Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Quantum Gases in Synthetic Gauge Fields (QUANTUMSG)

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: United Kingdom
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-CIG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-03-01
End date: 2018-03-14
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

This Marie Curie Career Integration Grant proposal entitled "Quantum Gases in Synthetic Gauge Fields" addresses the behaviour of ultracold atoms under the presence of synthetic gauge fields. The experimental techniques of creating synthetic gauge fields through optical methods have been pioneered recently by groups in the EU and US. Such methods have been used to produce large effective magnetic fields in optical lattice systems (corresponding to 10^4 Tesla in solid state systems). In addition, more general gauge fields have been created including spin-orbit coupling, which paves the way to the realisation of bands with nontrivial topology. Atoms under synthetic gauge fields represent fundamentally new states of quantum matter. In this proposal, I discuss how I will solve several important and experimentally relevant problems in this field. In particular, I will address the low temperature ordering of bosons with Rashba spin-orbit coupling, edge state instabilities of bosons in topological bands created through synthetic fields, the behaviour of bosons in a flat-band model (dice lattice), and the controlled quantum dynamics of sodium spinor condensates under synthetic fields. The proposed research brings together ideas from diverse fields including condensed matter physics, atomic and molecular physics, quantum optics, spintronics, quantum information, and topology.

Keywords: bose einstein condensates,condensed matter theory,spinor condensates,quantum dynamics
The translational landscape of virally infected cells (HOST TRANSLATION)

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: Israel
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-CIG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-03-01
End date: 2018-02-28
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Viruses are completely reliant on the host cell machinery and have evolved many mechanisms to hijack it for their propagation. At the same time our cells have developed defense mechanisms to cope with infections. A key way by which viruses influence host physiology is through interaction with the cellular translation machinery. Not only viruses must co-opt this machinery to translate their own mRNAs, they also have to hinder host defenses that are aimed to inactivate the translation machinery. My research aims to elucidate the complex cellular changes that occur during these virus-cell encounters with a focus on the translation machinery. I plan to concentrate on two major pathogens; a large DNA virus, Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), and a small RNA virus, Influenza A. Although these viruses are very different, for both of these viruses the global effect of infection on the translation of host genes is still poorly defined. I therefore propose to tackle this important issue by employing a novel deep-sequencing technique termed ribosome profiling, that allows a comprehensive view of translation events. The robustness, scale and accuracy of this analysis will enable us to determine the identity and the relative levels of translation of each host protein during the course of infection and would therefore provide valuable information regarding translational control strategies used by these viruses to reprogram the cellular host translation machinery. I then plan to develop and apply more directed experiment to confirm translational changes and to elucidate their importance to viral replication. These experiments should provide a unique opportunity to understand the underlying changes that occur during infection and to reveal common and unique pathways that viruses use to harness the host translation machinery.

Keywords: viruses,herpesvirus,cytomegalovirus,translation,virus-host interaction
Mechanical loading to direct stem cell differentiation (CSKFINGERPRINTS)

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: United Kingdom
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-CIG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-05-01
End date: 2018-04-30
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The main goal of this proposal is to induce and detect in real time and at single-cell level the differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells using mechanical loads in 2D and 3D conditions. This proposal integrates disciplines from nanotechnology, bioengineering and cell and molecular biology. First we propose to develop a method to track the differentiation of stem cells in real time and at the single cell level using cytoskeletal organization of actin, microtubules and intermediate filaments as a suitable cell biomarker. We will then establish mechanical loading protocols to induce, via direct force application onto cells, the first stages of stem cell differentiation towards specific cell lineages. We will apply cyclic tensile strain and compression to stem cells in 2D and 3D conditions, and track their differentiation status in real time using the cytoskeletal biomarkers that we will have identified before. The results of this proposal will have implications for the field of stem cell mechanobiology in particular, and some of the techniques developed will also contribute to the wider field of directed stem cell differentiation.

Keywords: bioengineering,mechanical loading,stem cells,cytoskeleton,biomarker
Survival in Oesophageal and Gastric Cancer Patients and Vitamin D (SOGVID)

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: Ireland
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-CIG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-03-01
End date: 2018-02-28
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

This project aims to investigate the role of vitamin D status in survival of patients diagnosed with oesophageal or gastric cancer. The ultimate goal of the project is to help inform cancer treatment and improve survival in these patients. Both oesophageal and gastric cancer have exceptionally poor prognosis, with a 5-year survival of only 15-20%. Moreover, little improvement in survival has been made in either cancer type. Observational and ecological studies have investigated associations between vitamin D proxies (e.g. vitamin D dietary intake, sunshine hours or UVB irradiance) and upper gastrointestinal cancers. These studies largely show poorer prognosis in cancer patients with lower estimated vitamin D levels. Vitamin D deficiency is prevalent in Europe and the investigation of any potential detrimental effects of vitamin D deficiency is of major significance for the population. To date, no well-designed study has investigated the relationship between post-diagnostic circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-OHD, the best indicator of vitamin D status) and prognosis in oesophageal cancer patients. Therefore, the main aim of this proposal is to explore the relationship between 25-OHD concentration at the time of diagnosis and survival in oesophageal cancer patients. We also propose to investigate, for the first time in Caucasians, the relationship between 25-OHD and survival in gastric cancer patients. Furthermore, we seek to assess the mechanism of these associations, as understanding the biological pathway could add evidence in support of their causality. The principle way that vitamin D exerts its biological action is by binding to the vitamin D receptor (VDR). Therefore, presence of functioning VDR is crucial for its downstream effects, such as expression of E-cadherin (CDH1). To address this, we will assess the expression of the VDR and CDH1 genes in tissue, and we will genotype common polymorphisms in VDR gene that are known to affect its function.

Keywords: vitamin d,survival,oesophageal cancer,gastric cancer,vitamin d receptor,e-cadherin,gene expression
Neural coding of fear memories formation and extinction in frontal association network (FEAR-FRA)

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: France
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-CIG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-05-01
End date: 2018-04-30
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The neocortex is the brain area that is most expanded in the human brain. It is thought that neocortical function underlies the remarkable adaptive and associative learning skills of mammals. Learning-dependent neocortical plasticity is supposed to rely on subtle changes in the spatial pattern and level of neuronal activity that likely depend on connectivity rearrangement through synapses turnover and/or activity-dependent strengthening and weakening of pre-established synapses. However, whether this structural-functional cascade occurs in higher cognitive frontal areas during associative stimulus learning is currently not known. By combining in vivo two-photon long-term structural imaging of dendritic spines, large-scale neuronal calcium imaging, and whole-cell recording in the behaving animal, we aim at understanding how the formation and extinction of associative fear memories are implemented by neuronal circuits in rodent frontal association cortex (FrA). Understanding of how different neurons in higher cortical areas modulate the structure of their connections in response to learning, and how this would alter the cortical processing is a key to understand how we store information and acquire new skills, and potentially help to advance the design of new strategies toward memory enhancement and neuronal repair in a wide range of brain diseases.

Keywords: neuroscience,fear learning,frontal association cortex,dendritic spine,neuronal and synaptic plasticity,in vivo two-photon microscopy,patch-clamp,calcium imaging,cranial window,optogenetic
Growing Synthetic Load-Bearing Materials: Nano-Scale Fabrication of Bio-Inspired Materials for Marco-Scale Structural and Biomedical Applications (NANOGROW)

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: United Kingdom
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-CIG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-03-01
End date: 2018-02-28
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

This proposal will establish a program of research at Queen's University Belfast that will pursue a strategy for mimicking the bottom-up nature of biological growth to produce bulk, macro-scale materials that exhibit some of the salient features and advantageous properties observed in bone, teeth, shells, and deep-sea glass sponges. Layer-by-layer assembly of nanocomposite coatings onto porous, three-dimensional substrates will result in materials with uniquely customizable stiffness & porosity, and an exceptionally high upper bound on strength and stiffness as functions of density. These materials will be developed and characterized as tissue-scaffold materials for biomedical applications, and core materials in sandwich structures for lightweight structural applications. This bottom-up approach will enable exciting bio-inspired concepts for incorporating multifunctionality and improving mechanical performance. For example, implementing a nanocomposite coating with a deposition rate that can be controlled by the magnitude of the local mechanical deformation, will result in a growth process that is directed by external loads -- mimetic of bone growth and adaptation according to Wolff's law. The materials resulting from this project have the potential for significant economic impact by reducing fuel consumption and increasing energy output, and to contribute solutions to societal challenges related to health and energy/resources. The project will be led by an early-career researcher with strong academic credentials, a history of successful collaborations and high-impact publications, and a network of close professional contacts in Europe and North America. Supporting this work will establish an internationally mobile researcher in the European Research Area, promote collaboration and resource-sharing across national borders, and advance the key enabling technologies recommended by the European Commission for economic growth and resolution of societal challenges.

Keywords: nanocomposites,cellular solids,foams,tissue scaffolds,bio-inspired,nano-fabrication,bottom-up
Encodoing Social Interaction (ENCODING EXPERIENCE)

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: Israel
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-CIG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-03-01
End date: 2018-02-28
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Living in a social environment requires extracting social information in a meaningful way, a process that involves the perception of socially relevant signals, representation in the brain and integration with prior experience, eventually leading to modulation of behavior. Understanding how the brain interprets the world requires us to integrate our understanding of genes, brain circuits and ongoing experiences that modify behavior. We are using Drosophila Melanogaster as a model organism to study the interplay between the social environment and the brain because of its accessibility to genetic and physiological manipulation as well as its complex behavioral repertoire. We have recently demonstrated that social experience in flies can modulate the way reward is perceived and in turn modulate reward-seeking behavior through regulation of the Neuropeptide F (a homologue of Neuropeptide Y). Our study suggests that activity of the NPF/NPF receptor axis represents the state of the fly reward system and modifies behavior accordingly. Modulation of the NPF system by socially rewarding and non-rewarding experiences may thus reflect a broader mechanism by which experience is represented in the brain and converted into changes of circuit function and, eventually, modulation of behavior. The goal of this proposal is to uncover the molecular and neural mechanisms by which rewarding and non-rewarding experiences are perceived, represented in the brain and converted into modulation of behavior. I will utilize genetic and molecular experiments, initially focusing on the NPF pathway as an inroad pathway, to dissect further the input and output components of this circuit using genetic intersection approach and identify the molecular representation of experience within NPF cells using cell specific transcriptome analysis. In addition we will use state of the art tracking and machine vision technologies to study the effect of social experience on social group dynamics.

Keywords: social interaction,behavior,experience,reward,gene environment interaction,drosophila melanogaster,cell specific transcriptomics,genetics,genetic intersection,neurogenetics,plasticity.
Quantum Field Theory at Finite Coupling (QFT@FC)

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: Israel
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-CIG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-10-01
End date: 2018-09-30
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

The constituents of atoms in nature are quarks and gluons. The quarks source a color flux between them that result in the strong nuclear force, confining them together. The same gluonic color flux controls almost any strong coupling dynamics in the theory of gluons, namely quantum chromodynamics (QCD). For instance, it arises in parts in the computation of scattering amplitudes of these particles. Hence, to understand fundamental physical phenomena that originate from strong coupling dynamics we need to understand the dynamics of the gluonic color flux. Conventional textbook theoretical tools are based on perturbation theory and are therefore insufficient for explaining such phenomena. In the late 1960s, string theory was founded as a theoretical framework for studying the color flux between quarks. It was soon abandoned in favor of QCD. Only many years latter we understood that the string description of the flux naturally lives in an higher dimensional space-time. Moreover, in that higher dimensional space-time, it provides a consistent description of quantum gravity. My research program will build on new techniques that are motivated by the string description of the color flux and are based on Integrability and Holography. These techniques allows for the first time exact computations of dynamical quantities in strongly coupled particle theories with large number of gluons. Solvability usually arises in one-dimensional condensed matter systems but its appearance in the context of particle theory in four space-time dimensions is both unexpected and exciting. For example, we recently understood how to compute scattering amplitudes in a certain theory of gluons at any strength of the interaction. The goal of this program is to solve completely an interacting gauge theory in four dimension. I expect that such a solution would play an analogues role in QFT to the one played by the Hydrogen atom in chemistry.

Keywords: string theory,holography,integrability,scattering amplitudes
Enhancing chemotherapy response in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) by modulating miRNA-target network and identifying biomarkers of response (TNBCHEMIRNET)

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: Türkiye
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-CIG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-07-01
End date: 2018-06-30
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most aggressive type of breast cancer and therapies are primarily limited to conventional chemotherapy. TNBC patients who respond to neo-adjuvant chemotherapy with a pathological complete response (pCR) have excellent 5-year survival (up to 94%). However, this represents the minority of TNBC patients (25-40%). The remaining patients have less than 60% 5-year survival due to aggressive relapse. Therefore, increasing the pCR rate of chemotherapy in TNBC holds great promise for improving survival. Furthermore, it is important to identify biomarkers to predict/stratify TNBC patients with higher probability of response to chemotherapy. Recently, microRNAs (miRNAs), which are 20-22 nucleotide small RNAs, emerged as master regulators of several oncogenic processes including therapy resistance and have great potential to be used as therapeutics due to their ability to repress several oncogenic proteins simultaneously. Moreover, miRNAs have also been shown to be promising biomarkers for diagnosis, prognosis and therapy response in cancer. Herein I propose to study the potential for modulation of miRNAs/their target networks to enhance the response to chemotherapy and to identify biomarker of chemotherapy response in TNBC. In this line, I will develop in vivo chemoresistant models using both xenografts and tumor transplants from an established TNBC mouse model. Combining whole genome miRNA/mRNA sequencing, bioinformatics and network biology, miRNAs/their target network involved in chemoresistance will be identified, and targeted to enhance the chemoresponse of TNBC models. Finally, the biomarker potential of identified miRNAs/targets in TNBC patient tumors will be tested with inter-(national) collaborations from two different countries. Overall, this interdisciplinary study will provide pre-clinical data to enhance chemotherapy response in TNBC and identify biomarkers stratifying patients with higher response rate to chemotherapy.

Keywords: triple negative breast cancer (tnbc),therapy resistance,micrornas,microrna/protein interaction networks,systems biology,gem transplant models,biomarkers
Development and application of Artificial Systems for Activation of DiOxygen and C-H bonds (ASADO-CH)

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: Sweden
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-CIG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-03-01
End date: 2018-02-28
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The excision of C-H bonds from an aliphatic carbon chain to produce functionalized compounds is a general pathway in biosynthetic transformations for which there are no simple and mild laboratory substitutes. Moreover, their source materials (like dioxygen) are abundant and have proved to be sustainable for millions of years. This proposal targets the invention of new bioinspired processes for C-H oxidation, arylation and dehydrogenation. To achieve this goal, invention of both new suprabiotic iron catalysts and new directed radical C-H functionalization methods will be mandatory. As a result, the conversion of a relatively inert aliphatic system to its functionalized counterpart will revolutionize the field of Organic Synthesis. Direct application in the modification of cheap materials into medicinally relevant compounds (some of them currently on the market) is planned.

Keywords: catalysis,c-h activation,synthetic chemistry,sustainable chemistry,pharmaceuticals