Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Molecular and morphological systematics of the Polyporales, a highly diverse, poorly documented clade of wood-decaying fungi with biotechnological potential (POLYSYST)

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: Finland
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IOF, 2011)
Start date: 2012-08-01
End date: 2014-10-17
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 194831.4
EU funding (EUR): 194831.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The research focus of this project is systematics of the Polyporales, a diverse clade of the basidiomycetes. The Polyporales play a dominant role in timber decay in nature, and their ability to enzymatically decay wood is under intense research for biotechnological uses. Yet no phylogeny or modern classification exists for the Polyporales. This project will produce both. University of Helsinki has a long tradition in morphology-based research of the Polyporales. Dr. Otto Miettinen, the fellow, has been trained in that tradition. During the 12-month outgoing mobility he will visit Prof. David Hibbett's lab in the Clark University, USA. Prof. Hibbett is the leading name in molecular systematics of basidiomycetes. During his stay Dr. Miettinen will utilise Prof. Hibbett's expertise in state-of-the-art molecular techniques, including genome sequencing. During the home-coming phase the fellow will continue his studies in the vibrant community of mycologists in Helsinki under the guidance of Prof. Soili Stenroos, a senior fungal systematist. During the outgoing phase the fellow will produce phylogeny for the Meripilus clade, a species-rich and very poorly known part of the Polyporales. He will undertake collecting in North America and the tropics in order to screen for species unsampled in phylogenetic studies. During the home-coming phase the fellow will revise classification in the Meripilus clade, and participate in a meta-analysis on the phylogeny and character evolution of the Polyporales. The mobility will boost Dr. Miettinen's career very significantly. He will absorb cutting-edge molecular methods, author at least two very influential papers in the field, accumulate a highly valuable dataset of sequences and specimens, and be able to associate and network with leading names of mycology. Upon his return to Europe, he will have excellent opportunities to advance his career as a leading researcher. The project will thus greatly benefit European mycology.

Keywords: biodiversity inventory: systematics phylogeny taxonomy,mycology,phylogeny,genomics,molecular markers and recognition,taxonomy
THE VIA EGNATIA: THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF A EUROPEAN CULTURAL ROUTE (THE VIA EGNATIA)

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: United Kingdom
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IOF, 2011)
Start date: 2013-08-01
End date: 2016-07-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 377209.1
EU funding (EUR): 377209.1
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The aim of this Fellowship is to reconstruct for the first time the late medieval and early modern Via Egnatia, one of Europe’s most important cultural routes. Originally constructed by the Romans, the Via Egnatia linked the Bosporus (and hence Asia) to the Adriatic Sea (and hence Italy and western Europe). The application of multidisciplinary research and cutting-edge technologies will focus on a historical period, which has never been studied systematically. The project aims to develop our knowledge of the key role the Via Egnatia played in drawing together communities, cultures and commodities at a time of political fragmentation and transition from the Byzantine to the Ottoman Empire as the dominant power in southeastern Europe. The project will identify changes in the course of the road by applying traditional and new methodologies. The Fellow, Dr Eurydice Georganteli, will combine her already high degree of knowledge of the archaeological and written evidence with high-tech methods of geographical and environmental science and digital mapping, developed concurrently at Harvard University and the University of Birmingham. The Fellow will benefit from the outstanding research resources in the fields of geography, history, and Byzantine and Ottoman studies at Harvard University. She will be profitably trained in GIS technologies and digital mapping by contributing to the Harvard Digital Atlas of Ancient and Medieval Civilizations. The training at Harvard should enable Dr Georganteli to become an established and well-recognized researcher in the EU. The project contributes to the European Research Area by developing a collaboration between a high-level US and a European university and by promoting links among the research communities in Albania, FY Republic of Macedonia, Greece and Turkey, the four countries which share the course of the Via Egnatia.

Keywords: medieval history,archaeology,numismatics,data management
Emotional prosody in speech: the importance of pitch, timing and loudness (EMOTION IN SPEECH)

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: France
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IIF, 2011)
Start date: 2013-07-01
End date: 2016-03-25
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 193594.8
EU funding (EUR): 193594.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Prosody is the "music of speech." Through variations in pitch, timing, loudness and voice quality it communicates grammatical, pragmatic, as well as affective information. The current project will focus on the acoustic cues that are important for the affective aspects of prosody, those which communicate emotion. By parametrically manipulating three acoustic cues, pitch, timing and loudness, in emotional speech samples, this project will investigate the relative importance of each of these cues in communicating basic emotions. In Exp. 1, these cues will be manipulated together to create speech stimuli that are 25%, 50%, 75%, 100%, 125% or 150% "emotional," and adults will choose 1) which emotion they perceive and 2) how intensely that emotion is conveyed. In Exp. 2, the three parameters will be manipulated separately from one another to determine their individual effects on emotion perception. The task will be the same as Exp. 1. In Exp. 3, we will investigate the well-established preference of infants for infant-directed speech (generally positive affect) over adult-directed speech (generally more neutral affect). Pitch has long been thought to be the most important factor in this preference, but that assumption has lately been questioned. This experiment will investigate this, again by separately manipulating the three acoustic characteristics. In Exp. 4, children with high-functioning autism/Asperger syndrome (HFA/AS) or Williams syndrome (WS) and matched typical controls will complete the same task as adults in Exp.1. Emotion recognition deficits are frequently shown in both HFA/AS and WS, but the mechanisms behind these deficits in vocal emotion perception, the point at which the impairment lies, is still unknown. Results from this series of experiments will both provide fundamental knowledge about the means by which we perceive emotions and move toward improving treatments for impairments in recognition of emotion in developmental disbilities.

Keywords: cognitive science
Biomolecular Hydrogels – from Supramolecular Organization and Dynamics to Biological Function (JELLY)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Physical and Analytical Chemical sciences
Countries involved: Spain
Call:  (ERC-2012-StG_20111012, 2012)
Start date: 2012-12-01
End date: 2018-02-28
Duration (months): 63.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1497166.8
EU funding (EUR): 1497166.8
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

Certain proteins and glycans self-organize in vivo into soft and strongly hydrated, dynamic and gel-like supramolecular assemblies. Among such biomolecular hydrogels are the jelly-like matrix that is formed around the egg during ovulation, mucosal membranes, slimy coats produced by bacteria in biofilms, and the nuclear pore permeability barrier. Even though biomolecular hydrogels play crucial roles in many fundamental biological processes, there is still a very limited understanding about how they function. Our goal is to assess and to understand the relation between the organizational and dynamic features of such supramolecular assemblies, their physicochemical properties, and the resulting biological functions. We will investigate these relationships directly on the supramolecular level, a level that - for this type of assemblies - is hardly accessible with conventional approaches. To this end, we use purpose-designed in vitro model systems that are well-defined in the sense that their composition and supramolecular structure can be controlled and interrogated. These tailor-made models, together with a toolbox of surface-sensitive in situ analysis techniques, permit tightly controlled and quantitative experiments. Combined with polymer physics theory, the experimental data allow us to directly test existing hypotheses and to formulate new hypotheses that can be further tested in complementary molecular and cell-based assays. This project focuses on two types of biomolecular hydrogels: (i) the nuclear pore permeability barrier, a nanoscopic protein meshwork that regulates all macromolecular transport into and out of the nucleus of eukaryotic cells, and (ii) extracellular hydrogel-like matrices that are scaffolded by the polysaccharide hyaluronan and that are of prime importance in a wide range of physiological and pathological processes including inflammation, fertilization and osteoarthritis.

Keywords: biological surfaces and interfaces,surface-sensitive characterization techniques,polymer physics,biomolecular self-organization,biomimetic model systems,hyaluronan,nucleo-cytoplasmic transport
From the magnetized diffuse interstellar medium to the stars (MAGMIST)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Universe sciences
Countries involved: France
Call:  (ERC-2012-StG_20111012, 2012)
Start date: 2013-01-01
End date: 2017-12-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1312267.0
EU funding (EUR): 1312267.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Understanding star formation remains one of the greatest challenges of modern astronomy. Indeed in this field the progresses have been limited due, first, to the huge dynamics of spatial and temporal relevant scales and, second, the great variety and non-linearity of the physical processes involved in the formation of stars. The present proposal will contribute to provide a complete and coherent picture of the star formation process by self-consistently following the evolution of the interstellar matter from the very diffuse gas up to the protostars. This will be achieved by performing a series of heavy MHD numerical simulations with an adaptive mesh refinement code while subdivising the problem in three major steps namely the formation of large scale molecular clouds, the formation of star forming cores and the collapse of protostellar cores. In particular, the impact of the magnetic field and the radiative processes will be self-consistently treated using appropriate schemes. At each step, comparisons with both analytical models and observations will be performed by using existing models or developing new ones and calculating synthetic observations. The simulation results will also be used to test and improve the methods and the algorithms used by observers to extract the physical information from their data. An existing database, where the simulation results are available, will be further developed. The present proposal pursues two aims: i) achieving a global understanding of the star formation process, in particular by elucidating the link between the physical properties of the large scale ISM and the characteristics of the protostars, such as their mass, magnetisation and angular momentum ii) provide a better insight of the structure, nature and role of the magnetic field and the turbulence from the diffuse to the dense parts of the ISM.

Keywords: numerical simulations,compressible magneto-hydrodynamics,molecular clouds,proto planetary disks,prestellar clouds,turbulence
Single active dopant detection in semiconductor nanowires using electron holography. (HOLOVIEW)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Systems and communication engineering
Countries involved: France
Call:  (ERC-2012-StG_20111012, 2012)
Start date: 2012-12-01
End date: 2018-07-31
Duration (months): 68.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1500000.0
EU funding (EUR): 1500000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The end of "happy scaling" in the semiconductor industry has lead to innovation being a key parameter in nanoelectronics. Doped nanowires of all types of sizes, shapes and composition are now used as components to build nano-electronic devices, light sources, detectors and for photovoltaic applications. As these devices are reduced in size, the location of individual dopant atoms becomes more important and the behavior of only one or two atoms can dominate their properties. More recently, research into devices that contain a single dopant atom has begun to gain momentum. At this time there is no method that can routinely measure the presence of the single dopant atoms that are inside these devices and our experience in the nanotechnology age has taught us that we cannot make what we cannot see. In 2011, several review papers in high-impact journals have highlighted the need for a technique that can see these atoms. Their detection is now within reach, using a technique known as off-axis electron holography.

Keywords: nanotechnology characterisation electron microscopy dopants field mapping specimen preparation semiconductors nanowires
Solvated Electrons in Water: Structure, Dynamics and Reactivity at Interfaces (SOLVE)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Physical and Analytical Chemical sciences
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call:  (ERC-2012-StG_20111012, 2012)
Start date: 2013-01-01
End date: 2017-12-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1839322.0
EU funding (EUR): 1839322.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Understanding the solvation of an ion at the molecular level is a cornerstone of physical chemistry. For anions in water, the interactions are particularly complex, with some simple anions exhibiting surface activity. The most fundamental aqueous anion is the hydrated electron and it represents a benchmark for understanding solvation and electron-water interactions in solution. However, despite the hydrated electron’s apparent simplicity and its technological and scientific importance, it remains at the centre of much debate. Questions concerning its structure and solvation at interfaces are currently highly contentious. In this proposal, a number of complementary approaches are applied to the study of aqueous interfacial electrons with the aim of gaining a new understanding of the solvation structure, dynamics and reactivity of this species. Specifically, gas-phase clusters will be used as molecular-level laboratories to gain a fundamental understanding of the electron-water interactions as well as solvation motifs and dynamics. These will also be used to explore the reactivity of electrons bound at the interface of water with atmospheric and biologically pertinent molecules. In parallel to the cluster studies, dynamics and reactivity of the electron at the ambient water interface will also be studied using non-linear spectroscopy. Together, these studies will provide an in depth understanding of electron solvation and its importance as a reactive species at aqueous interfaces.

Keywords: hydrated electron clusters anions electron-transfer ultrafast spectroscopy
Motivic zeta functions and the monodromy conjecture (MOTZETA)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Mathematical foundations
Countries involved: Belgium
Call:  (ERC-2012-StG_20111012, 2012)
Start date: 2013-05-01
End date: 2018-04-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1044980.0
EU funding (EUR): 1044980.0
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

The monodromy conjecture, formulated in the seventies by the Japanese mathematician Igusa, is one of the most important open problems in the theory of singularities. It predicts a remarkable connection between certain geometric and arithmetic invariants of a polynomial f with integer coefficients. The conjecture describes in a precise way how the singularities of the complex hypersurface defined by the equation f = 0 influence the asymptotic behaviour of the number of solutions of the congruence f = 0 modulo powers of a prime. Some special cases have been solved, but the general case remains wide open. A proof of the conjecture would unveil profound relations between several branches of mathematics. In the past years, we have developed a new interpretation of the monodromy conjecture, based on non-archimedean geometry, and we have generalized it to a larger framework. A significant success of this approach was our proof of the monodromy conjecture for one-parameter degenerations of abelian varieties. The aim of our proposal is to generalize this proof to degenerations of Calabi-Yau varieties, and to adapt the arguments to the local case of the conjecture (hypersurface singularities). Degenerations of Calabi-Yau varieties play a central role in Mirror Symmetry, a mathematical theory in full development that emerged from string theory. We will explore in detail the connections between the monodromy conjecture and recent breakthroughs in Mirror Symmetry (tropical constructions of degenerating Calabi-Yau varieties). We hope to achieve these goals by combining advanced tools from several research domains, in particular: motivic integration, non-archimedean geometry, Hodge theory, logarithmic geometry and tropical geometry. We are convinced that all these research domains will greatly benefit from the systematic exploration of their mutual interactions, and that the impact of our project will go far beyond the monodromy conjecture.

Keywords: singularity theory,motivic integration,non-archimedean geometry,logarithmic geometry,tropical geometry,degenerations of calabi-yau varieties
Frequency-to-current conversion with coherent Josephson crystals (FREQUJOC)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Condensed matter physics
Countries involved: France
Call:  (ERC-2012-StG_20111012, 2012)
Start date: 2013-01-01
End date: 2018-04-30
Duration (months): 64.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1466109.6
EU funding (EUR): 1466109.6
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

This project aims at exploring the coherence of Josephson crystals (JC) and to apply this coherence for frequency-to-current conversion. A Josephson crystal can be realized by a Josephson junction chain, formed by repeating a single junction or SQUID in space to form a one-dimensional ladder structure. Such a crystal can show a macroscopic coherent behavior due to the coherent superposition of quantum phase-slips (CQPS), ie the winding of 2 of the superconducting phase-difference occurring on single junctions. This project aims to perform a major breakthrough by addressing the coherence of circuits containing a large number of Josephson junctions. In particular this proposal aims, by novel experiments on Josephson junction chains, to understand the crucial questions of external charge dynamics and dissipation that originates from the many-body effects present in these chains. In order to fight against internal dissipation, I propose novel designs of Josephson junction chains with a disordered or fractal pattern. In addition, I propose to do a first systematic study on the external charge dynamics occurring in Josephson junction chains, in particular noise correlations. Finally, I aim to use CQPS in a Josephson crystal to realize a frequency-to-current converter. This coherent JC should, under microwave irradiation of frequency f, exhibit exact current quantization I=2nef in multiples n of the electron charge e.

Keywords: josephson junction,bloch oscillations,many-body physics,josephson junction chain,coherent quantum phase-slips,qubit,quantum metrology,disordered quantum systems,frequency-to-current conversion
Hybrid imaging agents for the illumination of peripheral nerve structures (ILLUMINATING NERVES)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Materials and Synthesis
Countries involved: Netherlands
Call:  (ERC-2012-StG_20111012, 2012)
Start date: 2012-08-01
End date: 2017-07-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1498800.0
EU funding (EUR): 1498800.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The aim of the ILLUMINATING NERVES project is to develop and synthesize new imaging agents that eventually can be used for surgical guidance around delicate nerve structures. The applicants research group already has made a major contribution to the clinical field of surgical guidance by introducing a concept wherein a multimodal/hybrid, imaging agent is used to provide fully integrated preoperative 3D imaging, surgical procedure planning, and real-time surgical fluorescence guidance. Illumination of delicate anatomical structures like nerves will have a direct influence on the quality of life of patients and as such creates a new window of opportunities for surgical guidance and for the chemical development of hybrid imaging agents. To illuminate both somatic and autonomic peripheral nerves, imaging agents will be developed that bind to receptors on myelinating Schwann cells and/or accumulate in neurons. These different targeting concepts dictate the use of different scaffold molecules varying from targeted antibodies to modified neurotoxin proteins that act as bionanoparticles and viral capsids, each scaffold demanding different synthetic routes for functionalization. For this particular application, the visualization of small nerves, especially the fluorescent imaging contrast has to increase compared to conventional imaging agents. The applicant’s multidisciplinary track record the chemical and (bio)medical field, combined with his proven ability to bridge the gap between bench and bedside aids in the successful integration of synthetic chemical strategies with biomedical assays and in vitro/in vivo validation studies. Although possibly providing interesting imaging agent candidates suitable for optimization towards a future clinical translation, the project will mainly generate fundamental insight in the types of (hybrid) imaging agents that have potential for the surgical illumination of peripheral nerves.

Keywords: fluorescence,multimodal imaging agents,nanoparticles,molecular imaging,surgical guidance