Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
A Supramolecular Gel Control of Pharmaceutical Crystal Growth (GELCRYS)

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: 2013-04-15
End date: 2015-04-14
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 309235.2
EU funding (EUR): 309235.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The solid form of drug substances (active pharmaceutical ingredients, API) is of huge importance to the European pharmaceutical industry and the European economy, which makes tremendous investments on crystal structure calculation and empirical polymorph screening. Different crystal forms (polymorphs, pseudopolymorphs, salts or co-crystals) have different bioavailability and solubility, and the crystal morphology significantly affects processing and tabletting behaviour. Here, we propose to develop a novel method for identifying, isolation and screening, of new drug solid forms, particularly the production of previously unknown polymorphs by use of chemically and physically tunable supramolecular gels. A gel fiber represents on the local scale an ordered and controllable array of chemical functionality suitable to act as a heteronucleating surface and hence influence the structure of a growing crystal nucleus of a drug polymorph. In well designed cases the API will bind to the gel in such a way that the short-range periodicity within a gel fibril can match up with a complementary face of a precritical nucleus of a particular solid form and hence stabilize that nucleus relative to homogeneous nucleation. Such ‘active’ gels are expected to catalyse the formation of otherwise unstable or hard-to-nucleate solid forms. This proposal aims to use low molecular weight gels as a medium for the templated growth of APIs and to take advantage of the supramolecular nature of these gels in order to dissolve them and hence recover the crystals. The principal objectives are three fold: (i) Tailor specific gelators to complement the functional groups of target APIs in order to template the growth of novel solid forms by specific solute-gelator molecular recognition. (ii) Establish reversible gelation condition in order to recover the APIs by dissolving the gels. (iii) Show by means of relevant case studies that tailored gelators allow the discovery of novel drug solid forms.

Keywords: supramolecular chemistry,method development in chemistry,active pharmaceutical ingredients,polymorph screening,low molecular weight gel,template growth,molecular recognition
Active actin-microtubule crosstalk in reconstituted systems (CYTOSKELETONCOUPLING)

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: 2013-05-01
End date: 2015-04-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 183469.8
EU funding (EUR): 183469.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Living cells maintain a high degree of functional and structural organization which largely depends on a highly dynamic scaffold, the cytoskeleton, with microtubules (MTs) and actin filaments as the central elements. While both components are comparably well characterized individually, their interplay and mutual regulation remains poorly understood. Precisely their cooperative functioning, however, is increasingly regarded as a central element for many cellular key processes including cell division, cell migration, and adhesion. The central aim of this proposal is to achieve a more profound and quantitative understanding of actin-MT crosstalk using a simple yet realistic reconstituted model system. Centrosome nucleated microtubule asters will be embedded into passive and active actin networks. Coupling between the two cytoskeleton components will be introduced in form of transient binding of growing MT plus ends to actin filaments mediated by tip-tracking EB3 and MACF, a highly relevant actin-MT linker. I will study the mutual influence between a surrounding actin matrix and the dynamic MT asters. Addition of myosin motors will induce actin network contractions that should strongly affect MT growth dynamics. Applying computer-based image analysis routines will allow me to quantify centrosome motion and microtubule tip dynamics. Further, I will investigate the additional effects of cell size confinement on the spatial self-organization of actin and MT asters. Finally, I aim at mimicking the actin-MT crosstalk at the leading edge of migrating cells by establishing an actively treadmilling actin network growing against the aster-based microtubules of opposite polarity. The proposed work will be carried out at the AMOLF institute, simultaneously in the groups of Prof. M. Dogterom and Prof. G. Koenderink which allows me to integrate their combined MT and actin expertise.

Keywords: l818 biomimetics,p219 biophysics,cytoskeleton self-organization,actin-microtubule crosstalk,active soft-matter,centrosome positioning
Assessing the effects of climate change on soil ecosystem functioning using an established alpine Microbial Observatory (MICROBS)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Intra-European Fellowships
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Spain
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IEF, 2012)
Start date: 2013-05-16
End date: 2015-07-28
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 166336.2
EU funding (EUR): 166336.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Soils are an invaluable asset for human wellbeing. Thus monitoring their quality and sustainable functioning should be a priority in a time of global change with unpredictable consequences. Climate-induced changes in species assemblages of biological communities are well documented. However, relatively little is known about such changes in microbial communities, in spite of their critical importance for ecosystem health. Microorganisms adapt faster to changing local conditions than plants and other macro-organisms, making them ideal as indicators for soil and ecosystem health. Thanks to their steep altitudinal gradients, mountain areas are particularly well suited for studying soil microbial community changes induced by climate change. This also makes them more vulnerable, increasing the risk for loss of biodiversity through mountaintop extinction and perturbations of ecosystem integrity. The advancement of DNA sequencing technologies now enables us to explore microbial diversity in-depth and to monitor microbial community composition and dynamics. In MicrObs, I propose an innovative study utilising “next generation” sequencing to survey and monitor the functional and compositional diversity patterns of soil microbial communities along an altitudinal gradient in response to climate change. A soil transplantation experiment will also be carried out to accelerate climate-induced changes. I seek to combine my existing skills with the expertise of the Soil Microbial Ecology Group at NEIKER, utilising the group’s unique “Microbial Observatory” Project. MicrObs will improve the current understanding of the impact of climate change on soil microbial communities and associated ecological processes, on local and global scales. In addition, it will facilitate for continued monitoring. The conceptual and methodological training objectives proposed will strengthen my scientific and management skills, enabling a future establishment as an independent researcher.

Keywords: v101 environment and sustainability,v201 climatology and climate change,l607 microbiology,v305 ecology,l201 genomics,l202 transcriptomics,observatory,soil,microbial ecology,biodiversity
Responsive Field-Effect Transistors: A Life-Long Training Career Development action (RESPONSIVE)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Intra-European Fellowships
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: France
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IEF, 2012)
Start date: 2013-04-01
End date: 2015-03-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 202405.8
EU funding (EUR): 202405.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

RESPONSIVE will offer to a young researcher with an extraordinary track record, possessing a Ph.D in chemistry, a cross-disciplinary and supra-sectorial training and research experience in the field of organic electronics at the interface between supramolecular chemistry, solid state physics and electrical engineering in the emerging realms of materials- and nano-science. The overall mission is to train the fellow to become an independent scientist as well as to prepare him for a leading position in academia or industry. RESPONSIVE targets at developing a deep understanding of the underlying mechanisms ruling FETs performance, with a special focus on the control of novel properties and functions emerging from the bottom-up nanostructuration in blended active layers integrating photochromic molecules. In particular photochromic systems will be blended or chemisorbed as self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) at different interfaces (including functionalization of source and drain electrodes, functionalized gate dielectric substrates, etc.) to realise devices featuring switchable conductivity when exposed to different stimuli. Both planar interfaces such as the typical ones present in the devices (electrodes and dielectric substrate) and non-planar, i.e. those based on metallic or semiconducting nanoparticles (NPs) or nanorods (NRs), will be functionalized with responsive SAMs, to influence charge transport at nanoscale in the bulk of the active semiconducting layer. By combining chemical/physical tailoring of the different interfaces in the device, as well as the geometry and composition of the system (e.g. by changing concentration, size and shape of SAM coated NPs or NRs) and controlling its hierarchical self-assembly at multiple length scales, new and more efficient photoswitchable organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) will be realized, towards the development of multi-gating, thus multifunctional devices.

Keywords: supramolecular chemistry,organic electronics,materials nano-science
Characterization of the cellular mechanics of lineage segregation during mouse blastocyst morphogenesis by SPIM-based 4D-imaging and micromanipulation (SPIM MOUSE)

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: Germany
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IIF, 2012)
Start date: 2014-06-01
End date: 2016-05-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 161968.8
EU funding (EUR): 161968.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

In mammalian development, the first cell lineages are established in the blastocyst, in which the inner cell mass (ICM) and the trophectoderm (TE) occupy distinct compartment along the embryonic inner-outer axis. The inner and outer cell layers in the embryo are generated during the transition from the 8-cell to 32-cell stage in principle by two dynamic processes, cell division and cell sorting. However, the mechanism by which the spindle orientation and cellular movement are regulated in the early mouse embryo largely remains elusive. This project aims at understanding the mechanical basis of the cell lineage segregation by high-resolution fluorescent live imaging and digital reconstruction of the blastocyst patterning. To minimize photo-damage and bleaching in the embryo, we will adapt selective plane illumination microscopy (SPIM) to the mouse embryo live-imaging. Specifically, we will optimize the optical design and embryo mounting and culture for live-imaging and 4D digital reconstruction. Transgenic fluorescent reporter mice visualizing the cell membrane, the nuclei, cytoskeletons, cell polarity markers and cell adhesion proteins will allow high-resolution tracking of the lineage segregation and understanding of its mechanical basis. Our image processing will extract molecular and cellular dynamics that correlate with cell division or cell sorting along the inner-outer axis, and will establish the underlying mechanistic model. The mechanistic model will allow predicting the impact of cellular physical constraints on cell division plane and movement, and will be evaluated by experimentally testing the prediction by means of micro-manipulation. This study will thus elucidate the mechanical aspect of the ICM and TE segregation for the first time. The developed imaging system and analysis will offer a wider contribution to understanding how cellular mechanical dynamics influence molecular dynamics during development.

Keywords: spim,the mouse embryo,cell mechanics,inner cell mass,trophectoderm,the first cell lineages
Greener biological nitrogen removal: minimization of N2O emissions and optimization of the integration issues of the nitritation / Anammox process for main stream wastewater treatment (GREENN2)

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: 2013-11-01
End date: 2015-10-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 243847.8
EU funding (EUR): 243847.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Effective treatment of wastewaters is one of the key actions to reduce the nutrient load of surface waters, which is one of the goals in EU policies (Water Framework Directive). There is an urgent need to develop more sustainable wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) to reduce the energy consumption and corresponding carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. One of the keystones for the development of energy-efficient wastewater treatments is the use of an autotrophic nitrogen removal. Recently, significant emission of nitrous oxide (N2O), a greenhouse gas (GHG) 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide, have been detected associated to the biological nitrogen removal (BNR) in the wastewater treatment. Therefore, the main research objectives of the proposed research project are two: (i) the minimization of N2O emissions during the autotrophic nitrogen removal; and (ii) the achievement of a fully integrated autotrophic nitrogen removal for main stream wastewater treatment. These two aspects will contribute to the development of a truly sustainable WWTP with low carbon footprint. To this end, a mathematical model able to predict the amount of N2O emissions and the performance of a nitritation-Anammox reactor for main stream wastewater treatment will be developed. Validation of the modeling results will be possible through monitoring of the N2O emissions in a pilot plant prototype. Ad hoc process control strategies will be inserted in the model and evaluated through specific simulations. Numerical optimization of setpoints will be carried out to minimize the N2O emissions whereas a high nitrogen removal is achieved. The best process control strategy will be implemented first in a laboratory-scale reactor and later in a pilot scale prototype reactor treating real wastewater to test the achieved improvements in terms of the efficiency of the nitrogen removal and the minimization of N2O emission.

Keywords: greenhouse gas,nitrous oxide,autotrophic nitrogen removal,biofilm,ambient temperature,sewage treatment,process control,modelling tools,biotechnology - bioreactors - applied microbiology
Understanding and EXPloiting dielectric REsponse in novel Semiconducting nanoSheets (EXPRESS)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Intra-European Fellowships
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: France
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IEF, 2012)
Start date: 2013-03-01
End date: 2015-02-28
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 194046.6
EU funding (EUR): 194046.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The revolutionary potential of nanoscience lies in the ability of designing new materials and functionalities for specific applications taking advantages of quantum nature of electrons. After the breakthrough discovery of graphene, the recent years have witnessed an explosive interest in two-dimensional Transition Metal Dichalcogenides nanosheets - diselenides and disulfides of transition metals, like MoS2, WS2, TiS2 and WSe2 - due their high technological potential for renewable energies, nanoelectronics and nanocatalysis. Major advances in this field heavily depend on the understanding of the electronic excitations sustained by these nanostructures under irradiation (by light, electron beams, synchrotrons or ultra-fast lasers) and on the ability to link the local chemical, electronic and structural modifications to changes in their macroscopic optical behavior. This project aims to provide a deep insight (through theory, simulation and experiments) to the electronic and optical properties of semiconducting Transition Metal Dichalcogenides nanosheets. By applying innovative computational modelling ab-initio techniques - within the framework of Time Dependent Density Functional Theory - the electronic structure and optical response of such systems will be investigated from the atomic scale up and then compared to experiments (i.e. electron energy loss spectroscopies). One key objective will focus on quantum confinement effects, evaluating the change in the electronic spectra when the size of the system is reduced. A second and fundamental aim is to investigate chemical modifications, e.g. the insertion of dopant atoms or molecules into the layered structure of the material. Due its high fundamental scientific content, enormous technological potential and strong multidisciplinary character, the present proposal will provide a significant step towards the understanding of optoelectronic properties of nanostructures through theory, simulation and material designing.

Keywords: transition metal dichalcogenides,nanosheets,dielectric response,theoretical spectroscopy,ab-initio,td-dft,eels,nanoscience,modelling,quantum confinement,intercalation.
Maritime Enclosures. Fishing communities facing the effects of the South China Sea dispute (MARENCLOSURES)

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: 2013-09-01
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

The South China Sea (SCS) is a hotly contested area, subject to claims for sovereignty and marine enclosures by China, Vietnam and other Southeast Asian states and involving global powers (US, India). Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in China and Vietnam, archival research and cartographic analysis, the proposed project shifts the gaze from the geopolitical conflict between the major states concerned to its effects on fisheries in the context of maritime enclosures. While its first objective is to explore how state governments seize upon the exclusive notion of sovereignty and adopt new technologies to demarcate national borders at sea, the second objective charts how local coastal communities stake their claims to contested fishing territories—historically considered as common property—and how they deal with environmental damage of marine areas—an additional factor in the loss of access to their livelihood basis. The third objective is to trace the flow of marine goods and identify main actors, sites and patterns involved in the cross-border trade against the backdrop of the simultaneous liberalization of trade and the enforcement of sea borders between China and Vietnam. At the intersection between anthropology, history, political science, geography and marine ecology, this project offers an innovative, multidisciplinary perspective on the problem of marine enclosures, state territoriality and ‘territoriality from below’. By producing high-quality output and using Durham University’s international networks, this fellowship will play a vital role in diversifying and consolidating the Fellow’s new research line on the politically sensitive region of the SCS, thereby leading her to an independent career. She would be exceptionally well prepared to develop her own research programme in legal and political anthropology and undertake international competitive research on Asia within the European Research Area that would integrate anthropology with other disciplines.

Keywords: s105 ethnography,s106 globalization - migration - interethnic relations,s410 social - economic - cultural and political history,s101 social structure - inequalities - social mobility
Paleomagnetic applications for dating and identifying Holocene climate variability in southwestern Europe and Azores Islands as recorded by lake sediments (PALEOCLAK)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Intra-European Fellowships
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: France
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IEF, 2012)
Start date: 2013-03-01
End date: 2015-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 269743.8
EU funding (EUR): 269743.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Over the last years, a strong multidisciplinary effort is being done by several Spanish research groups in order to recover pristine sediment cores from lakes at different biogeographic provinces throughout the Iberian Peninsula and Azores Islands. The lacustrine sequences recovered constitute an irreplaceable record of past environmental and climatic changes. The paleomagnetic and environmental magnetic techniques represent porwerful tools for dating and identifying Holocene climate variability as recorded by these lacustrine sediments. However, up to now nobody had considered applying systematically these techniques to the material recovered. PALEOCLAK proposes a work plan to carry out this research in Géosciences-Rennes. A preliminary study (one core per site) of cores from 17 different lakes covering the Holocene will be carried out in order to obtain a general view of their paleomagnetic behavior. The results will be used to identify and select the most promising recorders of past geomagnetic field and environmental changes. Several cores per selected site will be studied. The results will produce: 1) new Holocene paleosecular and relative paleointensity curves (derived from well-dated cores). These curves will provide a new tool for dating Holocene sedimentary sequences from these regions; and 2) a catalogue of environmental magnetic data from lakes with different origins and climatic contexts. This catalogue will be used to identify paleoenvironmental variations as recorded by changes in the type, concentration and grain size of magnetic minerals. By comparing the rock-magnetic data with available sedimentological, geochemical and biological proxies, we will be able to disentangle the specific processes that modulate the magnetic signal. Finally, the paleomagnetic dating technique will be used for establishing accurate high-resolution age models in which the paleoenvironmental response to climatic and anthropogenic impacts can be properly evaluated.

Keywords: v201 geomagnetism - paleomagnetism,v201 paleoclimatology - paleoecology,holocene climatic change,paleosecular variation,environmental magnetism,western europe