Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Intravital optical super-resolution imaging in the brain (BRAIN STED)

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-2011-IEF, 2011)
Start date: 2012-06-01
End date: 2014-05-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 167390.4
EU funding (EUR): 167390.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Synapses are small, highly specialized structures of intercellular contact that play a crucial role in neuronal information processing and memory. While traditional fluorescence microscopy is an extremely powerful tool to study the dynamics of biological processes in vivo with molecular specificity, it has insufficient resolving power to dissect details of synaptic structure and functional organization or the structure of small subcellular components. In contrast, far-field optical super-resolution techniques provide spatial resolution at the nanoscale beyond the limit imposed by the diffraction of light. However, current super-resolution techniques are limited to thin brain preparations or to the surface of thick samples. The central aim of this proposal is to establish optical super-resolution methods for imaging chemical synapses in all layers of the cerebral cortex and in deep lying structures of the brain and to apply these techniques to timely questions in neurobiology. We will develop intravital super-resolution microendoscopy based on the stimulated emission depletion (STED) technique. This will enable intravital microscopy of arbitrary brain regions with diffraction-unlimited resolving power. In addition, we will miniaturize the setup, opening up the investigation of nanoscale structures in the brain of awake, freely moving and behaving animals. With this, we will be able to correlate for the first time synaptic structural or organizational plasticity at the nanoscale with behavioural stimuli in a living animal, including for instance in the hippocampus of an animal exposed to a learning situation. Furthermore, these methods will advance the understanding of the interplay between neurons and glia, in particular at synapses, and will help to shed light on brain structure and function in physiological states as well as in disease.

Keywords: microscopy,neuroscience methods,superresolution,intravital,nanoscopy,sted,brain,microendoscopy,miniaturization,awake behaving mouse,optical fiber,microprism,gfp,synapse,glia,plasticity
Ecological Process and Climate Change (EPACS)

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-2011-IEF, 2011)
Start date: 2012-08-06
End date: 2014-08-05
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 200371.8
EU funding (EUR): 200371.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Climate change is a major threat to biodiversity: this project provides knowledge in the ecological response to climate change which is necessary to achieve Europe’s conservation commitments. Criticism emerging from the conservation sector demonstrates that academic climate impacts analysis is not engaging with the practicalities of conservation, especially the requirement for local habitat management to mitigate the threat posed by global climate change. This project shifts the evidence base from the widely researched area of bioclimatic modelling (which quantifies a species’ exposure to climate change) towards the investigation of ecological sensitivity consistent with local habitat management. It focuses on a European habitat of global significance – cool temperate rainforest – with symbiotic organisms (lichen epiphytes) providing an appropriate model system. It examines two ecologically-similar lichen species, though with contrasting dispersal modes, in order to understand how climatic sensitivity might be determined by the interaction between life-history traits and a hierarchical range of environmental factors. This hierarchy spans the symbiotic interaction, micro-habitat factors, stand structure and macroclimate. With an emphasis on training and career development, the project includes complimentary field sampling, molecular analysis, experimental design and advanced statistics. The project will provide information that is directly relevant to forestry policy and habitat management, and therefore includes a strong knowledge exchange component.

Keywords: nature conservation,forest ecosystems (climate change),plant ecology/mycology,applied ecology
Virtual Cyber-Physical Systems (VICYPHYSYS)

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-2011-IEF, 2011)
Start date: 2012-03-01
End date: 2014-02-28
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 241042.4
EU funding (EUR): 241042.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

In Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS), a physical process is controlled by a pervasive network of embedded computers. In this environment, computation, communication, and the physical environment are so tightly coupled that process dynamics blends into the behavior of computation. A proper design of such systems requires understanding the joint dynamics of computers, software, networks, and physical processes. The proposed project investigates the creation of a foundational theory and a design methodology for Cyber-Physical Systems.

Keywords: control systems,real-time systems,embedded systems,distributed computing,systems theory,remote sensing
Tree demography, functional traits and climate change (DEMO-TRAITS)

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-2011-IOF, 2011)
Start date: 2012-09-01
End date: 2015-08-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 194035.2
EU funding (EUR): 194035.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Climate change is expected to have serious effects on forest ecosystems. Our ability to predict the impact of climate change (CC) on forest ecosystems remain however limited. This is because of an incomplete understanding of the processes through which CC will impact forests composition, structure and dynamics. A key limitation is that we are so far not able to link (i) the ecophysiological impacts of climate change, (ii) tree demography and (iii) tree competition within the community. These three themes however need to be connected to predict the CC impact at the community level. In this project we propose that plant functional traits can be pivotal to connect these themes. The fellow recently developed modern statistical methods to estimate how tree demography is affected by climatic variables and competition using the French National Forest Inventory data. The key advance proposed in this project is to link these methods with tree functional traits (FT). The fellow will spend two years in the world-leading group in FT of Prof. Westoby (Macquarie University, Sydney), to learn new skill in tree functional traits. He will first work in collaboration Westoby’s group to identify a list of key FT linked to drought, temperature and competitive interaction and develop a data base for European mountain tree species. Then the goals of this project are: (i) improve our understanding of the link between functional traits and response of demographic rates to climatic constraints, (ii) improve our understanding of the link between functional traits and response of demographic rates to competition, (iii) dissecting multiple trade-offs in the demographic space and analyse their relations with a nexus of interrelated functional traits and (iii) use these results to develop a new forest dynamics models for mountain forests based on tree functional traits (and not the species level) to forecast the effect climate change.

Keywords: plant ecology,population biology,tree demography,plant functional traits,forest ecosystems (climate change),mountain ecosystems,computational biology
Integrated biomolecular methods to control mosquito-borne diseases (MOSQUITOBLOCK)

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-2011-IIF, 2011)
Start date: 2013-09-01
End date: 2015-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 278807.4
EU funding (EUR): 278807.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Mosquitoes transmit some of the world's most serious diseases. The most important disease vectors are members of the subfamilies Anophelinae and Culicinae. Anopheles mosquitoes transmit malaria, filarial parasites , and a few arboviruses. There are 30 genera in the Culicidae subfamily, but the medically important mosquitoes are Culex, Aedes, Mansonia, and Annigeres (Culex would be important in Europe for West Nile Disease and Avian malaria), while (Aedes would be more important in Tropical countries). Over the last 45 years, the use of chemical pesticides such as dichlorodiphe-nyltrichloroethane (DDT), gammaxane, malathion, and chlordane has been the method of choice for mosquito control, and the antimalarial drugs chloroquine and the affordable pyrimethamine-sulfadoxine combination have proved successful in lowering morbidity and mortality. In addition, the emergence of pesticide and drug resistant mosquitoes, coupled with a clearer appreciation of the long-term detrimental effects of powerful chemicals to non pest insects and concern about accumulation of pesticides in the food chain and environment, has high lighted the need to quickly develop an alternative. A promising alternative is biological control. So, this project would focus on non-chemical methods of control mosquitoes

Keywords: natural sciences,biological sciences,zoology,entomology
Tunable, highly spin-polarised materials for spintronics and non-volatile memories (HIGHSPIN)

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: 2012-09-01
End date: 2015-08-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 271943.7
EU funding (EUR): 271943.7
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The aim of the HIGHSPIN project is to incorporate tunable, highly spin-polarised (THSP) materials into spintronic devices and utilise them in new 2D and 3D nanomagnetic data storage architectures. The field of spintronics, where both the spin and charge of the electron are used, is one of the most rapidly developing and exciting areas of nano-science. The discipline has already revolutionised the information technology industry and further technological applications, from data storage to microwave field generation, make it a hugely worthwhile investigation area. Crucial to all proposed schemes is the efficient creation and control of spin-polarised electric currents. THSP materials offer a means to tailor robust, completely polarised currents. As yet however their use has not been realised in spin transport measurements and spintronic devices. Spin currents offer a fast, low power, electrical means to control magnetic switching which may be scaled along with future device minimisation. They are particularly well suited for emerging classes of 2D and 3D magnetic data-storage, which offer unparalleled densities in fast, low power and non-volatile memories. The project will aim to provide the first demonstration of THSP materials in spintronic devices and develop a working means of pure spin-current mediated data writing in these storage schemes. Fundamentally, the results will greatly further understanding of the role of spin polarisation in spin transport and spin torques on magnetic switching. The initial outgoing phase will draw from the expertise in advanced materials synthesis and spin transport of the Materials Science department at the University of Minnesota (USA). This knowledge will be well complemented by the return host organisation’s (Thin Film Magnetism, University of Cambridge, UK) leading role in 2-D and 3-D nanomagnetic storage architectures and the applicant’s experience in high-resolution lithography techniques and nanoscale magnetism.

Keywords: spin electronics,spin transport,nano-scale magnetism,nano-magnetic data storage devices,electronic,magnetic and superconductive properties,experimental physics,experimental materials science
A new tool to study in-situ micronutrient uptake and translocation in plants (STABLE PLANT)

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-2011-IEF, 2011)
Start date: 2012-05-01
End date: 2015-01-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 200371.8
EU funding (EUR): 200371.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Zinc (Zn) is an essential micronutrient for humans and plants. The agricultural soils of large parts of the world are deficient in Zn, which causes Zn malnutrition to millions of people. This is of particular concern to economies depending on rice as major crop such as the developing countries in Asia. The development of Zn-efficient rice, able to tolerate low Zn levels and achieve a sufficient Zn concentration in grains, would have a very positive influence on the economy and health of the affected communities. However, our poor understanding about the mechanisms of Zn uptake, transport, and efficiency in plants poses a barrier to the breeders. The roots of grasses like rice exudate metal chelating agents in response to Fe deficiency, called phytosiderophores (PS). PS solubilise Fe and form PS-Fe complexes, which are efficiently taken up by roots. Recent results of the Weiss group at Imperial College London on Zn isotope fractionation in rice provided the first evidence that Zn uptake also depends on PS (Plant Cell Environ, 2010). This has been a major break through. We propose here to further investigate Zn uptake by rice in Zn-deficient soils. Our objectives are: a) to confirm the involvement of PS in Zn uptake, b) to determine the relative contribution of PS to total Zn uptake, and c) to examine the relationship between PS production and Zn-efficiency in rice, by comparing various rice strains differing in these two traits. The conclusions of the proposed research will help to focus the future work of the breeders on the most relevant mechanisms for Zn-efficiency in rice, and will be extensible to other metals and species of agricultural interest. The isotopic effects observed will have strong implications to understand plant contribution to Zn cycles. New isotope fractionation methodologies and experimental approaches for studying metal solubilisation and uptake processes in plants will be brought together in a multidisciplinary approach.

Keywords: natural sciences,biogeochemistry
Förster resonant energy transfer for high efficiency quantum dot solar cells (F-LIGHT)

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: Sweden,Italy
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IOF, 2011)
Start date: 2012-09-01
End date: 2015-08-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 200978.6
EU funding (EUR): 196391.87
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

The Project F-LIGHT aims at exploiting in innovative way the Förster resonant energy transfer (FRET) process in excitonic solar cells, by adding proper donor/acceptor (D/A) couples, which lead to broadening of the absorption spectral range and improve the photoconversion efficiency. The D/A couples are composed of commercially available dye molecules and colloidal and non-colloidal quantum dots (QDs). The investigation takes advantage of the outstanding injection properties of commercially available dye molecules and naked QDs generated by successive ionic layer absorption and reaction (SILAR), while benefiting of the outstanding stability and high electric insulation of suitably passivated colloidal QDs. The first ones act as donors strongly attached to the photoanode, the second one acts as acceptor systems to expand the absorption band. One further fundamental idea is the chemical bonding inside the D/A pair, to enhance FRET probability and optimize surface occupancy by the acceptors. Key point of the Project will be the in depth investigation of the structure, electrical and optical properties of the nanostructured heterointerfaces between the D/A couples and the photoanode by applying advanced techniques (SPM, STS, PEEM, TRPL) all available at the outgoing host Institution. Expected results can give concrete contribution to overcome the intrinsic limits of the state of the art excitonic cells, allowing exploitation of all their potential, whose efficiency is not limited by the Queisser limit and could be as high as 45%. The applicant will be trained on techniques not currently in his background (SPM, STS, TRPL), and whose application represents significant step forward the comprehension of the physico-chemical mechanisms of FRET in excitonic solar cells. Strong synergistic activities are planned between the incoming and outgoing hosts, aiming at setting up durable scientific collaboration as one of the main outcome of the Project, after the reintegration phase.

Keywords: technological sciences,nanodevices,pv materials,pv cells,photochemistry,solar chemistry
Non-coding RNAs and their role in developmental networks (NCRNASDEVNET)

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-2011-IIF, 2011)
Start date: 2013-03-01
End date: 2015-02-28
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 174475.2
EU funding (EUR): 174475.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

With the availability of new technologies, it is now feasible to complete regulatory networks controlling complex developmental programs and understand their logic, which can improve considerably the success of diagnosis and therapies for diseases related to development or cancer. However, in order to fully understand how gene expression is regulated, epigenetic aspects need to be identified and integrated with genetic levels of regulatory networks. While the number of protein-coding genes has little variation between species, the extent of non-coding sequences is highly correlated with organismal complexity, suggesting that the expansion of non-coding RNAs (ncRNA) help to provide the regulatory potential to generate organismal diversity and complexity. Circumstantial evidence implicates long ncRNAs as important players in development, yet there is currently no thorough study of their role within a developing embryo. Our main objective is to conduct a detailed analysis of ncRNA expression and assess their role in vivo, taking advantage of Drosophila mesoderm development as a very well established model system. We will perform the first comprehensive analysis of ncRNA expression in a specific tissue during its development taking a genomic and bioinformatics approach. In addition, since long non-coding RNAs often recruit chromatin-remodeling complexes, we will assess the molecular complexes of selected long ncRNA using biochemical mass-spec based approach. Finally, for a number of selected ncRNA, we will assess their function and requirement for mesoderm development, taking advantage of Drosophila genetics. This project will consolidate the current prestige of the host institution on the intersection between genomics and developmental biology by incorporating ncRNAs to developmental gene regulatory networks. At the same time, it will contribute to create long term collaborative projects with RNA-centered research groups, incorporating RNA functional genomics.

Keywords: developmental biology,functional genomics,molecular biology,molecular genetics,computational biology,rna biology
Do nutritionally poor environments promote sociality? Testing a long-standing hypothesis in two socially plastic insect groups. (INSSOCPLAS)

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: 2012-05-01
End date: 2015-04-30
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 282786.9
EU funding (EUR): 282786.9
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Why individuals cooperate is an evolutionary puzzle. One longstanding theory is that nutritionally poor environments reduce individuals’ chances of breeding independently, forcing cooperation with other individuals. The proposed project will focus on testing this in the field, using socially plastic species - insects that can be social or solitary: Acacia thrips (Thysanoptera) and Halictine bees (Hymenoptera). Working with Stephen Simpson at the University of Sydney, a pioneer in nutritional approaches to ecological questions, and Jeremy Field, at the University of Sussex, a world leader in social evolution research, in field populations of both insect groups I will test firstly whether social behaviour occurs more often on nutritionally imbalanced food plants, and secondly whether experimentally imbalancing the nutritional composition of food causes previously independent breeders to decide instead to cooperate. If successful, this will open up a paradigm that has been theorized but never rigorously tested, representing a major contribution to social biology.

Keywords: entomology,evolutionary biology,behavioural biology