Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Audiovisual Speech Segmentation and Oscillations (AVISSO)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Individual Fellowships (IF)-Standard European Fellowships
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Social Sciences and Humanities
Countries involved: Netherlands
Call: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF-EF) (H2020-MSCA-IF-2015, 2015)
Start date: 2016-05-02
End date: 2018-05-01
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 165598.8
EU funding (EUR): 165598.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Daily social tasks (e.g. meetings, shopping) rely on human communication with speech. Auditory only studies established that continuous speech segmentation relies on the temporal integration of rhythmic acoustic features occurring at delta-theta rates in the signal, via a possible mechanism of entrainment coupled with beta activity. In terms of neural correlates, the timing network (including the basal ganglia, supplementary motor area and cerebellum) may actively contribute to the temporal integration of auditory signal during continuous speech segmentation. However, speech is often multimodal and listeners need to integrate speaker’s body movements aligned to rhythmic acoustic features. Consequently, AV speech may generate different rhythmic patterns than auditory only speech. How the brain translates naturally concomitant AV rhythms to facilitate speech segmentation clearly remains to be addressed. The goal of this project is to investigate the oscillatory patterns and neural correlates of AV rhythms resulting from the temporal integration of body movements and salient acoustic features in speech. In a first EEG experiment, I will compare the modulations of delta-theta entrainment and coupling with beta activity, depending on the relationship between visual and auditory information (congruent, incongruent and auditory only). Secondly, in an fMRI version of the experiment, I will explore the contribution of the timing network during AV speech segmentation, and its different patterns of activations across speech conditions. Finally, to test whether the brain areas revealed by fMRI have a necessary role for the successful AV speech segmentation, I will run the same fMRI experiment with Parkinson’s disease patients with dysfunctional basal ganglia. Looking at the timing network patterns of activations will also reveal if correlated body information eventually help PD to compensate basal ganglia deficit with greater contribution of alternative path (i.e. cerebellum).

Keywords: audiovisual speech segmentation,fmri
POttery Use from the earliest Records of Patagonia through biomolecular analysis (POUR)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Individual Fellowships (IF)-Standard European Fellowships
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Social Sciences and Humanities
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2020, 2020)
Start date: 2022-05-01
End date: 2024-04-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 224933.76
EU funding (EUR): 224933.76
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Since its birth in East Asia during the Late Pleistocene, ceramic technology has become almost universal, allowing the exploitation of new environments and fostering different kinds of cultural expressions. This worldwide relevance for human development has positioned the uses of early pottery as one of the most debated topics in archaeology. Traditional models that linked this technological breakthrough to the development of farming and sedentary lifestyles are currently being revisited, and new data from the Northern Hemisphere suggest that it would have been a hunter-gatherer innovation widespread by the processing of aquatic resources during sporadic episodes. However, some key regions of the Southern Hemisphere have remained unexplored. This is the case of the southernmost limit of pottery dispersal in America, the Patagonia region, where pottery was spread by foragers over a vast and marginal environment during 2000 years, but it remained as a scarce and low-scale technology. What was the initial motivation that drove Patagonian foragers to use and spread this technology in such an environment without engaging in intensive production? Could the stability of aquatic resources trigger this process and delineate a world-wide trend that transcends the ecological and cultural settings? By applying the latest biomolecular analysis and data interpretation methods, POUR seeks to answer this unsolved question implementing the first large-scale systematic research on the uses of early pottery in this part of the world.

Keywords: south american archaeology,early pottery,biomolecular analysis,stable isotopes
Reshuffling genes and genomes: from experimental evolution to synthetic biology in plants (GENEVOSYN)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Biotechnology and Biosystems Engineering
Panel description: Biotechnology using all organisms, biotechnology for environment and food applications, applied plant and animal sciences, bioengineering and synthetic biology, biomass and biofuels, biohazards
Countries involved: Germany
Call: ERC Advanced Grant (ERC-2014-ADG, 2014)
Start date: 2015-10-01
End date: 2021-03-31
Duration (months): 66.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2500000.0
EU funding (EUR): 2500000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

GENEVOSYN has three highly ambitious objectives that will enable the engineering of new generations of crop plants. The project consists of three complementary workpackages (WPs) and will use both synthetic genomes and naturally available genomes as raw material for novel biotechnology and synthetic biology approaches. It will employ experimental gene and genome transfer as well as recently discovered natural (horizontal) genome transfer processes to generate new crop varieties and species. In WP1, the plastid (chloroplast) will be developed as a highly efficient platform for synthetic biology applications in plants. This will be accomplished by pursuing bottom-up and top-down synthetic biology approaches. They include the construction of large synthetic multigene operons towards introducing new complex metabolic pathways into plants, and the design, synthesis, assembly and booting up of radically redesigned synthetic genomes that ultimately will allow us to expand the genetic code and thereby the amino acid repertoire of plant cells. In WP2, GENEVOSYN aims at developing a technology for mitochondrial genome engineering in plants. The possibility to alter the genetic information in plant mitochondria by transformation would revolutionize both basic and applied research on plant mitochondria, and pave the way to harnessing the enormous potential of mitochondrial biotechnology. Finally, WP3 will exploit recently discovered horizontal genome transfer processes for the creation of novel crop species and the improvement of existing ones. To this end, we will use grafting-assisted horizontal genome transfer between crop species in the nightshade family (Solanaceae) to (i) generate new combinations of nuclear and plastid genomes and determine the impact of the plastid genome and specific plastid genes on plant growth and stress tolerance, and (ii) produce novel (synthetic) species that arise from the combination of entire nuclear genomes of existing species.

Keywords: plant genetic engineering,metabolic engineering,synthetic genomics,mitochondrion,chloroplast,speciation,experimental evolution,transgenic plant
Exploring cell interactions in the tumor microenvironment with dual ribosome profiling (DualRP)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Integrative Biology: from Genes and Genomes to Systems
Panel description: Genetics, epigenetics, genomics and other ‘omics studies, bioinformatics, systems biology, genetic diseases, gene editing, innovative methods and modelling, ‘omics for personalised medicine
Countries involved: Germany
Call: ERC Starting Grant (ERC-2017-STG, 2017)
Start date: 2018-06-01
End date: 2024-05-31
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1499375.0
EU funding (EUR): 1499375.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Cancers develop in very heterogeneous tissue environments. They depend on the tumor microenvironment (TME) for sustained growth, metastasis, and therapy resistance. Stromal cells are genetically stable and they have less likelihood to develop resistance than cancer cells. Therefore, targeting the TME represents an attractive approach for treating cancer. In order to develop new therapeutic strategies to reprogram the TME and inhibit tumor growth and resistance, it is essential to understand in detail the molecular mechanisms of the interactions between cancer and stromal cell populations. However, current methods to study these interactions require complete dissociation of the tumor, exposing the cells to severe stress and affecting dramatically gene expression patterns. Here, I propose to use Dual Ribosome Profiling (DualRP), a system that I recently developed, to study cell interactions in the TME. DualRP is an approach that allows not only simultaneous analysis of gene expression in two interacting cell populations in vivo, but also is able to uncover metabolic limitations in tumors. I aim to apply DualRP to mouse xenograft models where cancer cells interact with non-transformed fibroblasts and I’ll explore the combined response of both populations to cancer therapy. Moreover, I’ll utilize mouse genetic models tailored for DualRP to study cancer cell and macrophages/endothelial cells interactions. I will employ a combination of mouse genetic models, biochemical tools, deep sequencing, and bioinformatics. These studies will provide insight into how gene expression and metabolic programs define the interaction between cancer and stromal cells to promote tumor growth and metastasis, identify potential targets for therapeutic intervention, and provide maps of cell interactions in vivo. Therefore, this research has the potential to significantly advance our understanding of the molecular and metabolic mechanisms underlying the complex cell interactions in the TME.
Anatomical and functional characterization of the neural circuits controlling ejaculation (SEG)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Individual Fellowships (IF)-Standard European Fellowships
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Life Sciences
Countries involved: Portugal
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2017, 2017)
Start date: 2019-02-25
End date: 2022-06-01
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 160635.6
EU funding (EUR): 160635.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Sexual behavior is fundamental for evolution and an important component of human well-being. Ejaculation is a critical mechanism in male sexual function, which is hypothesized to be controlled by a neural circuit known as the 'spinal ejaculation generator' (SEG), located in the lumbar spinal cord. The SEG has also been hypothesized to control the post-ejaculatory refractory period, a phase of sexual satiety, through ascending projections to the brain. However, the mechanisms by which the SEG controls ejaculation and the refractory remain elusive. We will tackle this problem first by using anatomical tracing to find the spinal neurons that provide input to the ejaculatory muscles and immunochemistry to characterize their molecular identity. We will use this information to provide specific genetic access to SEG neurons. By expressing fluorescent probes in these neurons, we will be able to obtain targeted electrophysiological recordings and use them to characterize the intrinsic and synaptic properties of the SEG circuitry in vivo. By expressing genetically encoded calcium indicators, which provide fluorescence probes of activity, we will monitor the activity of the SEG during sexual behaviour. Finally, by expressing and optically stimulating excitatory and inhibitory opsins in SEG neurons or their terminals, we will test their causal role in triggering both ejaculation and the post-ejaculatory refractory period. This project will provide the first mechanistic description of the key neural circuitry controlling male ejaculation and the refractory period, with potential implications for the treatment of sexual dysfunction.

Keywords: optogenetics,imaging,electrophysiology
Psychosocial Support for Promoting Mental Health and Well-being among Adolescent Young Carers in Europe (ME-WE)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Societal Challenges
Programme: Health, demographic change and wellbeing
Theme: Preventing disease
Action type: Research and Innovation actions
Countries involved: Italy,Italy,Slovenia,Switzerland,Belgium,Sweden,Netherlands,Netherlands,United Kingdom,United Kingdom
Call: Promoting mental health and well-being in the young (H2020-SC1-2017-Two-Stage-RTD, 2017)
Start date: 2018-01-01
End date: 2021-06-30
Duration (months): 42.0
Total project cost (EUR): 3999885.0
EU funding (EUR): 3999885.0
Participants: 10
Project status: CLOSED

Adolescent young carers (AYCs) are young people (15-17 years old) providing significant or substantial care, assistance or support to other family members. The phenomenon is highly relevant across Europe, albeit specific data, awareness and supports are not frequently available. Taking on a caring role constitutes a relevant risk factor for the occurrence of both immediate and long-term problems in AYCs’ mental health, well-being and development, as well as for their transitions to adulthood, social inclusion, education and employability. The goal of the project is to strengthen the resilience of AYCs, improve their mental health and well-being, and mitigate the negative influences of psychosocial and environmental factors. The project develops an innovative framework of primary prevention interventions to be tested and adapted in six European countries (Italy, Netherlands, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom) at different stages of awareness and development of services for AYCs. The project has three specific objectives: (1) to systematise knowledge on AYCs; (2) to co-design, test and deliver psychosocial interventions in six countries; (3) to evaluate what works and provide knowledge translation actions at national, European and international levels. The project adopts an interdisciplinary approach by complementing expertise and longstanding experience of partners. The consortium includes Eurocarers members, research and carers organisations, working together with and for AYCs. AYCs will be continuously involved in the project – together with other stakeholders – via national Blended Learning Networks, user groups, workshops, and in an International Advisory and Ethics Board. The project will have international impact, improving AYCs’ mental health and well-being, educational outcomes, transition, employability and social inclusion, as well as creating evidence-based practices, to improve health equity and societal benefits.

Keywords: young carers,adolescence,resilience,empowerment,social support,social inclusion,psychoeducation,transitions to adulthood
Microglia Control of Physiological Brain States (MICRO-COPS)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Synergy grants
Action type: ERC actions
Countries involved: Germany,Germany,France,United States
Call: ERC Synergy Grant (ERC-2020-SyG, 2020)
Start date: 2021-06-01
End date: 2027-05-31
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 10000000.0
EU funding (EUR): 10000000.0
Participants: 4
Project status: SIGNED

The brain controls all body functions. At the base of this 'catholic' role are the neurons, cells that generate electrical signals, communicate via synapses and form circuits that execute computing tasks and control behaviour. The electrical signalling pattern of neurons is the information code of the brain and the synapse connectivity determines circuit function. This is, in brief, what most textbooks emphasise, but such a neuron-centred brain view is precariously short-sighted. Apart from neurons, the brain contains three glia cell types (from Greek 'γλία' for 'glue'): astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, and microglia. But far from being mere 'glue', astrocytes and oligodendrocytes have multiple critical functions in the brain, accordingly affect many brain processes - even genuine computing tasks - and have therefore become a major focus of modern neuroscience. Microglia are the 'odd one out'. They are brain-resident immune cells, act as defence against pathological insults and have a housekeeping function as phagocytes. Aside from these functions, microglia seem to play an as yet unrecognized role by engaging in reciprocal signalling with neurons. It is this Microglia Control of Physiological Brain States we will study in MICRO-COPS, based on the hypothesis that microglia purposively control neuronal function. We will combine mouse genetics with cutting-edge gene expression analysis and cell biological, electrophysiological, and imaging technologies to define the reciprocal microglia-neuron signalling pathways, the signalling molecules involved, the biological consequences for microglia and neurons, and the role of the corresponding signalling processes in synapse physiology, neuronal integration, circuit dynamics, and behaviour. We expect that the mechanistic description of reciprocal microglia-neuron interactions - from synapses to circuits - will establish a new and critically important brain regulatory process and provide key insights into brain pathology.

Keywords: reciprocal microglia neuron signalling,synapses,circuits,microglia electrophysiology,microglia secretion
Regulation of plant development and crop management through chloride nutrition: a novel tool to improve water- and nitrogen-use efficiency (ChlorPlant)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Individual Fellowships (IF)-Career Restart panel
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Environment and Geosciences
Countries involved: Spain
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2019, 2019)
Start date: 2020-09-01
End date: 2023-08-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 259398.72
EU funding (EUR): 259398.72
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Drought greatly reduces crop productivity and global food security, and is becoming more frequent and severe under climate change. Excessive nitrate fertilization is the main source of water pollution, and due to the enormous energy and carbon cost of industrial fertilizer production, is a major cause of global warming. Therefore, it is critical to understand how to optimize the use of water and nitrogen for plant production and crop yield. Chloride (Cl−), although traditionally considered a toxic ion for agriculture, has emerged as a beneficial macronutrient for plant growth due to its roles in water relations and photosynthesis, recently discovered by the host group. The current project proposes a unique integration of approaches (from molecular to ecophysiological) in tomato, a model crop of great economic value, with the aim to enhance fundamental knowledge of how Cl− modulates the effects of water management on plant development, photosynthesis, turgor maintenance, yield and drought resistance. Our major objectives are to provide new knowledge on i) the role of Cl− homeostasis on plant development, and ii) its relevance on plant improvement of water- and nitrogen-use efficiency, and iii) transfer this knowledge to the practical management of a crop. These objectives will integrate state-of-the-art process-based models of photosynthesis and stomatal conductance into a mechanistic whole-plant model that includes frontline phenotyping. This novel and multidisciplinary project will be carried out by an applicant with strong scientific expertise in plant molecular physiology and agriculture, who perfectly matches the proposed project, and it will be implemented in a laboratory with an internationally recognized excellence in the study of crop water stress and precision agriculture. This combination provides a unique scientific platform for the research training of the applicant and the development of frontline research in Plant Sciences and Agriculture.

Keywords: abscisic acid,chloride,crop yield,drought,fruit quality,mesophyll diffusion to co2,nitrate,photosynthesis,plant development,stomatal conductance,tomato,water relations
Engineering low power tunnel transistors based on two-dimensional semiconductors (2D-LOTTO)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Products and processes engineering
Panel description: Product and process design, chemical, civil, environmental, mechanical, vehicle engineering, energy processes and relevant computational methods
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call: ERC ADVANCED GRANT (ERC-2020-ADG, 2020)
Start date: 2021-09-01
End date: 2026-08-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2499948.0
EU funding (EUR): 2499948.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Modern electronics consume a huge amount of world’s energy – currently ~ 5% and rising to > 20% in 2030. Field effect transistors (FETs) account for a large fraction of the energy consumed in electronics due to high OFF state (leakage) currents and large operating voltage (~ 0.8V). Tunnel FETs (TFETs) based on two-dimensional semiconductors (2D SCs) provide unique and game-changing solutions for both of these problems and can be engineered using industry compatible complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) processes. However, despite the intense effort over the past decade, serious challenges remain in realizing high performance TFETs. The challenges, related to achieving high quality p- and n-type contacts, practical ON state currents and scalability, arise from the lack of precise control of material interfaces. Therefore, completely new approaches in materials and process engineering are needed to reap the benefits of 2D SCs for TFETs. 2D-LOTTO provides these frontier approaches to TFET challenges by designing and engineering vertical heterostructures of 2D SCs with novel ultra-clean, low resistance p- and n-type near ideal van der Waals (vdW) contacts that allow operation at ~ 100 mV. Internal electric field amplification to boost ON state currents to practical levels will be achieved for the first time by using negative capacitance (NC) gate dielectrics. The integration of vdW contacts, NC gates and 2D SC heterostructures with ideal interfaces will provide ultra-low power, CMOS compatible TFETs that have the potential to transform the technology landscape in IoT, Big Data and computing. Initially, automated mechanical exfoliation of 2D SC vertical heterostructures will be used to design and test TFETs. Then, CMOS compatible metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) will be used to realize wafer scale devices. The viability of proposed approach is confirmed by proof of concept demonstrations reported by the PI in engineering 2D SCs for FETs.

Keywords: 2d materials,vdw contacts,2d fets