Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Reactive Molecular Modelling of Multi-Functional Hybrid Graphene/CNT Nanocomposites (REAMOFUN)

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: Ireland
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IIF, 2012)
Start date: 2013-10-15
End date: 2015-10-14
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 254637.8
EU funding (EUR): 254637.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

A key research area for composite materials is the addition of nanoscale constituents to provide multi-functionality, i.e. materials capable of meeting multiple demands, such as structural, electrical, thermal, and energy storage. Such materials are termed “multifunctional nanocomposites”. Over the past decade, much research has been performed on carbon nanotube (CNT)-based nanocomposites, and it has been demonstrated that CNTs can enhance the mechanical properties of composites, as well as form conductive networks. More recently, research on graphene-nanoplatelet (GNP) nanocomposites has been undertaken and indications are that GNPs are superior to CNTs for transferring mechanical load. Inspired by the capability of CNTs to form conductive networks and graphene to transfer load, this project will examine hybrid CNT/GNP-reinforced thermoset matrix nanocomposites by large-scale Molecular Dynamics simulations. The objective of this interdisciplinary project is to understand the synergistic mechanisms of GNPs and CNTs in improving mechanical, electrical and thermal properties of hybrid nanocomposites, as demonstrated by a few experiments to date, and to investigate how to design nanocomposites to get optimal performance. In the process, modelling of the in-situ polymerisation of hybrid nanocomposites will be carried out for the first time, and mechanical, electrical and thermal properties of resulting nanocomposites will be predicted. The applicant has published extensively on multi-functional composites and modelling of in-situ polymerisation of polymers, while the Host has 20 years’ experience in composites research in Europe, and is seeking to expand an existing highly-fruitful collaboration with EPFL, Switzerland, in this area. The EU composite community will benefit from the applicant’s unique knowledge and expertise, and the development of an extensible simulation tool for predictive modelling and optimisation of multifunctional thermoset nanocomposites.

Keywords: multifunctional nanocomposites,molecular dynamics simulations,graphene,nanotube,thermoset polymers,in-situ polymerisation,reactive modelling,electrical conductivity,thermo-mechanical propertie
Roles of SHP2 and other protein tyrosine phosphatases in metastatic breast cancer (PTPSMETBC)

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-2012-IEF, 2012)
Start date: 2014-03-01
End date: 2016-02-29
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 184709.4
EU funding (EUR): 184709.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Breast cancer (BC) ranks second among cancer deaths in women. Each year, this disease is diagnosed in over one million women worldwide. Although progress has been made, we still do not understand the biology of BC at a level that would explain why certain patients react well to therapy, whereas for others the disease is recurrent, with an inexorable downhill course. This proposal focuses on the role of SHP2 and other protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTP) in BC metastasis and comprises three parallel approaches. The first aim is to address the roles of SHP2 in metastatic spread. The second assesses the merits of SHP2 as a therapeutic target in established BC metastases and the third will screen for other PTPs involved in metastatic BC. Virtually all cell signaling pathways are modulated by reversible protein tyrosine phosphorylation, which is regulated by two classes of enzymes, the protein tyrosine kinases (PTKs) and PTPs. Whereas the involvement of specific PTKs in BC has been well studied, the functions of specific PTPs in this disease are only now beginning to be elucidated. It has been discovered recently that SHP2 plays a fundamental role in tumor maintenance and progression in HER2-positive and triple-negative BCs, two subtypes associated with a poor prognosis. Importantly, SHP2 knockdown in established breast tumors blocked growth and reduced metastases. How does SHP2 knockdown in primary tumors reduce metastases? Can SHP2 inhibition in established metastases block their growth? Are other PTPs important for breast cancer metastases? To answer these questions, an intravital multiphoton microscope has been made for imaging fluorescently labeled metastatic BC cells expressing or lacking SHP2. These studies use state-of-the-art ex vivo and in vivo approaches to address the role of SHP2 and other PTPs in metastatic BC and should lead ultimately to the rational design of targeted therapies that will improve the clinical management of patients.

Keywords: l406 cancer and its biological basis / breast cancer / metastasis / tyrosine phosphatase
Towards Novel Multi-Functional Surfaces – Development of Innovative Plasma Surface Alloying Technologies (MULTI-SURF)

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-2012-IIF, 2012)
Start date: 2013-09-09
End date: 2015-09-08
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 309235.2
EU funding (EUR): 309235.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The aim of this Fellowship is to reinforce the excellence and competitiveness of European surface engineering and manufacturing industries by developing novel plasma surface technology through knowledge sharing and collaborative research with the incoming top-class plasma surface engineering researcher, Dr. Tian. Multi-functional surfaces underpin the technological innovations in many high-tech industrial sectors to meet ever-increasing surface properties for challenging applications. Plasma surface alloying is a cost-effective and environmentally friendly surface engineering technology. However, currently no plasma technology can generate multi-functional surfaces by co-alloying with both interstitial and substitutional elements. This could be addressed by creating a novel plasma surface engineering technology by synergising the ‘double glow plasma (DGP)’ technology invented at the Researcher’s institute in China and the ‘active-screen plasma (ASP)’ technology developed by the Host. To this end, (i) a novel ‘triple-glow plasma’ facility will be developed by modifying a ASP furnace in the Host by Dr. Tian, a leading DGP expert; (ii) a portfolio of multi-functional surfaces will be created by simultaneous plasma surface alloying with both substitutional elements (such as Ag, Pt, Cr, W) and interstitial elements (such as C, N, O, B); (iii) the plasma co-alloyed surfaces will be fully characterised and evaluated and (iv) novel triple-glow plasmas will be studied to advance scientific understanding. The incoming fellow will pave the way to achieve the target by knowledge transfer and equally he will benefit from conducting research at a world-leading surface engineering research centre. This project will produce significant technical, economic and social benefits, thus contributing to European excellence and competitiveness. This Fellowship will also promote long-term collaborations and mutually beneficial co-operation between China and Europe.

Keywords: materials engineering,multi-functional surfaces,innovative plasma surface alloying technology,triple-glow plasma technology,double-glow discharge plasma,active screen plasma,knowledge sharing
The Cultural Diffusion of the Fertility Transition: Internal Migrations in Nineteenth Century France (TCDOFT)

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: Israel
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IOF, 2012)
Start date: 2013-09-01
End date: 2016-08-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 340657.0
EU funding (EUR): 340657.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

To understand why some developing countries have progressively seen their fertility level declined and converged with the rest of the world during the twentieth century while others have not, this proposal offers an historical perspective based on France, which was the first European country where the fertility rate declined substantially. The secular decline in French fertility during the 19th century is a perennial puzzle as France was a relative laggard in urbanisation, education and social insurance. This research proffers an alternative explanation that takes into account the other French originality: most of the French emigrants were internal. Compared to the other Europeans, not many French moved to the high-fertility societies of America. This suggests a role for internal diffusion of fertility norms. Once migration and diaspora networks are formed, they reduce transaction and other types of information costs. They facilitate transactions between countries as well as the diffusion of technology and ideas. This suggests that the transfer of fertility norms prevailing in the host countries influence fertility choices in migrant-sending countries. The potential for cultural norm transmission is important as at the turn of the 20th century, France was not a fully integrated country from a cultural point of view. In some regions, a substantial share of the population still did not speak French and this language barrier reflected further cultural differences. Accordingly, the French fertility decline was not homogenous and the second half of the 19th century witnessed a strong convergence between the fertility of the various French regions. We hope that our research may explain to what extent migration played an important role in internal French fertility convergence. If similar phenomena are at play nowadays, they might explain the decline of fertility in developing countries.

Keywords: e117 economic history - development,fertility,demographic transition,migration,france
Tissue Specific Delivery via Cleavable and Degradable Polymers (CLEDEPOLY)

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-2012-IEF, 2012)
Start date: 2013-07-01
End date: 2015-06-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 221606.4
EU funding (EUR): 221606.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The host group (Professor Bradley of the University of Edinburgh) has worked in the area of polymer chemistry for a large number of years in several different areas, specifically: (i). The development of polymeric microspheres and their application in the cellular delivery of a variety of cargos and (ii). The discovery of polymeric substrates, surfaces and gels that control cellular function. The basis of my proposal is to synergistically combine these two areas of research expertise and generate a family of totally novel new materials with a rich biomedical potential. Concretely the two research areas (i) and (ii) will be brought together but with an added twist – specifically the project will target the generation of polymers and linkers designed to be cleaved or fragmented in the proximity of diseased tissues, cancers or regions of high oxidative stress. The nature of the environment will subsequently trigger the delivery of a cargo; entrapped within the polymer or attached to the linker; into cells or tissues at specific sites of infection, injury or disease, thereby allowing the control or modulation of specific biomedical processes.

Keywords: c134 biological chemistry,c139 polymer chemistry,cell biology
Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of a Potent Antituberculosis Natural Product and Analogues (TBKO)

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: Switzerland
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IOF, 2012)
Start date: 2013-09-01
End date: 2015-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 178233.6
EU funding (EUR): 178233.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

This project is directed toward the total synthesis and full structural elucidation of an epidithiodiketopiperazine natural product endowed with highly potent antituberculosis properties and whose full structure and biological evaluation remain incomplete due to its natural scarcity. The proposed research program also includes design, synthesis and biological evaluation of novel analogues of the target molecule as part of an optimization effort, and attempts to identify its biological target. The first year of research and training will be conducted under the supervision of Prof. K.C. Nicolaou (Rice, USA), where the synthesis and compound characterization part of the project will be pursued. In the return phase, the applicant will go to Geneva to work under the supervision of Prof. N. Winssinger (University of Geneva, Switzerland) where the synthesis of the analogues will be performed. The compounds synthesized will be tested for biological activities and evaluated for growth inhibition in a panel of mycobacteria (screeni available through Prof T. Soldati at Geneva).

Keywords: epidithiodiketopiperazine,tuberculosis,synthesis,characterization,structural assignment,analogues
GOVERNING DIGITAL INFORMATION: Users' control and sovereignty over unpublicized digital information in the European Union (GODINO)

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-2012-IEF, 2012)
Start date: 2014-01-01
End date: 2015-12-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 183469.8
EU funding (EUR): 183469.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The applicant re-submits her research project entitled GOVERNING DIGITAL INFORMATION (GODINO) in co-operation with the Institute for Information Law (IViR) at the University of Amsterdam (UvA) as the host institution. The proposed project will study the governance of users’ digital information in the European Union (EU) taking users’ perspective. In a nutshell, it will analyze the impact of the technical paradigm shift to remote computing on individual users’ ability to retain control and sovereignty over their private virtual assets once third parties host these. The proposed research will draw on a multi-disciplinary research approach that combines legal analysis, governance theory and public policy methods of inquiry. 24 months full-time research are required to implement the scope of the research and to perform the analyses and methods envisaged as well as to realize the advanced training objectives. The project GODINO is appropriate and timely because it synthesizes new technological phenomena with existing legal frameworks and new regulatory thinking with the aim to generate new knowledge about an adequate information governance framework which is about to become an important concern for users and society as a whole. With the aim to enhance the research training, academic mobility and career development of the applicant the proposal is anchored on three core objectives: 1. Built advanced research capabilities and demonstrate multi-disciplinary research, 2. Strengthen her experience in leading and implementing a complex research project with a EU scope and in the management of a large research centre 3. Her becoming firmly embedded in a European professional academic and research network. The host institution’s and the applicant’s research profile as well as the proposed research are highly complementary featuring prominently information law and governance, multi-disciplinary methods and academic rigor.

Keywords: s113 communication networks - media - information society,s112 global and transnational governance - international law - human rights
Directed self-assembly and micro-rheology of colloidal Janus rods (SELFRODS)

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-2012-IIF, 2012)
Start date: 2013-09-01
End date: 2015-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 309235.2
EU funding (EUR): 309235.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Colloids with shape anisotropy and directional interactions promise to spontaneously assemble into a host of novel materials with unprecedented structures and properties, with bottom up control. Such colloids may display new physics in their crystallization, glass formation and gelation. They may in their self-assembly even show behavior analogous to (bio)molecules. These new building blocks are therefore increasingly attracting attention from materials science, chemistry, physics and biology. Due to the low yield of most Janus particle syntheses, studies on self-assembly have largely been restricted to single clusters in the dilute limit. This significant hurdle will be overcome by the high yield method we developed recently, and we propose to investigate bulk self-assembly of Janus rods, of which one end is magnetically functionalized . In particular, we will investigate the phase behavior as a function of volume fraction and size ratio of magnetic to inert part using 3D confocal microscopy. Furthermore, we will investigate how these particles respond to external magnetic fields and what novel structures, dynamics, and mechanical properties (probed by optical-tweezers-assisted micro-rheology) may emerge. This will for the first time extend the research scope of anisotropic Janus particles to topics that have traditionally been explored only for isotropic colloids.

Keywords: self-assembly,janus,patchy,colloids,confocal microscopy,image analysis,particle tracking,optical tweezers,shape anisotropy,rod,magnetic,micro-rheology,biomimicking,phy,che,eng
DNA-origami scaffolds for structure determination by single particle analysis (EM-FRAME)

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-2012-IIF, 2012)
Start date: 2013-03-01
End date: 2015-02-28
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 221606.4
EU funding (EUR): 221606.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Single-particle analysis of electron cryo-microscopy (cryo-EM) data can now provide near-atomic resolution information for large and high-symmetry protein complexes. However, application of the same method to small proteins is problematic, mainly because low signal-to-noise ratios hamper particle selection and orientation determination. The proposed research aims to tackle this problem by binding proteins to large 3D scaffolds made of DNA origami. The main idea is to use a hollow rectangular frame (called DNA alignment frame) with a dsDNA helix (called rotation axis) spanning the interior hole of the frame. By using a specific sequence, DNA-binding proteins may be bound to the rotation axis in a specific manner. The orientation of the bound protein may then be controlled by exploiting the helical character of the rotation axis in a series of experiments where the position of the binding site on the rotation axis is varied. Thus, experimental information about the orientation of the protein may be obtained, which will be used as probabilistic priors in a statistical 3D reconstruction approach. Application of this procedure to E. coli MutS and the human Trf2/Rap1 complex will serve as proof-of-principle and may lead to better understanding of their function.

Keywords: cryo-em,dna-binding proteins,dna origami,single-particle analysis,dna alignment frame
Assessing the Toxicity of nitrates in a host-Parasite system (PARA-TOX)

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-2012-IEF, 2012)
Start date: 2013-04-08
End date: 2015-04-07
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 221606.4
EU funding (EUR): 221606.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Anthropogenic nitrate contamination has increased significantly in recent decades but its effects on aquatic species are still poorly understood. The toxicity of nitrates has long been underestimated compared to ammonia and nitrites. However, new evidence indicates that long-term nitrate exposure not only impairs growth, fertilization and fecundity, but also weakens the immune response decreasing disease resistance in aquatic species. Nitrates can favour diseases through direct effects on parasite performance and/or indirectly by influencing host-pathogen interactions . Using a well studied host-parasite system, the guppy (Poecilia reticulata) and its native pathogen (Gyrodactylus turnbulli), this fellowship will assess the effects of nitrates on life-history traits and physiological functions. Specifically, we will i) determine the effect of nitrate on feeding behaviour, body condition, reproduction and immunity in guppies; ii) analyze any interaction effects between nitrates and pathogens; iii) determine the role of acquired immunity in adult fish; and iv) test for maternally inherited immunity transfer in F1 offspring. Pathogens and nitrates threaten both wild and captive fish populations, therefore the findings of this fellowship will have repercussions for aquaculture and water resource managers. Although the guppy has been widely used in a range of evolutionary, parasitological and toxicological studies, few studies have used this host-parasite system in ecotoxicology. In addition, this study will examine the disruptive endocrine effects of nitrates on the fish immune system. Understanding the effects of nitrates on this host-parasite system will increase our knowledge about fish and parasite as bioindicators of aquatic ecosystem health, and the consequences of nitrates as driving forces of host-parasite interactions in wild fish populations.

Keywords: v309 systems evolution - biological adaptation - phylogenetics - systematics,v307 environmental toxicology