Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Identifying the cellular correlates of white matter plasticity (AXONGLIAPLASTICITY)

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: 2015-03-01
End date: 2017-02-28
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 221606.4
EU funding (EUR): 221606.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The brain is divided into grey matter “processing nodes” linked by white matter “information superhighways” to minimize conduction delays and energy use. For the white matter, the information propagation speed is increased and the axonal energy cost is reduced by oligodendrocytes wrapping myelin around axons, thus decreasing their capacitance and decreasing the Na+ influx needed at Ranvier nodes to produce an action potential. This arrangement may not just speed action potentials, however, it may also be a previously unsuspected substrate for information storage in the CNS. Information is generally thought to be stored in the CNS by virtue of grey matter plasticity, i.e. changes in the structure and electrophysiological strength of synapses. However, recently, white matter plasticity has also been suggested to exist, based in part on diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging of changes in the brains of people learning to play the piano or juggle. White matter plasticity may adjust action potential arrival times in the CNS, to promote firing of target neurons. Surprisingly, it is unknown which parameters of myelinated axons change to alter the speed. Does white matter plasticity solely reflect changes of myelin thickness, or are there also activity-dependent alterations of Ranvier node Na+ channel density, internode length, or axon diameter at the nodes or internodes? In addition, could alterations of Ranvier node geometry or of the size of the conducting periaxonal space under the myelin be employed to tune the conduction speed of myelinated axons? I will employ a combination of cutting-edge electrophysiological and imaging methods to elucidate the cellular mechanisms underlying plasticity of myelinated axons, and their functional significance for axon conduction speed. This work will significantly advance the methodology used to study the brain’s white matter, and provide new insight into how information is stored in the brain.

Keywords: white matter plasticity,oligodendrocytes,glia,axon,oligodendrocyte precursor cells
Multi-junction nano-materials with coated highly ordered structure and their Application in energy generation and Energy storage (MUAPPEN)

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: 2015-01-26
End date: 2017-01-25
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 309235.2
EU funding (EUR): 309235.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Energy crisis and environmental pollution have been suggested to be two serious problems to world countries. The efficient energy generation and use of clean energy are the effective pathways for solving these problems. This project promotes a cutting-edge research collaboration on the development of the late-model multi-junction nano-materials for energy applications in relation with solar energy driven production of hydrogen from water and rechargeable battery for renewable energy storage. Using a modified electrochemical atomic layer deposition method, multi-junction materials with large specific surface areas or complex shapes can be produced with a formation mechanism of atom-by-atom growth. Based on this, the narrow-band-gap semiconductors are conformally deposited onto TiO2 nanotube arrays (NTs) to form a coaxial heterogeneous structure with atomic-level control. Such structure can greatly improve the separation efficiency of photo-induced electrons and holes, resulting in a highly active photocurrent generation. On the other hand, both sulphur and carbon atomic layers are deposited alternately on the TiO2 NT walls in the atom-by-atom contact form. The resultant sulphur-carbon/TiO2 NTs multi-junction positive electrodes demonstrate properties useful for resolving these bottleneck problems that exist in the current Li-S battery. Furthermore, the relationships among the optimizing designs (including micro-geometrical structures, compositional control, and atomic-level interface properties), the charge transfer mechanism, and electrochemical performance are studied. On the basis of these results, the high-performance multi-junction photocatalysts and rechargeable Li-S battery are carried out for hydrogen generation and energy storage application. The proposed research will enrich the synthesized methods for multi-junction nano-materials, and be extremely useful to advance the technological quality of existing energy generation and energy storage industries.

Keywords: multi-junction nano-materials,photocatalysis,rechargeable battery,tio2 nanotube array,electrochemical atomic layer deposition,hydrogen-production,energy storage
The Greek Connection: Irish Poets and Contemporary Greece (IRELLAS)

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: 2015-02-20
End date: 2016-02-19
Duration (months): 12.0
Total project cost (EUR): 111889.2
EU funding (EUR): 111889.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The project traces down the connections between two Irish poets – Seamus Heaney and Derek Mahon – and contemporary Greece. Its interdisciplinary and intersectoral character resides in its methodology and scope of themes. Methodology of the project involves: comparative literature (work of Irish and Greek Nobelists: Heaney, Seferis, Elytis; and Derek Mahon); ecocriticism (landscapes, environmental concerns); translation studies (comparative analysis of translation projects launched by Mahon, Seferis and Elytis, who incorporated these 'transcriptions' into their own literary output); postcolonial studies (status of language and culture in both countries historically and politically dominated by foreign powers); reception theory (fertile readings and misreadings of Greek literature by Irish poets). The scope of themes ranges from ecology (environment pollution, social and industrial ecology, including a new subject of pollution by tourism), social change and mobility (emigration, globalization, interethnic relations), cultural linguistics (historical traces in language, its politicization), cultural studies (memory, heritage, identities, ethics, diversity), through history (including colonial, military, cultural history of both countries), archaeology, to anthropology (myths, tropes). The objectives of the project will be achieved via research at the University of Athens, series of conferences, publications, repository articles, research visits to Ireland, and finally, a book. The results will be also spread online and via meetings with students and general public. Discussing the relations between Irish and Modern Greek literature is completely innovative; thus, through its originality, the project thus contributes to the development of the European research area. The project constitutes a stage in the progress of the researcher's career, leading to the achievement of an independent research position (professorship).

Keywords: irish literature,modern greek literature,comparative studies,translation studies,cultural studies,ecocriticism
Social determinants and ecological impacts of seed transmission systems in African root and tuber crops, and their implications for resilience of smallholder farming systems (KINSEED)

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: Ireland
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IEF, 2013)
Start date: 2014-04-01
End date: 2016-03-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 191359.8
EU funding (EUR): 191359.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Understanding the processes by which smallholder farmers in developing countries increase or renew crop diversity, and how they maintain this diversity by ensuring the transmission of their technical and ecological knowledge through the generations, is essential for tackling food insecurity whilst at the same time conserving agricultural biodiversity. The KINSEED project focuses on seed transmission systems as a determining factor of the adaptive capacity of smallholder farming societies in a context of global changes, in particular climate change. Seed transmission systems are defined as the set of social norms and rules that govern the generational transmission of ‘seeds’ (here understood in the sense of propagules i.e., any material―true seeds, tubers, rhizomes, or stem cuttings―that are used for propagating crop varieties). The project will investigate the link between kinship systems and seed transmission systems and their role in structuring crop diversity and accessibility at local and regional levels. Because of its social dimension and intricate relation with traditional economic systems, seed transmission is an essential component of social-ecological systems yet it has seldom been studied, particularly in the context of resilience. The aims of this project are threefold: 1) To examine the relationship between seed exchanges and marriage exchanges and analyse the effects of seed transmission on the dynamics of crop diversity at local and regional levels; 2) To investigate the social and biological implications of global changes for smallholder farming societies and examine whether seed transmission systems may provide an opportunity for capacity-building or act as a social barrier to adaptation actions aiming at enhancing smallholder farming systems’ resilience to climate change; 3) To identify and propose improved pathways for capacity building through a better integration of formal (i.e., regulated by the public sector) and informal (local) seed systems.

Keywords: agrobiodiversity,clonally propagated crops,kinship,informal seed system,seed transmission,socio-ecological systems,resilience,social barriers,agricultural development,food security
Mechanisms and parameters controlling cell-to-cell and long-distance movement of plant small RNAs (MCCLDMS)

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-2013-IEF, 2013)
Start date: 2014-03-01
End date: 2016-02-29
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 199317.6
EU funding (EUR): 199317.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Basic processes within individual cells are integrated as part of the development and function of entire multicellular organisms. How this global coordination is achieved is a central question in biology. Plants use silencing small (s)RNA to control physiological and defensive processes at both the cellular and organismal levels by trafficking sRNAs from cell-to-cell through plasmodesmata and over long distances through the phloem. However, the parameters and mechanisms controlling the movement of plant small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) and micro RNAs (miRNAs) remain poorly understood and may well vary extensively depending on the cell types involved, quantities and biochemical nature of sRNAs. Combining biochemical, molecular and genetic approaches, the proposed project aims at deciphering the specific mechanisms underpinning viral, artificial and endogenous sRNA movement. The project is expected to generate a wealth of original information and significantly improve our understanding of RNA silencing in plants and perhaps other organisms.

Keywords: plant,physiology,gene regulation,small rna biology,gene silencing,mirna,sirna,rna transport
The Role of Protein N-Glycosylation in Bone and Energy Homeostasis (SUGARYBONE)

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: 2014-05-01
End date: 2016-04-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 221606.4
EU funding (EUR): 221606.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Osteoporotic bone loss due to aging or disease is a major health issue that affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide and costs tens of billions of euros each year. Since current osteoporosis medication only reduces fracture risk by 25-50%, there is an urgent need to define new pathways that control bone remodelling and strength in order to identify new therapeutic targets. Via the ‘Mouse Genetics Project’ consortium, we identified a mutation in one of the enzymes involved in the N-linked protein glycosylation pathway that leads to profound osteoporosis and obesity in mice; this observation accorded with the outcome of comparable human pathologies (congenital disorders of glycosylation). Though bone contains a large amount of glycoproteins, the importance of protein N-glycosylation to skeletal homeostasis remains to be characterised. This project aims (1) to identify the role of protein N-glycosylation in bone homeostasis, (2) to assess mechanistically how bone cell functioning is regulated by this process, and (3) to characterise the metabolic abnormalities associated with defects in N-glycosylation and to address its linkage to bone. We hypothesise that defective N-glycosylation impairs bone formation by osteoblasts, leading to the observed osteoporosis, and, likely, reduced bone-derived osteocalcin levels, which will in turn result in hampered insulin release and insulin resistance, with the observed obesity as a consequence. By combining the applicant’s and host’s skills in mouse genetics, skeletal phenotyping and high-throughput techniques, with the expertise in energy homeostasis, mouse embryonic stem cell technologies and (glyco)proteomics at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, we are confident to gain insight in a process that most possibly regulates osteoblast functioning and bone matrix production; this knowledge will contribute to the development of novel, urgently warranted anabolic medication to treat osteoporosis.

Keywords: bone,osteoblast,osteoporosis,obesity,protein glycosylation
Self-Assembled Virus-Like Particles from Polyferrocenylsilane-Based Polymers and Viral Capsid Proteins: Fabrication, Surface Engineering and Applications (HDIMSM)

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: 2015-02-01
End date: 2017-01-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 309235.2
EU funding (EUR): 309235.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The capsid proteins of viruses have been shown to organize around a variety of non-biological polyanions, in a similar way that proteins assemble around RNA genomes, to form virus-like particles (VLPs). Metal-containing polymers such as polyferrocenylsilane possess additional interesting physical and chemical properties and may yield VLPs possessing very different morphologies and more diverse functionalities on co-assembly with capsid proteins. In a similar manner to almost all nanoscale objects, VLPs generally exist in the solid state but not in the liquid phase, because the scales of these systems are typically larger than the range of attractive interactions between such nanostructures. This situation comes with limitations regarding both storage and product formulation. Due to the recent development of liquid proteins via the surface engineering techniques, interest in the phase behavior of bionanomaterials has grown rapidly. The proposed research focuses on the fabrication and surface engineering of responsive VLPs through the self-assembly of polyferrocenylsilane-based copolymers and viral capsid proteins. This project is highly interdisciplinary and the project objectives will be accomplished by the proposed award of a Marie Curie Fellowship to a highly talented young scientist from China, Dr. Hongjing Dou. She has considerable expertise in the area of bionanomaterials and in biomedical science. The proposal involves her working at the School of Chemistry at the University of Bristol in the UK together with Prof. Ian Manners, who has expertise in the field of synthetic metallopolymers such as polyferrocenylsilanes and also self-assembly, and cosupervisor Prof. Stephen Mann, an expert in bio-inspired chemically-derived routes to complex materials and a pioneer of solvent-free liquid proteins and viruses, to achieve the ambitious project goals.

Keywords: metallopolymers,virus-like particles,self-assembly,surface engineering,bionanomaterials
Enhanced Computer Animation by Fusing Computer Graphics Technology with Smart Data Management (ANIM)

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: 2014-11-10
End date: 2016-11-09
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 231283.2
EU funding (EUR): 231283.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The animation and games industry is one of the most rapidly growing industries. However, animation production is unfortunately very time-consuming requiring a large amount of manual input, which makes it hugely expensive. “AniM”, the fellowship, aims to improve this issue by developing next generation computer animation technology through knowledge transfer and combining the strengths and excellence of two leading institutions in the field: Communication University of China and the National Centre for Computer Animation in the UK. This bi-site multidisciplinary research will bring new insights and formal understanding of creativity in computer animation to advance the capability of computers to automate the process. By making use of a pool of patents and competencies from the home and host institutions, the fellow will develop “smart solutions”, which innovatively fuse computer graphics technology and smart data management. In addition to fundamental research, “AniM” will develop enhanced software tools, which realise the theoretic insights. Moreover, concept designs, examples, practical guidance and standard will be further developed for future technologies. As a result, it will help increase EU’s competitiveness and positively impact on the creative industries. As a pathfinder for new research streams of ICT, “AniM” will boost creative competitiveness in many related sectors, including education, health care and manufacturing where animation provides effective communication media. It will fill the bill of handling EU challenges of ICT for Creativity and Learning, specifically tackling Objective ICT 2013.8.1 in the ICT FP7 programme by forming technologies and scientific foundations in the field of creativity.

Keywords: computer animation,simulation,data management,motion synthesis,character modelling,computer graphics,physically based modelling
A detailed study of the chemistry, physics, and structure in AGB stars (STUDYSTARS)

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: Sweden
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IEF, 2013)
Start date: 2014-09-01
End date: 2016-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 206350.8
EU funding (EUR): 206350.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The proposed research will form a comprehensive study of the chemistry and structure of evolved stars on the Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) and their circumstellar envelopes (CSEs), and form a powerful basis also to study the origin and evolution of heavy elements in galaxies, and the effect of AGB evolution on the formation of stars and planets. The focus of the proposed research is on the chemical properties of AGB stars and their CSEs, and on the structure and dynamics of the mass loss that creates the CSE. The project builds on the knowledge I have on AGB stars, and makes use of the observational and modelling tools I helped develop in the past years. I will describe the chemical complexity of AGB CSEs through the analysis of existing and future data, in observations with both a broad frequency range and high-spatial resolution. I will be able to identify the typical chemical reaction paths in the CSE and set constraints on the chemical processes. I will further observe the 3-dimensional structure of AGB CSEs and detached shells, and for the first time observationally describe the process that leads to the chemical evolution of AGB stars. The analysis of the data will be done using 1D and 3D radiative transfer models and 3D hydrodynamical models. The proposed project fully explores the capabilities of the Atacama Large Millimetre Array in Chile, and the recently extended bandwidth of the EMIR receiver on the IRAM 30m telescope in Granada, Spain - two observing facilities with a large investment from Europe. The research will be carried out at Onsala Space Observatory in Sweden, an institute with a long history in radio astronomy, and significant experience in scientific areas directly related to the proposed research. Working in Onsala I will strengthen existing and acquire new necessary technical, scientific, and personal skills in order to build a successful future career in astronomy.

Keywords: astronomy,evolved stars,asymptotic giant branch,astro chemistry,mass loss,binary stars,alma,radio observations,molecules