Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Exploiting RESonant processes to understand CORrelations (RESCOR)

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-2013-IEF, 2013)
Start date: 2014-05-12
End date: 2016-11-12
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 194046.6
EU funding (EUR): 194046.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Spectroscopy is one of the fundamental tool in condensed matter physics, materials science and nanoscience. Resonant spectroscopies, like Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering (RIXS) and angle resolved Resonant PhotoEmission Spectroscopy (RPES), offer invaluable information on the system under investigation, being able to probe different types of excitations, from electron-hole pairs (excitons), to spin-flip, to collective excitations, to orbital and magnetic excitations. This proposal aims at improving the present theoretical description of these two powerful spectroscopies, in order to gain a better understanding of moderately correlated systems and, on the long term, to offer a future tool to describe resonant spectra of strongly correlated systems. The proposal relies on the combination of efforts between the candidate (whose experience is mainly in X-ray spectroscopy) and the community working in low energy excitations mainly via many body perturbation theory. Such joint effort is necessary given the difficult task of being able to describe both deep core level excitations and low energy excitations, with finite momentum transfer, which can both give signatures of the many body physics in the system. The project is mainly devoted to the improvement in the description of RIXS, in particular in the extension of the first (ab-initio) attempts done recently by collaborators of the host group to the complicated case of indirect RIXS. On the side, the candidate aims at making her previous work on RPES available to the vast community working in photoemission, creating an interface with a well established and well structured tool widely used for interpreting X-ray results. The impact of the outcomes of such proposal are huge: it will connect theoretical communities working in different energy ranges, and it will represent an invaluable tool for interpreting the huge amount of experimental output on resonant spectrscopies from European synchrotron radiation facilities.

Keywords: spectroscopy resonant excitations materials science correlations ab-initio excitons many-body-effects x-rays low-energy-excitations finite-momentum-transfer band-structure-methods bethe-salpeter
Explosive phenomena in the Universe: Gamma-Ray Bursts and SuperNovaRemnants as high-energy particle acceleration sites (SHALOM)

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: Israel
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IEF, 2013)
Start date: 2014-03-01
End date: 2016-02-29
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 184558.8
EU funding (EUR): 184558.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The acceleration of high-energy particles at collisionless shocks in astrophysical plasmas is a common phenomenon in the Universe and takes place in a variety of systems, from the heliosphere up to the most distant cosmic sources. The best known example for such non-thermal particle populations are cosmic rays, but additional evidence for the existence of high energy particles comes from observations of non-thermal synchrotron and inverse Compton emission from several sources, as pulsar wind nebulae, jets from active galactic nuclei, gamma-ray bursts, and supernova remnants. In all these sources collisionless shocks are thought to be responsible for the conversion of a significant fraction of the flow energy into relativistic particles with power-law non-thermal spectra. The most popular candidate for particle energization at astrophysical shocks is the so-called diffusive shock acceleration mechanism (first-order Fermi mechanism), where charged particles gain energy by scattering back and forth between the converging upstream and downstream plasmas. In collisionless astrophysical plasmas the source of scattering is provided by magnetic turbulence rather than by Coulomb collisions. Efficient acceleration requires that particles repeatedly cross the shock. For the accelerated particles a power-law spectrum is the natural product of collisionless shock acceleration. I propose to investigate the implications of shock acceleration in gamma-ray bursts and in supernova remnants and to set constraints on the acceleration mechanism. This research project consists of two parts, one concerning the acceleration of electrons at the external shocks of gamma-ray bursts and the resulting emission, and the other one focused on the acceleration of cosmic rays at the front shock of supernova remnants and their diffusion into the Galaxy.

Keywords: astrophysics gamma-ray burst cosmic rays collisionless shock particle acceleration non-thermal mechanism
The Experimental Study of Threat-Avoidance in Anxiety Patients: Behavioral, Emotional, and Neural Correlates (TESTAAP)

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: Belgium
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IOF, 2013)
Start date: 2015-05-01
End date: 2017-12-31
Duration (months): 32.0
Total project cost (EUR): 315131.67
EU funding (EUR): 315131.67
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Disabling forms of anxiety are a major problem for many people world-wide and come with high societal and financial costs. Important steps forward are being made within a global network of translational trans-disciplinary and trans-diagnostic researchers. These pre-clinical research efforts focus on reducing inflated levels of fear, with considerable success. But, clinicians, clinical theorists and clinical researchers argue more and more that engaging in strategies to avoid imagined threats is more disabling than merely fearing those threats. Targeting avoidance may be more important than targeting fear. This research project uses the translational trans-disciplinary and trans-diagnostic approach to enter the experimental study of (deviant) avoidance behaviors. For that purpose, the project will scan activity patterns in the brain of anxiety patients while they are participating in an experimental task to model threat-avoidance behaviors. This project is expected to broaden the skills of the fellow in multiple significant ways. Training-through-research will provide competencies in brain scanning techniques and statistical analyses as well as the managing of research projects with clinical patients. The Outgoing phase is expected to increase the international network of the fellow significantly and in trans-disciplinary directions. The Return phase will provide the learning opportunities to build a similar research project bottom-up in the return host institution, and to establish the necessary partnerships and collaborations through networking. This will aid the fellow in his long-term career goal of establishing a translational research lab on anxiety within the European Research Area, and strengthen his future career prospects both within his current research institute as in other European research institutes.

Keywords: anxiety disorders,fear,avoidance,brain scanning,patient research
Seeing and Hearing the Ancient Producers of Egypt (SHAPE)

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-2013-IEF, 2013)
Start date: 2014-07-01
End date: 2016-06-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 194046.6
EU funding (EUR): 194046.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The aim of the project is to define the circulation of knowledge within the sphere of material production conceived holistically, against the persistent modern habit of separating art and crafts. While always acknowledging the primacy of the full archaeological record, the researcher foregrounds the problem of locating ancient written and pictorial expression within that wider record – to hear and see as well as touch materially the world of ancient producers; SHAPE is intended to establish a new model for overcoming another persistent disciplinary division, archaeology against philology. The combination of visual and written evidence building on the archaeological results obtained in my previous Marie Curie project EPOCHS is to be the anchor in assessing degrees of impact or influence of each craft on others in technology, technique, design. The transition phase Middle Bronze to Late Bronze Age (MBA-LBA) in Egypt (1900-1500 BC) is adopted as research-programme case-study on account of its exceptional significance for interregional archaeology, its full range of written and visual sources and paucity of substantive previous research program in the area.

Keywords: egypt,bronze age,material production,consumption,arts,crafts,circulation of of knowledge,creative imaginary,workshop,chaine operatoire,skeumorph,emic/etic,identity artist,centre-periphery
Deciphering the sense of smell in the invasive pest Drosophila suzukii (DROSMELL)

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: Italy
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IEF, 2013)
Start date: 2015-03-01
End date: 2018-01-26
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 187414.8
EU funding (EUR): 187414.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The spotted wing drosophila, Drosophila suzukii, is an invasive polyphagous pest endemic to South East Asia. It has recently invaded western countries where it has become a threatening pest for cultivated small fruits. Unlike most others Drosophila species, whose larvae feed on decaying plant, D. suzukii lays its egg on unwounded ripening fruits. Host selection arises from oviposition behaviours of adult females, which detect chemosensory inputs, in the form of plant airborne kairomones, to locate fruits suitable for oviposition. Therefore, it is of great interest to elucidate the molecular basis of olfactory-driven behaviours that D. suzukii has evolved in comparison to Drosophila non-pest species, particularly understanding mechanisms of host fruit selection. The aim of this proposal is the identification and characterisation of olfactory receptors in D. suzukii. The methodology is based on a multidisciplinary approach that combines comparative genomics, transcriptome analysis and functional characterisation of olfactory receptors. D. suzukii gene families encoding olfactory receptors will be compared with those of two non-pest Drosophila species (D. subpulchrella and D. biarmipes, both belonging to the suzukii subgroup) to identify unique D. suzukii genes. Transcriptomic data will be generated to compare the expression profiles of D. suzukii gravid females versus adult males to identify transcripts potentially involved in sex-specific behaviours. Unique D. suzukii genes specifically expressed in gravid females and codifying for odorant receptors (ORs) will be characterized by using the Drosophila melanogaster “empty neuron” system that has proven to be successful in coupling olfactory response to OR genes. With the proposed project, we are confident to gain insight into molecular mechanisms that drive oviposition behaviour of D. suzukii, thus generating valuable information for developing novel control methods based on oviposition disruption.

Keywords: spotted wing drosophila,olfaction,olfactory receptors,odorant receptors,gustatory receptors,transcriptomics,comparative genomics,empty neuron system,integrated pest management
Infants predicting own and others’ actions: the neurocognitive development of action prediction (PREDICTING INFANTS)

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

Predicting others’ actions is crucial for acting in a social world. How we come to these predictions is hotly debated. The simulation account states that the motor commands used to predict the sensory consequences of our own actions are also used to predict others’ actions. In contrast, rationality theory suggests that predictions of others’ actions are based on inborn, abstract rules and thus rely on a different mechanism than predictions of our own actions. To address this controversy, I suggest to study how predictions of own and others’ actions develop during infancy. In Study 1, infants of 6- and 12-months of age will reach and grasp for objects, and observe someone else reaching and grasping for objects, while their hand and eye movements are tracked. Hand and eye movement tracking can reveal whether and when infants predict the goal of the action. Results will reveal whether the two types of predictions develop in synchrony. Study 2 tests the congruence in brain activation between reaching performance and observation while infants’ brain responses are measured using fNIRS. Study 3 will verify whether the basic mechanism found for predicting others’ simple reaching actions also applies to a real-world situation involving multiple objects and a sequence of reach and grasp actions, such as sandwich making. To this end, 3-year-old children will be asked to make a sandwich and to observe someone else making a sandwich while their eye and hand movements will be tracked. Taken together, the three proposed studies will show whether the same or a different neurocognitive mechanism serves to predict own and others’ actions and whether this mechanism extends to real-world applications. If so, this mechanism can enable people to understand each others’ behaviour. The findings will be informative for psychology at large as the mechanism for understanding others plays a fundamental role in social interaction.

Keywords: action prediction,infancy,eye movements,action,fnirs
Cultural and Bio - diversity Protection through Heritage Policies. Andean Potatoes’ Regimes of Value in Protected Areas and Beyond (BIOVALUE)

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-2013-IEF, 2013)
Start date: 2014-11-16
End date: 2017-03-08
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 183469.8
EU funding (EUR): 183469.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Concerned by the global erosion of ecosystems, academic community and policy makers strive for implementing innovative policies towards a sustainable management of natural resources. These resources’ undervaluation is widely pointed out as a mayor hindrance to ecological conservation. It is therefore urgent to design accurate methods that acknowledge ecosystems’ pluridimensional value. The contribution of social scientists is necessary to take into account ecosystems’ symbolic and social values, along with economic and ecological ones. But, so far, anthropologists have not engaged with this urgent issue. The BIOVALUE project contributes to filling this gap in the scientific knowledge, by introducing a new methodological approach able to identify natural assets’ multiple valuation criteria. Heritage policies count among the more promising instruments for rising ecosystems’ multidimensional appraisal. The investigation also assesses heritage policies’ potential to effectively rise biodiversity’s value. On this purpose, the BIOVALUE project examines the FAO initiative for the conservation of Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS), focusing on the case of Andean potato farming (a fundamental bearer of the global agro-biodiversity). More precisely, ethnographic observation scrutinizes tubers’ “social biography” in order to reveal how their economic, ecological and social values vary as they travel through different economic spheres. Thereby, the research evaluates any production or destruction of values during heritagisation processes. At the crossroad of social and natural sciences, this investigation clusters an interdisciplinary team of scientists and articulates their expertise with international institutions involved in biodiversity and heritage preservation, thereby contributing to the development of participative global policies that safeguard both cultural and biological diversity.

Keywords: biodiversity - potatoes - payment for ecological services - agricultural heritage - intangible heritage - cultural diversity - sustainable development - poverty reduction - food safety - andes
Microcircuits for behavioral modulation of sensory cortex (SENSMOD)

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: 2014-04-01
End date: 2016-03-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 221606.4
EU funding (EUR): 221606.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

An outstanding question in Neuroscience is to understand how the brain integrates sensory and non-sensory information. Strikingly, this integration takes place even in the primary sensory cortices, where sensory processing is strongly modulated by non-sensory context. For example, in primary visual cortex (V1), responses depend not only on visual stimulation, but also on locomotion (Niell and Stryker 2010, Neuron 65). Specifically, locomotion controls the spatial integration of V1 neurons, reducing the suppression they receive from the surround of their receptive fields (Ayaz, et al. 2013, Curr Biol 23). I will investigate the neural mechanisms underlying this phenomenon. My working hypothesis is that different classes of cortical interneurons contribute in a very specific manner to surround suppression and to modulation by locomotion. I will test this through a combination of experiment and computational modeling. First, I will measure how the different neural classes are activated for different stimulus sizes during rest and running. I will use 2-photon imaging to record the calcium activity of neurons in the superficial layers of V1 in mouse lines where I can simultaneously identify the classes of the interneurons thanks to a red fluorescent protein. Second, I will summarize these measures with a neural network model in which the different classes of neurons will be described by different variables, to match the experimental data. The circuits and computations uncovered by this project are likely to generalize to other areas of the cerebral cortex, and therefore to constitute fundamental organizational principles for cortical integration of internal and external inputs.

Keywords: visual cortex,surround suppression,non-sensory modulation,neural networks,interneuron classes,calcium imaging,mice,locomotion
Towards Biodegradable Nanoparticles: Hybrid Organic Mesoporous Silica (POP SILICA)

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-2013-IEF, 2013)
Start date: 2014-03-01
End date: 2015-02-28
Duration (months): 12.0
Total project cost (EUR): 97023.3
EU funding (EUR): 97023.3
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Despite their great potential, full exploitation of mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSiNPs) as in-vivo multi-functional theranostic agents is still held back by the lack of a controlled and complete biodegradability. Indeed removal of nano-medical tools from the biologic system after the accomplishment of their diagnostic or therapeutic function still remains a pivotal, yet unresolved issue impeding their clinical translation. A most desirable design for improving the properties of nano-medical tools would hence involve their ability to hierarchically self-degrade into renally clearable products after carrying out their function. Thus, the ambitious aim of this project targets the synthesis of novel, specific, hybrid MSiNPs-based theranostic tools, able to perform their beneficial action and subsequently fragment in smaller pieces allowing easy execration via renal system. In this way, thanks to the combination of the intrinsic biocompatibility of MSiNPs, their ease of functionalization and the newly conferred enhanced biodegradability, a superior material adaptable to a wide range of diagnostic and therapeutic applications, with great promise for clinical translation, will be achieved.

Keywords: silica,nanoparticles,mesoporous,biodegradable,theranostics
Antibody-responses to Helicobacter pylori and tumour proteins as biomarkers for early gastric cancer (HELICOMARK)

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
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IOF, 2013)
Start date: 2014-09-01
End date: 2017-08-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 390265.0
EU funding (EUR): 390265.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

This proposal concerns an outgoing fellowship for Samuel Lundin (SL), PhD, Dept. of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Gothenburg. To further develop and substantially boost his scientific career, SL will for two years visit the laboratory of Professor Barry Marshall, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia. SL has a good track record in science, but lacks crucial skills in bioinformatics and H. pylori genomics. The fellowship at the Marshall group will alleviate this and thereby allow SL to perform research at the top international level. Gastric cancer is the second most common cause of cancer-related death worldwide, and is particularly prevalent in East Asia, Eastern Europe and Central and South America. This cancer type is caused by Helicobacter pylori, a bacterium that was discovered by the outgoing host Prof. Marshall. The proposed research project aims to identify antibody signatures to Helicobacter pylori infection and tumour proteins as serological biomarkers for early gastric cancer. Such biomarkers would allow screening and early detection of gastric cancer, which most likely would lead to increased survival. Therefore, this project has the potential to lead to a reduced mortality of gastric cancer, and it will also add significantly to European research and to the biotech industry.

Keywords: helicobacter pylori,gastric cancer,host-response,genomics,affinity proteomics