advanced, multi-disciplinary training in chondrocyte biology, proteomics and electrophysiology in biomimetic models of osteoarthritis (OA). The challenge will be to investigate the expression, function and regulation of plasma membrane ion channels and calcium signalling pathways of OA chondrocytes by using state of the art proteomic and electrophysiological techniques. OA is one of the leading causes of disability and represents a major healthcare issue in the EU. As no effective treatment is available, there is an urgent need to understand the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms and develop more targeted therapeutic strategies. Ion channels are important for chondrocyte function and survival; however, the full complement of chondrocyte ion channels (channelome) and their altered expression in OA has yet to be explored. The host organization has already developed and published methods to investigate ion channels of chondrocytes using electrophysiology and proteomics. Nonetheless, comprehensive proteomic studies of the healthy and OA chondrocyte channelome have not been performed. Correlating ion channel expression with altered function and disregulated signalling pathways during the development of OA will provide a better understanding of mechanisms controlling disease progression and will contribute to the understanding of cartilage degeneration. After a preliminary training period, the first stage of the work will involve the exploration of healthy and inflammatory chondrocyte channelomes. The second stage will include the investigation of upstream and downstream calcium dependent and independent signalling pathways that differentially function in OA chondrocytes. The researcher is expected to deliver significant new knowledge and refine current models of OA chondrocyte biology that will benefit the lives of millions of European citizens suffering from this condition.

Keywords: osteoarthritis,joint inflammation,proteomics,calcium signalling,membranome,chanellome,molecular biology,electrophysiology
GENomic evolution In Ecological Speciation (GENIES)

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: 2015-01-01
End date: 2016-12-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 231283.2
EU funding (EUR): 231283.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Speciation is the major process creating diversity of life on Earth. The proposed study will focus on the genomics of ecological speciation. Little is known about constraints on ecological speciation and the effects that the shift in the spatial arrangement of habitats has on the differentiation process. Goal of this project is to discover how past environmental changes effected differentiation in the genome of Murella muralis, a land snail that has an impressive shell shape diversity displayed on a small geographical scale. Using a genotyping-by-sequencing approach based on a Illumina next-generation sequencing, the project will survey genome-wide patterns of divergence across the genome of M. muralis and allow conducting population genomics analyses on the resulting single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Three specific objectives will be addressed. (1) The demographic history will be tested to infer the “history of gene flow” and disentangle different models of divergence. (2) The fine palaeogeographical and past climatic knowledge of the study area will allow defining the effects of environmental changes on genomic variation in the course of time. This is a general key point in the study of speciation (geography and time-course of speciation). (3) Do shell traits map in regions of strong divergence? Two methods (i. estimate peculiar patterns of introgression in admixed populations; ii. crossing experiments, QTL mapping approach) will be used to test if highly differentiated regions are in regions of reduced introgression and separate differentiated regions under selection, linked to shell traits, from random population divergence. The key novel aspect of the project is that I will have the unique opportunity to search in detail genomic constrains on differentiation over multiple spatial-temporal scales in nature for a non model organism.

Keywords: genome,patterns and processes in ecological speciation,land snails,past environmental changes,shell variation
HOW HUMANS ENCODE, REPRESENT AND USE BASIC SPATIAL INFORMATION IN PERCEPTION AND ACTION: BEHAVIORAL AND NEURAL EVIDENCE (MAPSPACE)

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: Netherlands
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IEF, 2013)
Start date: 2014-06-01
End date: 2016-05-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 183469.8
EU funding (EUR): 183469.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The two years Fellowship project proposes a systematic investigation of the relationship between two basic processes of spatial cognition: egocentric and allocentric frames of reference and categorical and coordinate spatial relations. In particular, the project aims at: (i) clarifying the neural bases of the relationships between egocentric and allocentric frames and categorical and coordinate spatial coding; (ii) verifying behaviorally and with neuroimaging techniques the influence of the response modalities (verbal vs. motor) and task characteristics (3D vs. 2D stimuli; delayed vs. immediate response) on the relationship between the two kinds of spatial coding. These objectives will be achieved through a series of original experiments based on behavioral measures and neuroimaging techniques (fMRI). The experimental paradigm will explicitly manipulate the spatial combinations by requiring the encoding of metric distances (coordinate) or relational (categorical) spatial information with respect to the participants’ body (egocentric) or with respect to objects in the environment (allocentric). The planned experiments will allow to understand how people encode, combine and use spatial information to perform different kinds of everyday tasks. The exploration of the neural bases will contribute to clarify the controversial role of frames of reference and spatial relations in neuronal networks supporting perception- and/or action-oriented tasks. The project, then, will allow significant advances in the domain of spatial cognition both theoretically (by verifying acknowledged models) and practically (by devising specific spatial tasks useful for diagnosis of several disturbs due to pathological ageing and brain lesions and cognitive rehabilitation). Finally, the different experimental tools planned to achieve the proposed objectives (from behavioral methods to fMRI techniques) and the training activities will enhance the applicant’s competences and skills.

Keywords: visuo-spatial cognition,egocentric/allocentric frames of reference,categorical/coordinate spatial relations
CHD1 Deletion: Implications to Outcome and Treatment in Prostate Cancer (CDELP)

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: 2014-04-04
End date: 2016-04-03
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 231283.2
EU funding (EUR): 231283.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Prostate cancer can be stratified as ETS gene rearranged (ETSR) and non-rearranged (ETSNR), with the latter comprising a heterogeneous group of 50-60% of all cancers. This project will characterize a subgroup of ETSNR cancers that have a CHD1 deletion (CHD1del). Recent sequencing studies have elucidated CHD1- cancers as ETSNR, and commonly PTEN and p53 wildtype and SPOP mutated, comprising up to 26% of all prostate cancers (1). ETSR cancers largely have hormone driven oncogenes that may have prognostic and predictive utility (2, 3). Less is known about ETSNRCHD1del cancers. Their lack of ETS fusions raises concern that these may not be generated through androgen receptor (AR) transcription and are not AR driven. ETSNRCHD1del cancers have a huge excess of somatic intrachromosomal rearrangements (up to 800) compared to ETSR cancers presumably due to a DNA repair defect (1). This is supported by CHD1’s association with the SSRP1, part of the FACT complex, that is implicated in transcriptional regulation and DNA repair (4-9). We hypothesize that CHD1 deleted tumors are less sensitive to endocrine and taxane therapy, have a worse prognosis and need alternative treatment strategies.

Keywords: therapeutics,risk stratification,advanced prostate cancer,drug development,biomarkers,molecular biology
Electroweak Baryogenesis in the Era of the LHC (EWBGANDLHC)

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: 2014-10-01
End date: 2016-09-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 221606.4
EU funding (EUR): 221606.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The recent discovery of the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) constitutes a milestone in a major work programme to test the Standard Model and search for new physics, in order to obtain a global picture of electroweak symmetry breaking and its possible connections to open questions in particle cosmology. A key question relating the high-energy, precision and cosmic frontiers in particle physics is the origin of the cosmic matter-antimatter asymmetry. The present proposal will combine for the first time experimental and theoretical inputs from all three frontiers in order to test one of the most compelling ways to explain the generation of this asymmetry in the early Universe: Electroweak Baryogenesis. Together with leading scientists from the Physics Department in the University of Sussex, which hold a unique expertise at the interface of these frontiers, I will design and develop a comprehensive strategy to search for viable Electroweak Baryogenesis scenarios at LHC, in combination with present and future experimental inputs from neutron/electron electric dipole moments (e.g. from Sussex/RAL Cryo-EDM experiment) and detection prospects from the foreseen gravitational wave mission eLISA/NGO from the ESA. A dedicated LHC search strategy aimed at probing new physics scenarios where the matter-antimatter asymmetry could be generated is at present essentially absent from the main LHC physics programme. The project will make this analysis available for the ATLAS and CMS experimental collaborations, and aims to trigger interest towards these searches in their community, taking advantage of the numerous high-quality national/international collaborations and networking opportunities (exemplified by SEPNet and NExT Institute consortiums) provided by the host. This will constitute a first step towards establishing the search for viable Electroweak Baryogenesis scenarios as an important part of the LHC physics programme, to be pursued in the coming years.

Keywords: matter-antimatter asymmetry. baryogenesis. early universe. electroweak symmetry breaking. collider physics. lhc. extended higgs sectors. cp violation
The Neurobiology of Aggression and Violent Behaviour and Its Social Implications (RISKY BRAINS)

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: Germany,Germany
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IOF, 2013)
Start date: 2015-02-01
End date: 2018-01-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 262975.2
EU funding (EUR): 262975.2
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

Since the 1990s, neuroscientists have made fundamental progress in the study of violence and aggression. Advances in the neurosciences and the development of new biotechnologies have helped to elucidate genetic variations and neural correlates of anti-social behaviour such as polymorphisms in the MAOA gene, alterations in serotonin activity, or dysfunctions in the neural circuitry of emotion regulation. This research may help to identify potentially risky individuals even before they show any anti-social behaviour and, therefore, promises to revolutionize prevention and intervention programmes. Despite the undeniable relevance and importance of this topic, there are only very few social science studies that investigate the neurobiology of aggression and violence. To date, no systematic, sociological analysis of neurobiological research on anti-social behaviour, its social framing, or its manifold social and political implications exists. This project will provide the first comprehensive overview and critical analysis of the neurobiology of violence and aggressive behaviour from a social science perspective. The general objective is to analyse how violence and aggression are studied in the neurosciences and to outline the social and political implications associated with this research. With its interdisciplinary focus at the intersection of the neurosciences and the social sciences, the project will open up new perspectives in the study of violent and aggressive behaviour that transgress traditional disciplinary boundaries. It will, thus, make an important contribution to the theoretical reflection of science and technology in society and also inform future neurobiological research.

Keywords: social study of science and technology,neurobiology,behaviour,aggression,violence,genetics,biopolitics,neuroscience,empirical research,science studies,social theory