Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Genomic of adaptation in selfing polyploid species: the case of Capsella bursa-pastoris (SELFADAPT)

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): 171363.8
EU funding (EUR): 171363.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The main goal of this IEF proposal is to allow the fellow to acquire all the competencies to develop, carry out, and lead his own research group in plant population genomics integrating functional approaches, with a special emphasis on the use of next generation sequencing (NGS) data. The fellow will complement his skills in theoretical population genetics and evolutionary genomics by acquiring new skills in the analyses of population genomic data, gene expression, and association mapping. Thanks to NGS technologies, the combination of these approaches is becoming pivotal in the study of natural populations. This will be done through an innovative research project, which aim is to tackle the paradox of adaptation in selfing species, which can be successful on the short term, though selfing is expected to be a evolutionary dead-end strategy on the long term. Polyploidy and efficient local adaptation could be key issues to resolve this paradox. We propose to address this question by combining population genomics, gene expression and association mapping to analyse the genetic bases and the geographical scales of adaptation in Capsella bursa-pastoris, a polyploid selfing that has a large distribution and has adapted to contrasted environments, despite its low genetic diversity. Genomic data are increasingly available in the genus Capsella and the host’s lab has strongly contributed in establishing C. bursa-pastoris as a wild model species. The project will strengthen collaborations between European partners on plant population genomics, an important field in the context of the knowledge-based bio-economy. Importantly, as many crops and weeds are selfers and/or polyploids (eg. wheat, potato), the results should be easily transferable for the identification of genes of interest in plant breeding programs and for a better use of plant genetic resources for developing new crop varieties adapted to sustainable agriculture in the context of rapidly changing environments.

Keywords: adaptation,association mapping,gene expression,genome scan,natural selection,polyploidy,selfing
Capture of mineral particles by rising bubbles (CAPTURE)

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: Germany
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IOF, 2013)
Start date: 2014-10-27
End date: 2017-11-30
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 340455.0
EU funding (EUR): 340455.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Froth flotation is a dominant process in mineral exploitation processes. It is employed to concentrate valuable commodities such as copper, zinc, nickel and rare earth minerals. The process essentially involves the capturing of valuable hydrophobic particles by dispersed air bubbles while leaving the valueless hydrophilic material in the flotation cell. The last few years have seen a surge in rare earth exploration activities around the world. Rare earth metals are extensively employed for the manufacturing of hi-tech and low-carbon energy technologies. They are found in mobile phones, solar panels and wind turbines. Flotation is an area of future growth in Europe. A consistent supply is of strategic and economic importance to maintain European competitiveness. Despite considerable theoretical and experimental effort for over a century, the capture of hydrophobic particles by bubbles is not understood. Theoretical models are very restricted in their applications since complexity increases rapidly, especially for cases in which many particles coat the bubble surface. For the first time, the Smoothed Profile Method recently developed by the University of Kyoto (Japan) will be employed to simulate particle agglomeration on the bubble surface. In an “idealised” flotation cell, mineral particles and single air bubbles will numerically interact as fully resolved entities. A patented X-ray tomography system developed by the return host will be deployed for the measurement of rising particle-bubble aggregates in a water column. Particle attachment on the bubble surface will be measured using Positron Emission Tomography. The project will bring together Asian’s and Europe’s leading multiphase flow laboratories. The results of this “idealised system” will be an essential prerequisite for future model extension to large-scale industrial flotation units. The outcomes of CAPTURE will ultimately assist Europe in making the transition to a more resource-efficient mining industry.

Keywords: froth flotation,particle-bubble interactions,three-phase flow simulation,boundary-resolved lagrangian simulation.
Prion Detection Through Organized Arrays of Gold Nanorods as SERS Substrates (PRIOSERS)

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-2013-IEF, 2013)
Start date: 2014-04-01
End date: 2016-03-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 230036.6
EU funding (EUR): 230036.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

This proposal aims the design of novel optical enhancers for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) to develop routine methods for quantitative detection of a very broad range of substances based on regular arrays of gold nanorods. As proof of concept the diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer or Creutzfeldt-Jakob diseases (CJD), which still pose a great challenge for international health systems because of the economic and social impact of its pandemic outbreaks. Such diseases do not induce any immunological response on the infected individuals and thus, antibody detection cannot be used because they are not produced by the host. Therefore, antibody-free detection systems are required, which are also highly sensitive and selective. Overall this presents a significant challenge which can be resolved using a new generation of SERS substrates with unprecedented degree of structural control. Therefore, the main objectives of the project will involve the fabrication of uniform gold nanorods within a wide range of sizes; their assembly into perfectly ordered supercrystals, both on planar and patterned substrates; evaluation of the SERS enhancing properties of such assemblies as a function of nanorod morphology and degree of order; comparison with theoretical modeling and prediction of the most convenient configuration; and finally the full implementation of the detection of prions using these substrates. We propose the use of SERS as a non-invasive sensor, which is able to detect and monitor prions in biological fluids (blood, urine or saliva). For this target to be achieved, the enhancing metallic substrates need to be engineered for focalization of the plasmonic modes at certain regions of the substrate and production of extremely high enhancement factors. This idea is based on the concept of field localization by nanoantennas, which will be perfectly applicable to the oriented gold nanorod colloidal crystals.

Keywords: amyloid proteins,supercrystals,prionic diseases,sers,plasmonic nanoparticles,self-assembly,detection,diagnosis.
Drying of complex fluids on soft substrates (SOFTEVA)

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-2013-IOF, 2013)
Start date: 2014-06-01
End date: 2017-05-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 268329.3
EU funding (EUR): 268329.3
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The study of soft materials has received a growing attention in last decades. Broadly speaking, these materials present viscoelastic properties giving them the ability to be highly deformable. Recently, new interests have been found in the wetting of soft deformable surfaces because of the many applications in material science, chemistry and biology for cosmetics, medicine, new printing technologies... On the other side, significant results has been obtained on the drying of complex fluids composed of a volatile solvent and solid particles, like the drying of a coffee drop resulting in a remarkable coffee stain effect. These studies generally involve non-deformable surfaces. Our project aims to bring together, for the first time, these two topics independently studied in the litterature. The proposal consists in an experimental study of the drying of a colloidal drop on deformable gels of different properties: elasticity, viscoelasticity and swelling. The objective is to describe the impact of gel mechanical properties on the drying process, contact line dynamics, resulting deposit shape and crack patterns. The proposed research will provide an overview of expected drying regimes as a function of substrate properties. This study will be completed with a theoretical analysis of the experimental results to provide complementary insights on observed phenomena. Moreover, applications, toward biology in particular, will retain our attention throughout the whole project since the returning host institution is active on this subject. The fellow will benefit from hosts expertise on gel chemistry and theoretical modeling to attain a leading independant position. The outgoing host is an expert in elastocapillarity and the return host in contact line dynamics and coating.

Keywords: drying,colloids,wetting,contact line,cracks,droplet,pattern,elastocapillarity,elasticity,viscoelasticity,swelling,coating,evaporation,hydrogel
Generic fault-detection for multirobot systems (GIFTED-MRS)

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: 2015-03-01
End date: 2017-02-28
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 221606.4
EU funding (EUR): 221606.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Multirobot systems (MRS) have recently been of great interest to environmental scientist, consequent to their ability to monitor large-scale atmospheric and aquatic environmental processes. Furthermore, the deployment of large numbers of relatively inexpensive robots for such monitoring purposes may soon be possible. However, considerable technological advances in platform reliability and endurance are required, to potentiate the wide-spread deployment and usage of MRS for environmental monitoring. Fault tolerance is one of the most prominent challenges in the field of MRS. Efficient and long term operation of a MRS requires an accurate and timely detection, and accommodation of abnormally behaving robots. This is particularly relevant in environmental monitoring scenarios, wherein an undetected faulty robot may interfere with, and possibly damage the very system being monitored. Most existing fault tolerant systems prescribe a characterization of the normal robot behaviors, and train the fault-detection model to recognize these behaviors. Behaviors not recognized by the model are consequently labelled abnormal or faulty. However, these models assume a priori knowledge of normal behavior. In addition, MRS employing these models do not transition well to scenarios involving temporal changes in behavior (e.g., robots change their behavior through learning, or in response to environment perturbations). The applicant proposes to develop a generic fault-detection system for a real-world environmental monitoring MRS. The developed system will be capable of robustly detecting faults, while adapting itself online to changes in the robot collectives behavior, thus avoiding the need to retrain the system for any new exhibited behavior. The developed system would also have a significant impact on long-term operations of MRS operating in other upcoming areas, such as the health care industry (e.g., potential deployment of MRS in hospitals to interact with patients).

Keywords: generic fault detection,multirobot systems,robot swarms,environmental monitoring,adaptive immune system,crossregulation model of immune system
Responses of RiParian forests to hydroPeaking: towards a sustainable hydropower management (RIPEAK)

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: 2014-10-01
End date: 2017-07-05
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 206350.8
EU funding (EUR): 206350.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Hydropower is considered a renewable energy source and its demand is considerably increasing in Europe. However, its global benefits are accompanied by significant environmental losses. Hydropeaking constitutes a major impact from hydropower dam operation. It refers to frequent changes in river flow occurring within the span of a day caused by turning the turbines on or off in response to varying demand in the energy market. As a result, downstream and upstream river hydrology, hydraulic parameters, water quality, river morphology, and ultimately the fluvial ecosystem, are modified. Despite the increasing environmental, social, industrial and regulatory requirements with regard to hydropower production and river ecological status in Europe (and worldwide), there is still much to learn about ecological processes affected by sub-daily flow changes along regulated rivers. Scientific studies are scarce and most of them focus on fish, leaving riparian vegetation uninvestigated. Hydropeaking may spoil the recruitment of riparian species and hence affect the maintenance of riparian populations. By analysing seed germination and seedling performance, it may be possible to reveal predictable relationships between hydropeaking and vegetation responses. Such relationships are crucial so as to objectively define thresholds which help to minimize the ecological effects of hydropower generation without causing significant production loss. The aim of this project is to investigate the opportunities for sustainable management of rivers subjected to hydropower production. To accomplish this goal, a thorough literature revision, analysis of sub-daily flow series, vegetation field-experiments and computer modelling are planned. The expected new contributions from the project are: (1) hydrological and ecological (i.e. riparian vegetation) metrics of hydropeaking impact, (2) hydrology-ecology models to quantify such effects and (3) measures for sustainable operation of hydropower dams.

Keywords: hydropeaking,riparian vegetation,hydropower dam,regulation effects,hydrology-ecology relationships,hydrological metrics,ecological metrics,recruitment,performance,mitigation measures
As simple as possible: a modelling approach to upscale the relevance of ecotoxicological studies. (ASAP)

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: 2014-12-01
End date: 2016-11-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 309235.2
EU funding (EUR): 309235.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

As simple as possible: a modelling approach to upscale the relevance of ecotoxicological studies. A big discrepancy exists between the increasing demand for ecological realism in regulatory risk assessment and the effective implementation of ecotoxicological studies aimed at assessing the adverse effect of stressors at the population or higher level. The effect of toxicants is commonly measured on individuals as a proxy for the effect on populations but the actual population level impacts are very hard to determine. Ecological modelling can overcome this challenge. However, until now the complexity in the application of these models has presented a serious hurdle for their use in ecotoxicology. In this study we propose the application of a simple generic toxicokinetic-toxicodynamic model that integrates life-history traits such as growth, reproduction, maintenance and survival in one model organism to assess adverse effects of three different metals over time. We will carry out experiments to calibrate and test the model. The calibration of the model will allow the identification of the physiological modes of action of each metal, unraveling the different ways the chemicals can affect the life-cycle of the organism. We will improve the predictive and diagnostic power of these models by direct measurements of the time course of internal metal concentrations which will replace the currently used “scaled internal concentrations”, a very indirect approximation. Finally, we will couple the toxicokinetic-toxicodynamic model with an individual-based population model and explore the population level consequences of metal contamination. This research will provide insight into the physiological modes of action of three metals at individual level and their population level consequences in an ecological context. We will demonstrate how effects of different chemical stressors can be understood, modeled and assessed within one simple, but generic modelling framework.

Keywords: toxicokinetic-toxicodynamic modelling,individual-based population dynamics,metals,whole-sediment toxicity tests,modes of action
Investigation of the interplay between the developmental responses induced by growth hormones and the response to biotrophic pathogens. (STRESS AND DEV)

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: 2014-04-01
End date: 2016-03-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 202405.8
EU funding (EUR): 202405.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Successful pathogens often induce plant developmental pathways to suppress plant defence. As a result, diseased plants frequently display symptoms such as hypertrophy, hyperplasia, hypocotyls elongation and increase of bushiness. Plasmodiophora brassicae is such a pathogen. P.brassicae is a biotrophic fungus, the causal agent of clubroot disease of brassica and Arabidopsis. This disease is characterized by the production of galls on the root of the plant. To produce the gall, the pathogen induces the local accumulation of two phytohormones: auxin and cytokinin in plant roots. These hormones activate the division and the enlargement of meristematic root cells resulting in the production of this “new organ”. Previous studies demonstrated that auxin and cytokinin are able to suppress the induction of salicylic acid (SA), which controls the main defence pathway against biotrophic pathogen. Using both pathogen-free and Arabidopsis-P.brassica experimental systems, I aim to understand the mechanism by which auxin and cytokinin interact with SA signalling in roots, and how the induction of a developmental program interferes with SA signalling. I will first examine which parts of the auxin and cytokinin pathways are required to suppress SA and to promote P.brassicae virulence. In addition to the perception of phytohormones (auxin and cytokinin for example) the induction of the developmental program is controlled by the presence of “master regulator”, often transcription factors, and epigenetic modification of the DNA. Thus, next, I will examine the involvement of the key transcription factors and epigenetic modification in the suppression of SA signalling and in P.brassicae virulence. The project will improve our knowledge on the cross talk between growth hormones and plant defence against pathogens and will contribute to develop a new generation of resistant plants.

Keywords: hormones,clubroot,gall,development,plant pathogen interaction,root pathogen
Sensing Quantum Information Correlations (SQUIRREL)

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-2013-IEF, 2013)
Start date: 2014-03-01
End date: 2015-02-28
Duration (months): 12.0
Total project cost (EUR): 86685.3
EU funding (EUR): 86685.3
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Quantum correlations are those supporting technologies such as quantum information processing. For realistic applications, one has to consider open quantum systems, that is, in contact with the classical world through lifetime and excitation. Quantum correlations are transferred through emitted photons, electrons, etc. and characterise the quantum structure of the system and its suitability as a quantum device. The state-of-the-art is the Hanbury Brown-Twiss two-photon counting, which is a particular case of the general problem. At the speed of technological progress, it is now becoming possible to measure higher order correlations of quanta characterised in all their attributes. For instance, cross-correlating photons with fixed frequencies and arrival times is now a routine practice in most laboratories worldwide. The correct interpretation and mastering of such techniques will allow a robust implementation of quantum protocols. Theoretically, the computation of such correlations is extremely complicated and tedious as it needs to keep in the calculation all the degrees of freedom for each carrier. I have recently developed a general formalism, called "the sensing method", conceptually transparent and improving computations by several orders of magnitude as compared to the previous methods. This allows to deal for the first time with complicated quantum systems, with many degrees of freedom and particles, and to compute Nth-order correlations, with N>2, at arbitrary times and frequencies. The goal of the SQUIRELL project is to develop and disseminate this novel and interdisciplinary theoretical approach in a wide range of quantum systems (cavity QED, superconducting circuits, atomic and semiconductor systems, plasmonic, Bose-Einstein condensates, etc.), by analysing the physics made accessible by the sensing method, by supporting experiments on quantum correlations in a variety of fields and by exploiting correlations to improve and design new quantum devices.

Keywords: p107 atomic - molecular physics,p108 optics and quantum optics,p207 semiconductors,p212 nanophysics,p205 electronic properties of materials and transport