Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Examining Oscillatory Dynamics with Magnetoencephalography and Intracranial Electroencephalography (OSCILLATORY DYNAMICS)

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-2007-4-2-IIF, 2007)
Start date: 2008-07-01
End date: 2010-06-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 163643.71
EU funding (EUR): 163643.71
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The scientific goal of this project is to use magnetoencephalography (MEG) and intracerebral electroencephalography (iEEG) to gain a better understanding of subcortical and abnormal cortical oscillatory dynamics. The first specific aim of this project is to apply the most sophisticated techniques currently available to resolve the activity of deep brain structures, such as the amygdala, hippocampus, brainstem, and cerebellum, using noninvasive MEG recordings. Time-frequency analysis may be better suited to the nature of the signals produced by these structures than traditional event-related averages. Therefore, advanced spatial filtering techniques will be combined with time-frequency analysis to produce five-dimensional space-time-frequency maps of brain activity. A realistic head model will be used in the construction of the spatial filters, enhancing the spatial resolution of deeper sources. The results will be validated and augmented with iEEG recordings from intractable epilepsy patients who receive clinically indicated depth electrode implants in these areas. Additionally, time-frequency analysis will be applied to EEG-based auditory brainstem response (ABR) recordings to investigate its utility compared to the thousands-of-trials average currently in clinical practice. The second specific aim is to examine the abnormal spontaneous oscillatory activity associated with tinnitus. Recent studies suggest that the phantom perception of many tinnitus patients arise from abnormal synchronization of auditory cortex. However, to date, most efforts in EEG/MEG source localization have concentrated on the localization of high-amplitude transient epileptic spikes or stimulus-evoked experimental designs. These methods require further technical development to allow the analysis of spontaneous changes in oscillatory activity. I propose to use adaptive spatial filtering techniques combined with time-frequency analysis to accomplish this aim.

Keywords: neurosciences,biomedical engineering,cognitive science,brain research,magnetoencephalography,electroencephalography,functional neuroimaging
Origin of biodiversity in Gondwanan Arthropods: from phylogeography to phylogenomic (GONDWANA)

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: France
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2007-4-1-IOF, 2007)
Start date: 2008-10-17
End date: 2011-10-16
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 239169.49
EU funding (EUR): 239169.49
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The goal of the project is to understand the origin of biodiversity and endemism in diverse gondwanan Arthropods. The study groups, Opiliones, Myriapoda and Onychophora, are distributed in all southern temperate Gondawanan landmasses. They are therefore adequate model groups to achieve this goal. This project will involve different scales and approaches. In order to understand the global evolution of the group, large-scale molecular phylogenies will be conducted. This part will comprise whole mitochondrial genome sequencing and analysis. The sequencing step includes the acquisition of new molecular biology techniques like long-PCR or rolling circle amplification. The analysis step includes the use of new methodologies like large scale phylogenetic parallel computing. This global and regional approach will allow testing if the present distribution results from vicariant or dispersal events. On a different scale, a comparative phylogeographic study will be conducted on the different regions. This part will allow testing hypothesis regarding rates and modes of speciation on a local scale in biodiversity hotspot. The applicant will receive high quality training in modern phylogenetic tools and methodology. Based on the study of mitochondrial DNA, the applicant will conduct a project going from microevolution (genetic structuration of populations) to macroevolution (phylogenomics).

Keywords: biogeography,phylogeny,molecular evolution
Attosecond dynamics of ion-biomolecule collisions by nuclear and electron wavepackets (ATTONEW)

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: Germany
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2007-2-1-IEF, 2007)
Start date: 2008-04-01
End date: 2010-03-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 150529.9
EU funding (EUR): 150529.9
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The advent of ultrashort pulses produced by free-electron lasers and high harmonic generation has opened up the way to a new chemistry at the femto and attosecond time scales. Processes such as laser induced ionisation and dissociation can now be monitored in real time and can be used to control chemical reactions. However, the dynamics of charge transfer (CT) processes taking place in a collision have never been investigated. ATTONEW aims at analyzing the mechanism of CT during an ion-biomolecule collision in real time for the first time. Novel time-dependent (TD) wavepacket propagation methods will be developed to follow the attosecond nuclear and electron motion involved in the collision. Moreover, we will also explore the possibility of controlling the reaction by preparing electronic wavepackets in the Uracil molecule. The methodology will be applied to the interactions between carbon ions, C2+ and C4+, with the RNA base Uracil. CT in ion-biomolecule systems is interesting since it is responsible for cancer disease and controlled cell killing used in radiotherapy. Such complex systems demand detailed knowledge of the potentials energies and non-adiabatic couplings between the states involved in the process; these will be obtained with high level ab initio multiconfigurational methods. Due to the high energies involved in the collision (keV), the proposed dynamical calculations are memory extensive requiring algorithm parallelization. We propose two different TD scenarios in which wavepackets will be simulated first, in one dimension (assuming a single attack direction), and second, in two dimensions (considering a planar and a perpendicular attack). Combining these two attacks, we will obtain anisotropic features of the global three-dimensional collision process, directly comparable with the experiment. Most importantly, our wavepacket simulations will discover the attosecond time-resolved mechanism of a CT process in an collision of the Cq+ ion with Uracil.

Keywords: attosecond chemistry,charge transfer process,ion-biomolecule collision,nuclear wavepackets,electron wavepackets,ab initio methods,non-adiabatic couplings,radiation dna damage
Identity and biogeochemical role of chemoautotrophic prokaryotes in aquatic ecosystems (CHEMOARCH)

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-2007-2-1-IEF, 2007)
Start date: 2008-05-01
End date: 2010-04-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 169563.3
EU funding (EUR): 169563.3
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

We aim to identify relevant aquatic chemoautotrophic prokaryotes, which can play a key biogeochemical role with the capacity to fix CO2 independently of light. Although severely underestimated, chemoautotrophy can be widespread in natural systems and it can importantly participate in carbon cycling. Chemoautotrophs are highly diverse at the phylogenetical and metabolical levels, but our knowledge about both aspects is still very limited and will be assessed in this project. Firstly, we will identify active chemoautotrophs through Stable Isotope Probing with 13CO2. By this approach, we will label and isolate the nucleic acids of aquatic chemoautotrophs with 13C, and identify them through appropriate molecular tools. Large inserts of the isolated genomes will be analysed in fosmid clone libraries, in order to find genes that can shed light to the metabolic fashion of these organisms. This is particularly relevant in order to establish links between chemoautotrophy and other biogeochemical processes. We will focus on a specific group, Crenarchaoeta, which grows chemoautotrophically and could play a key role in nitrogen cycle in marine waters, but has not yet been studied in freshwater/brackish systems such as the ones we will sample. Finally, a survey of distribution and activity of chemoautotrophs will be done by the combination of in situ hybridization with specific probes and microautoradiography with 14CO2. This will allow us to quantify the amount of active cells of different groups in CO2 uptake along environmental gradients (transcending the freshwater-coastal waters boundary), and evaluate their biogeochemical relevance in aquatic ecosystems.

Keywords: aquatic ecology,fresh water ecosystems,carbon cycle (climate change)
Exploring the three-dimensional nanoscale space around defects in Ni-based superalloys for aircraft applications employing atom-probe tomography (LEAP TOMOGRAPHY)

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-2007-4-1-IOF, 2007)
Start date: 2008-03-01
End date: 2011-07-01
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 242235.88
EU funding (EUR): 242235.88
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The research proposed is part of an extensive work aimed at investigating the formation of defects during the solidification of Nickel-based superalloys, where the goal is establishing criteria that enable avoiding their formation. We intend to employ the latest version of the Atom-Probe Tomograph, namely the Local-Electrode Atom-Probe (LEAP), which is the best analytical experimental tool available today for characterizing the chemistry of solid materials in the sub-nanometric scale. The results obtained by LEAP will be used as input data for ab-initio Molecular Dynamics (AIMD) simulations and compared with nano-mechanical testings. The approach of combining both LEAP tomography results with mechanical behavior in the nano-scale, as well as implementing AIMD, may serve as a very powerful tool in the understanding of materials science fundamentals, e.g. the correlation between mechanical properties, composition, and morphology. Specialization in the most powerful atomistic-tomography tool known today, the LEAP, is essential for preserving the high level of scientific research in Israel, thus encouraging further scientific collaboration between Israel and other EU countries as well as the USA. We intend to perform the LEAP characterization work as well as the analytical modeling at the Northwestern University Center for Atom-probe Tomography (NUCAPT) leaded by Prof. David Seidman. The rest of the research work including Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) as well as computer-aided simulations will be performed in the return stage at the Technion, Faculty of Materials Engineering, and leaded by Prof. Wayne Kaplan.

Keywords: materials engineering,local electrode atom-probe (leap) tomography,ni-based superalloys,molecular dynamics simulations,nanotechnology,nanoindentation
Novel Chemical Probes for Tuberculosis Diagnosis and Treatment (GLYCOTUP)

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-2007-2-1-IEF, 2007)
Start date: 2008-03-27
End date: 2010-03-26
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 178307.05
EU funding (EUR): 178307.05
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Tuberculosis (TB) is a common and deadly infectious disease caused by mycobacteria, mainly Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB). In the developed world, the advent of powerful antibiotics and a concerted inoculation program saw the near extinction of TB. However, the rise of drug-resistant strains, HIV infections, and the neglect of TB control programs have increased the urgency for an alternative treatment and diagnosis. Since the presence of L-rhamnose and trehalose [α-D-Glc-(1↔1)-α-D-Glc] motifs in MTB have been associated with disease states, the preparation of modified derivatives constitute excellent research tools to investigate the infective process and offer themselves as potential therapeutic agents. These two sugars are not found in mammalian biology and therefore provide a powerful handle for distinguishing pathogen (MTB) from host (man) both during diagnosis and treatment. In particular, 2-deoxy-2-fluoroglycosides are compounds of increasing importance in biochemistry and medicinal research, especially as antiviral agents, cancer diagnosis probes, and labelling substrates for many biological studies. In addition, 2-deoxy-2-fluoroglycosides have been found particularly useful in the determination of the molecular mechanism of glycosidases and glycosyltransferases by trapping key enzymatic intermediates. We propose a program targeted at the development of innovative methodologies for the preparation of fluorosugars and glycolipid analogues that will allow direct imaging and treatment of TB. The specific goals include: a) Synthesis of 2-deoxy-2-fluoro-rhamnose and trehalose derivatives. b) Synthesis of CD1b-binding glycolipids with variations either at the glycoside and the lipid moieties. c) The use of fluoroglycosides as mechanistic probes, inhibitors, and imaging agents (alternative TB treatment and diagnosis: 18F PET and 19F NMR/MRI).

Keywords: carbohydrates,glycobiology,fluorosugars,glycolipids,tuberculosis,chemical technology,biochemical technology
Recuring breast cancer early genetic diagnostic on a chip (RBCE-GENODIAGNOSENS)

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-2007-2-1-IEF, 2007)
Start date: 2008-03-01
End date: 2010-02-28
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 159166.6
EU funding (EUR): 159166.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The overall objective of RBCE-GenoDiagnoSens is to exploit breakthroughs at the confluences of micro-, nano- and bio-technologies to initiate the creation of a low-cost minimally-invasive intelligent diagnosis system using a nanotechnology-based device for the early detection of DNA biomarkers involved in breast cancer, especially found in circulating tumour cells (CTCs). The device will consist of an array of nano-biosensors for the consecutive RNA/DNA analysis of cancer cells. The advantages of the exploited biosensors for RNA/DNA analysis are their sensitivity, their inherent selectivity, their versatility and their cost effectiveness. Death from cancer is usually due to metastases that are formed by hematogenic or lymphatogenic spread of cancer cells from the primary disease site. Fortunately, only a subset of these persist and have the ability to form vascularised macro metastases. Therefore, the quantification and characterisation of circulating tumour cell mRNAs in order to define the metastatic potential is of clinical relevance and may prove valuable for monitoring disease progression and patients response to treatment, and assessing the risk for metastasis or recurrence. With prognostic implications, the quantities of mRNA markers in blood could indicate the stage of cancer progression and the need for more intensive therapeutic intervention to better the outcome of cancer patients. In the frame of the RBCE-GenoDiagnoSens, the leading research scientist will design, taylor and test the optimum surface chemistry for the functionalisation and operation of the nano-biosensors, following his established expertise in the field, while the host institution will provide the complementary knowledge and training in microfabrication, DNA expertise, mass-manufacturing, regulations and commercialisation consideration as routes for the researcher to establish his own autonomy and his progression to become a successful principal investigator within the European Union

Keywords: clinical analysis,diagnostic,cancer,electrochemistry,surface chemistry,biophysics,surface physics,nanobiotechnology,measurement technology,biosensor,optics,microfluidics,microfabrication
Incorporating flexibility into protein-ligand docking (IFLPD)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: International Outgoing Fellowships
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Spain
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2007-4-1-IOF, 2007)
Start date: 2009-11-01
End date: 2012-10-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 221673.82
EU funding (EUR): 221673.82
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

One of the major goals of current drug discovery methods is the correct treatment of the flexibility of the receptor (i.e., protein) in small ligand docking. Computer-aided drug discovery through ligand docking-based virtual screening is already a key component in the lengthy and costly process of developing new drugs not only for academy but also for the pharmaceutical industries. In this proposal, we want to incorporate flexibility considerations into structure based drug discovery by using theoretical methods such as Molecular Dynamics and Normal Mode Analysis. The approach will be a step toward the integration of dynamics in structure-based of drug discovery.

Keywords: physical sciences,biochemistry,computational chemistry,molecular modelling,docking,health sciences,pharmacology
Identification of mechanisms controlling temporal neurogenesis in the cortex using an embryonic stem cells-based model. (FROM ES TO NEURONS)

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: Belgium
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2007-2-1-IEF, 2007)
Start date: 2008-05-01
End date: 2009-09-30
Duration (months): 17.0
Total project cost (EUR): 164319.59
EU funding (EUR): 164319.59
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The cerebral cortex is one of the most complex and important structures in our brain. In correlation with its elaborate functions, the neocortex comprises a huge diversity of neuronal types, each cortical neuron displaying specific patterns of differentiation and connectivity. During development, embryonic progenitors sequentially generate the diverse repertoire of neuronal subtypes that will form the cortex (from early-born Cajal-Retzius neurons to later-generated pyramidal neurons). The molecular mechanisms accounting for this striking capacity of cortical progenitors to generate all types of neurons are unknown. The aim of my project is to identify the mechanisms of cortical neurogenesis that further have crucial implications for our understanding of pathological brain development and for the rational design of replacement therapies of neurodegenerative diseases. In this matter, the host lab (Dr Pierre Vanderhaeghen lab) has developed a particularly adequate model. In this system, murine embryonic stem (ES) cells efficiently generate neurons that share all landmarks of genuine neurons of the cerebral cortex. Strikingly, developing neurons recapitulate the major milestones of in vivo development, including the sequential generation of distinct subtypes of neurons. In this unique model of temporal neurogenesis, I will test candidate genes such as the transcription factors FoxG1, Sp8 (both affecting mammalian brain development through unknown mechanisms), and Chinmo homologues zBTB20-24 (Chinmo affecting temporal neurogenesis in drosophila), using an inducible system of gene expression. By microarrays experiments I will determine the gene expression profiling of generated neurons. This will allow to look for gene signatures of cortical neurons generated from ES cells, and to identify other genes associated with cortical neurogenesis. Attractive candidates will be tested in vitro and then in vivo in the mouse for their physiological relevance.

Keywords: health sciences,stem cells,brain development,cortex,transcription factor
Flexible Behaviors for Humanoid Robots and Digital Humans (FLEXIBLEROBOTBEHAV)

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: France
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2007-4-1-IOF, 2007)
Start date: 2008-06-01
End date: 2011-05-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 215530.6
EU funding (EUR): 215530.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The main application considered in this research and training project is walking humanoid robots, a second application being digital humans. The core scientific and technological results should however have a strong impact on other fields such as industrial manipulator robots. Indeed, the main objective of this research and training project is to enhance the algorithms and control laws of existing humanoid robots in order to obtain a walking behavior versatile and safe enough to be integrated into higher level tasks such as manipulation, vision, tele-operation, interaction with humans, which all require a strong capacity to face unforeseen events in an efficient way. But the objective is to solve this problem with a solution general enough to be applied also to the case of manipulator robots.

Keywords: locomotion system,control techniques,robotics,computer graphics,digital humans
Bifurcations in nonsmooth differential equations (BIFURCATIONS)

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-2007-4-2-IIF, 2007)
Start date: 2008-10-01
End date: 2010-09-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 168441.07
EU funding (EUR): 168441.07
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The increasing amount of problems faced by mathematicians and engineers alike to understand transition phenomena caused by nonsmooth perturbations, cannot be satisfactorily treated with established (smooth) techniques. This proposal addresses the systematic development of the theory for bifurcations in nonsmooth differential equations at the Dynamical Systems group of Imperial College London. The methodology proposed in the project is based on recent key achievements by the applicant and his collaborators. The proposed research will launch a collaborative network of leading experts in mathematics and engineering in the theory of nonsmooth bifurcations within the UK and across the EU. The development of a general theory of bifurcations of stable periodic solutions in oscillating systems with nonsmooth perturbations is urgently required in relation to recently obtained numerical and experimental data in the context of several open problems in engineering.

Keywords: bifurcations from families,piecewise linear perturbations,stable periodic solutions