Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
New lab-on-a-chip microsystems based on active transport by synthetic micro/nanomotors (LOCNANOMOT)

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-2012-IOF, 2012)
Start date: 2013-08-01
End date: 2016-07-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 254925.9
EU funding (EUR): 254925.9
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The IOF project LOCNANOMOT aims to design new miniaturized Lab-on-a-Chip systems for multiplexed detections using functionalized artificial micro/nanomotors modified with different receptors. To achieve this goal, a primary challenge of the outgoing phase (University of California, San Diego, USA) is the development of new receptor-functionalized catalytic micro/nanomotors capable of performing multiple nanoscale operation. The second goal will be focus on the integration of the newly developed micro/nanomotors into LOC devices. These evaluations not only contribute to the development of new LOC formats with a wide range of medical and analytical applications, but will also train the Fellow in novel and powerful research techniques. Therefore, this fellowship will provide the applicant with high level skills, which will be transferred to the return phase (University of Alcalá, Spain) in the third year, fulfilling the objectives of the "Outgoing International Fellowship". In this context, the primary goal of the return phase will focus on the applicability of these new devices for the isolation and detection of contaminants in foodstuffs. This project addresses one of the main thematic areas of the European Research Area of the FP7 (Nanoscience, Nanotechnology, materials and new production technologies) and is highly related to others (health and food, agriculture and biotechnology). The innovative character of this proposal lie in the integration of the active transport properties of nanomachines in LOC systems. This novel systems will lead to future new biomedical, analytical and technological applications in pathogen detection, clinical diagnosis, forensic science, DNA analysis, food safety, etc. On overall, the project will advance the development of new LOC devices, well beyond the state of the art, and will contribute to increasing European Research Area excellence and competitiveness.

Keywords: c102 nanochemistry,c106 analytical chemistry,c109 electrochemistry - electrodialysis - microfluidics
A new class of cationic lipids that activate innate immune receptors (TLR4-CAT)

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: 2013-10-01
End date: 2015-09-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 299558.4
EU funding (EUR): 299558.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Vaccine research has highlighted the need for effective adjuvant formulations that elicit strong, safe and protective cellular immune responses. Through recognition by Toll-like receptors (TLRs), adjuvants brings the immune system in a “state of emergency” required for an efficient vaccine formulation. Knowledge of TLR-mediated signalling, therefore, could lead to rational adjuvant design for vaccines. Bacterial lipopolysaccharides (LPS), major components of the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria, are recognized by TLR4. Most synthetic adjuvants designed so far are mimicking the LPS structure but their toxicity and the difficulties related to their synthesis and purification limit their use significantly. Hence, there is an urgent need to develop new efficient and safe adjuvants (not structurally related to LPS). SFMB laboratory in Brussels designed and synthesized a new cationic lipid, diC14-amidine, which activates TLR4-dependent cellular pathways, suggesting that this lipid is a good candidate for vaccine development. It is easy to synthesize and to modify in order to improve adjuvanticity. The main goal of this work is to study the interaction between this new class of immunomodulatory lipids and the components of the TLR-4 recognition system, to elucidate how this new class of ligands activate underlying signalling pathways, and to identify, at a molecular level, the characteristics required for an agonist activity. The long term goal is to design and synthesize, on a rational basis, new cationic lipids able to modulate the immune responses activated by TLR4 possibly leading to the development of new and safe adjuvants for vaccines. The multidisciplinarity nature of this application gives a real opportunity to achieve a major breakthrough in the field of adjuvants and immunomodulation. The unique expertise acquired by the applicant both in structural biology and immunology will undoubtedly improve her potential to reach professional maturity.

Keywords: l101 molecular biology and interactions,l107 structural biology,l601 innate immunity
Instant emulsions stabilised by cellulose derivatives with specific digestion profiles (CELGESTANT)

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: 2013-04-01
End date: 2015-03-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 221606.4
EU funding (EUR): 221606.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Instantly structured emulsions are promising systems for the food industry representing important environmental and financial benefits. The technological advantage of this approach is that the emulsion is created within a reduced time frame and stabilised in the presence of, and solely by, the constituent ingredients, with a minimum energy input as compared to conventional emulsification processes. In this sense, instant emulsions satisfy certain demands by the consumers, such as manufacture at home avoiding additives and at the same time, easy manufacture everywhere. The main constituent ingredient will be cellulose derivatives. These biopolymers have healthy benefits in the diet such as prevention of cardiovascular disease. In addition, cellulose derivatives display highly functional properties which are important in the manufacture process such as: surface activity, binding, clinging, thickening, and a wide range of viscosities. A main innovation proposed in this project is to include also the analysis of the digestion profile when designing instant food products. The idea is to achieve specific physiological responses by manipulating the microstructure of the product in the processing. Therefore, the aim of this project is double; on the one hand, to develop instant emulsions stabilised by cellulose derivatives with different properties (molecular weight, hydrophobicity...), and on the other hand, to consider how the interfacial and matrix composition will affect the digestion profile of the final product. The knowledge generated by this study will contribute to the rational design of food emulsions by development of functional instant foods minimising ingredient, process and supply costs, and providing healthier, affordable, and ready-to-eat options with the desired digestion profile and eventually, the delivery of bioactive components to specific locations.

Keywords: surface science,colloid science,physical chemistry,biophysics,food sciences,structuring,competitive adsorption,hydration kinetics,emulsion,biopolymers,enzymology
Bacterial Formation of Glycerol (di)Ether Lipids: Biogeochemical, (paleo)environmental and evolutionary implications (BAGEL)

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: 2013-09-01
End date: 2015-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 202405.8
EU funding (EUR): 202405.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The three domains of life on Earth comprise the two groups of prokaryotes Archaea and Bacteria whom distinction notably relies on the chemical composition of cellular membranes. Bacteria generally synthesize phospholipids constituted of non-isoprenoid alkyl chains esterified to glycerol, whereas Archaea synthesize isoprenoid ethers of glycerol. These differences have potential implications in term of ecology and evolution of Bacteria and Archaea and are frequently used as distinguishing marks. Non-isoprenoid diethers of glycerol (non-isoprenoid DGD) constitute an exception to these chemical distinctions as they exhibit an intriguing combination of structural features of Bacteria and Archaea. The physiological role and the mode of formation of these lipids are poorly understood. Remarkably, these compounds have never been observed in mesophilic marine bacteria although they are omnipresent in non-extreme interfaces between the Biosphere and the Geosphere where their origin remains speculative. This multidisciplinary project aims at investigating in detail the first isolate of marine mesophilic sulphate-reducing bacterium able to produce non-isoprenoid DGD, and at comparing it with other (un)related strains. It relies on the combination of lipidomics (analysis of lipid biomarkers) with microbial ecology and microscopy coupled with spectroscopy (bacterial ecophysiology based on ultrastructure). Results will allow specifying the use of DGD as biogeochemical proxy and clarifying the link between living bacterial structures and the observation of microbial signatures within the sedimentary record. It should also shed light on crucial aspects of microbial ecology and on the evolution of lipid biosynthesis in prokaryotes. The project is based on preliminary results obtained by the host. Its relevance is supported by complementary expertise in microbiology and microbial ecology (national collaboration) and is strengthened by outstanding international collaboration.

Keywords: bacteria,membrane lipids and ultrastructure,non-isoprenoid glycerol ethers,biogeochemical proxies,microbial signatures in the geological record,evolution of lipid biosynthesis in prokaryotes
Model-based Design of Secure Cyber-Physical Systems (MODESEC)

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: Austria
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IOF, 2012)
Start date: 2013-06-24
End date: 2016-06-23
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 272443.2
EU funding (EUR): 272443.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The objective of MODESEC is to develop a design methodology that integrates security in the model-based design (MBD) process of cyber-physical systems (CPS). The research is based on the insight that security engineering is a vital part of the system development process and cannot be treated incidental. The model-based design flow is a computer-aided design method that extensively uses models to analyse and determine functional and non-functional properties of the desired artefact during its design phase. The proposed methodology will extend current MBD approaches for security. A peculiarity is that the methodology will make use of the application-specific information contained in the functional models to implement a custom security architecture for the desired system functions of the CPS. For this purpose, relevant information is extracted from the models representing the CPS. This information is then used to configure and to adapt security mechanisms aimed at the prevention as well as the detection of attacks. The security mechanisms are installed together with the application’s system functions on an appropriate computing platform. The developed secure MBD methodology will be implemented within the scope of a state-of-the-art MBD tool chain. It will be evaluated by conducting a case study within a System-of-Systems (SoS) context (e.g., the Smart Power Grid), because this research field combines security and dependability requirements in a new, unique, and challenging way. The secure design methodology developed within MODESEC will support MBD practitioners to improve the security of their products.

Keywords: security,model-based design,real-time,dependability,critical infrastructure protection,smart grid
Reconstitution of Myosin IIA-driven membrane fission in vitro (MYOII-DRIVEN FISSION)

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: 2014-03-01
End date: 2016-02-29
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 194046.6
EU funding (EUR): 194046.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Eukaryotic cells contain a variety of membrane-enclosed compartments that are connected by dynamic transport processes facilitated by vesicles. The temporal and spatial regulation of these transport processes is essential for cellular function. After initial formation transport vesicles are separated from their donor membrane and this fission event seems to be coordinated with the elongation of tubular precursors pulled by motor proteins. Recent results from the host laboratory demonstrated a direct interaction of Rab6 (a Golgi-associated RabGTPase) and nonmuscle Myosin II A (MyoIIA) and showed an unexpected function of MyoIIA in the fission of Rab6 transport carriers at the trans-Golgi network. The aim of this project is the development of an in vitro system to mimic the MyoIIA-driven fission process. In this system, we will pull membrane nanotubes from Giant Unilamellar Vesicles (GUVs) using optical tweezers and we will monitor tube stability in the presence of Rab6, MyoIIA, actin and ATP. Two hypotheses will be tested: either MyoIIA induces phase separation in membrane tubes by the formation of actomyosin patches, which then leads to fission; or MyoIIA contracts short actin filaments around the membrane tubes in a manner similar to its role during the formation of the cleavage furrow in cytokinesis. If we do not observe fission in this minimal system, we will add additional factors that have been implicated in fission at the trans-Golgi network. In the past years the cell biology host laboratory of Bruno Goud and the experimental physicists from Patricia Bassereau’s group have collaborated extensively to develop new interdisciplinary methods to investigate intracellular transport processes. As I have so far focused on biophysical measurements with Rab proteins in the absence of membranes, the development of the in vitro system in these laboratories will give me the possibility to get exposure to a variety of new techniques that will expand my current expertise.

Keywords: l106 biophysics,l302 cell biology and molecular transport mechanisms,vesicular transport,in vitro reconstitution of membrane fission,giant unilamellar vesicles,optical tweezers,myosin iia,rab6
Translating Institutions. Digitization of Administrative Data Assets as Redesign of the Modernist State (TRANSLATEINSTITUTION)

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: 2013-09-01
End date: 2015-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 183469.8
EU funding (EUR): 183469.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Over the last 20 years globalization studies have been posing ground-breaking questions about forms of authority emerging from the disassembling of the nation-state. These studies have questioned long-standing categories of political thought, like territoriality, authority, sovereignty, mainly along the Local/Global and Public/Private divides. From a different perspective, works in the Science and Technology Studies (STS) domain have stressed that the emergence of a new political order is always deeply entangled with the production of socio-technical formations. It is thanks to the engagement with the manufactured milieu that modern political entities redefine the meanings of citizenship, legitimate power, territorial authority, and their constitutional epistemological boundaries. Therefore, since it aims at investigating actors and procedures of authority emerging from the disassembling of the modernist state, the "Translating Institutions" research follows the processes through which technology-making interacts with practices of governance-making. By adopting an STS stance, ANT epistemological insights and narrative techniques of analysis, the research aims at demonstrating that, far for simply dragging processes into the "virtual" domain, the digitization of administrative procedures in institutional settings is challenging existing institutional orders, triggering emergent actors, divergent information-policy orders and hierarchies, novel subjects of authority and procedures of legitimacy. On a disciplinary level, this research asks whether STS' post-modernist epistemology can undertake a mutually enriching dialogue with political science's insights about novel forms of authority emerging in the global era. The project aims to strengthen the researcher’s brilliant potential in research and technology management, by resuming her career after a break, and after a working experience in the field of research interest.

Keywords: s115 history of science and technology,s114 social studies of science and technology,s113 communication networks - media - information society,s111 private - public and social law
Compressive Sensing Frequency Diverse Array With Applications to Two-Dimensional Localization of Targets (CSFDA)

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: 2014-01-27
End date: 2016-01-26
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 231283.2
EU funding (EUR): 231283.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Frequency diverse array (FDA) is a new beam scanning idea that would enable range-angle-dependent beamforming. Different from conventional phased arrays, the FDA employs a small frequency offset compared to the carrier frequency across the array elements. The use of frequency offset generates a beampattern that is a function of range, time and angle. This provides a potential to suppress range-dependent clutter or interferences and two-dimensional (range and angle) localization of targets. However, the range and angle of targets cannot be directly estimated from the FDA beamforming output due to the inherent ambiguity. In this project, we aim to develop a practical compressive sensing (CS) FDA scheme for range-angle estimation of targets. The focus is placed on the CSFDA signal processing. CS theory addresses the accurate recovery of unknown sparse signals from underdetermined linear measurements and has found a wide range of applications. Our key idea is to design new FDAs based on the CS technique and develop practical algorithms to estimate the range-angle of targets. This project will deal with mathematical derivation, signal processing algorithm design, performance analysis, and numerical simulation of new FDAs based on the CS technique. The outcomes of this project would vastly improve the quality and efficiency of existing array signal processing systems, and contribute to the affirmation of Europe as the foremost leader in information and array signal processing technologies. The resulting scheme may also provide two-dimensional localization of targets, which is not accessible for conventional phased arrays.

Keywords: compressive sensing (cs),frequency diverse array (fda),array signal processing,sensor array,target detection,two-dimensional location,robust beamforming.
INTEGRATION OF ECOLOGICAL PROCESSES IN FOREST MODELS TO ASSESS LONG-TERM EFFECTS OF MANAGEMENT AND GLOBAL CHANGE ON FORESTS IN SOUTHWESTERN EUROPE (ECOPYREN3)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Life-long training and career development
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Spain
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2012-CIG, 2012)
Start date: 2013-03-01
End date: 2017-02-28
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Forests in SW Europe could experience in the near future important changes in climate but also in forest management, which is moving from focusing on timber production to consider values such as bioenergy, carbon sequestration, biodiversity and others. These factors could change inter-specific competition in Scots pine/European beech mixedwoods, which cover important areas in SW Europe, altering growth and yield dynamics of these stands. The objectives of this project are: 1) To characterize current trends and estimate future trends of Pinus sylvestris and Fagus sylvatica growth in mixedwoods at stand level to support sustainable forest management plans; 2) To develop, evaluate and apply reliable ecologically-based mathematical models to support ecological research on interactions among tree species and their environment that can be applied in forest management. To achieve these objectives the project will be implemented in three stages: 1) Field data form experimental plots in mixed Scot pine and European beech stands in the Pyrenees will be collected to estimate the magnitude of biomass and nutrient pools in the canopy, understory and soil. Nutrient cycles will be characterized assessing litter and coarse woody debris production, decomposition rates, and tree growth rates. A greenhouse study will provide information on germination rates and (combined with field measurements) photosynthetic efficiency. Water-related physical soil properties will be studied to assess the importance of water limitation in these stands. 2) The ecosystem model FORECAST-Climate will be calibrated with the field data collected, and its performance evaluated with dendroclimatological records of the historical patterns of climate-tree growth relationships. 3) A battery of scenarios of climate change and forest management will be simulated to assess their long-term consequences on these forests and provide guidelines on the changes and potential consequences of each management option.

Keywords: v101 environment and sustainability,v305 ecology,v406 forestry - biomass production,l214 biological systems analysis - modeling and simulation