Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Vertebrate isotopes and the environment (VISE)

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-2010-IEF, 2010)
Start date: 2012-03-01
End date: 2014-02-28
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 201049.6
EU funding (EUR): 201049.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Predictions of the impact of future climate change have to be grounded in a firm understanding of environmental change in the geological past. Proxies for the isotopic composition of past oceans are widely used to give an insight into their water chemistry and, by extension, the surface temperature of these oceans. Variations in the ratio of Oxygen 16:Oxygen 18 (δ18O) are the most widely utilized proxy for water temperature, and are typically derived from fossil hard tissues, with the δ18O of biogenic apatites such as that of fish teeth being considered to be the most robust. Nevertheless, the isotopic behaviour of fossil biogenic apatites in general, including the effects of diagenesis and other postmortem artefacts, is still not fully understood, which ultimately reflects a lack of primary and systematic study. This project tests the reliability of biogenic apatite δ18O in a controlled modern environment, utilizing the regularly shed teeth of sharks living in a contained body of water from which we can directly monitor variations in isotopic composition and also assess compositional variation due to species fractionation. This will also provide the basis for rigorous testing of the proposition that the isotopic geochemistry of marine vertebrate biogenic apatites are influenced by standard laboratory processing methods of fossil materials. Using evidence derived from these experimental studies, taxonomic variations in isotopic composition within phylogenetically distinct fossil vertebrates through documented intervals of palaeoclimatic change in the Palaeozoic will be evaluated. The results of this project will provide a critical and timely test of the use and limitations of vertebrate biogenic apatite proxies in the reconstruction of past climates. Our project will provide training to a promising Lithuanian researcher in experimental methods in isotope geochemistry within state of the art isotope laboratories and a unique integration of modern and fossil materials

Keywords: paleontology,biogeochemistry,paleoceanography,natural sciences
Mining for new antimicrobials in ant associated actinomycetes (ANT)

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,United Kingdom
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IIF, 2010)
Start date: 2011-10-05
End date: 2014-02-05
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 210092.8
EU funding (EUR): 210092.8
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

The proposed research is multidisciplinary and involves using state-of-the-art technologies (combined genomic and metabolomic approaches) to discover new antifungal compounds from an untapped environmental niche that the groups of Goss and Hutchings are currently mining. Novel methodologies developed by Dr Gao within Professor Lixin Zhang’s group will be utilized to rapidly mine the ant associated microbes for novel bioactive natural products and to engineer enhanced levels of antibiotic and antifungal production. Synergic interactions of the antibiotics will be explored using high through put assays developed by Dr Gao and Professor Zhang

Keywords: genome,metabolome,antimicrobial,ant associated actinomycete,synergy screening,genetic engineering
Investigating the properties of the early universe with lensed galaxies (LENSGAL)

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: Denmark
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IEF, 2010)
Start date: 2012-05-01
End date: 2014-04-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 219590.4
EU funding (EUR): 219590.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

In the past decade, large amounts of information has been collected in order to understand the broad characteristics of the galaxies in the early Universe. However, to reach a full understanding of the composition of various types of high redshift galaxies, we need to understand the diversity of individual galaxies in greater details. Strong gravitational lensing magnifications provided by a chance alignment of a large mass concentration towards background higher redshift galaxies allow us to probe the physical characteristics of fainter and more distant galaxies to a greater level of detail than otherwise possible to reach with current observational facilities. This application focuses on the use of data from a new sensitive spectrograph, X-shooter at the Very Large Telescope, for observations of gravitationally lensed galaxies which are recently discovered, or will be discovered in a Hubble Space Telescope Multi-Cycle Treasury Programme on distant massive galaxy clusters. I will determine the redshifts of the lensed galaxies, derive models of the mass distribution in the lensing clusters, and find the magnification factors produced by the system. By combining the multi band HST images with ground based spectra I will use both unique data sets to obtain unprecedented details necessary for the characterisation of the nature of high redshift galaxies. I will determine the range and diversity of physical parameters pertaining to the nature of the lensed galaxies such as metallicities, dynamics, and star formation histories, which are all relevant for our understanding of the evolutionary sequence of galaxies throughout the Universe. This project will give us a glimpse into the potential discoveries which will be possible to reach for unlensed high redshift galaxies with the next generation of telescopes.

Keywords: physical sciences,astronomy,cosmology,experimental,galaxy evolution,astrophysics
High density energy storage materials (HIDSOM)

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-2010-IIF, 2010)
Start date: 2011-11-28
End date: 2013-11-27
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 280680.0
EU funding (EUR): 280680.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

There is an urgent need to develop high density energy storage materials for application in electric vehicles and power conditioning systems. These will enable us to extend the usage of renewable energies. None of the existing storage media completely meets the current requirements. In this project new capacitive storage materials will be designed and fabricated, composed of high permittivity ceramic powders with small amounts of polymers, with structure and properties integrated to ensure high energy density, plus with high power density and long lifetime. These features will lead to energy storage systems that are small size, light weight, cost effective and environmentally friendly. The proposed research may not only lead to the development of new storage materials for industrial applications but also an improved scientific understanding of high density energy storage.

Keywords: physical sciences,materials engineering,electronic,magnetic and superconductive properties
Detecting protease substrates using unnatural amino acids (TAGGING PROTEOLYSIS)

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: Switzerland
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IIF, 2010)
Start date: 2011-05-01
End date: 2013-04-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 248905.0
EU funding (EUR): 248905.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

There are aminoacyl transferases, such as arginyl tRNA protein transferase 1 (Ate1) in Eukaryotes and leucyl/phenylalanyl tRNA protein transferase (L/F transferase) in Bacteria. Both enzymes recognize specific N-terminal amino acids of a target poly-peptide and conjugate an amino acid from an aminoacylated tRNA onto the N-terminus of the targeted poly-peptide. Ate1 conjugates an arginyl moiety onto the N-terminus of a poly-peptide. Electrospray ionization of peptides critically depends on arginyl moieties to stabilize proton charges to the peptide. Taking both facts together, there is a huge untapped potential for Ate1 in the workflow of mass spectrometry facilities by providing an additional proton charge-stabilizing moiety to a peptide's N-terminus. With my proposed project I further aim to harvest the ability of L/F transferase to conjugate a single amino acid, including unnatural amino acids, to the N-terminus of specific target poly-peptide and covalently tag the N-terminus of proteins. The proteins of interest are proteolysis fragments, which will be positively enriched by taking advantage of the unnatural amino acid moiety and analyzed using mass spectrometry. The monitoring of proteolysis products has far reaching implications as proteolysis is an important causal or progression factor in various diseases such as neurodegenerative diseases, chronic inflammation, cancer and heart disease. During my post-doctoral studies at the University of Alberta, Canada, I characterized the kinetic parameters of both L/F transferase and Ate1 extensively. As Marie Curie International Incoming Fellow, I will build on my previous knowledge in a team of biochemists, cell biologists, computational biologists, and mass spectrometrists to establish sound methodologies for clinical and basic researchers alike and will assist in transferring newly developed methodologies in other mass spectrometry facilities in Europe.

Keywords: health sciences,computational biology,cell biology,measurement technology,proteomics
Learning from the locals: A metagenomic investigation into the plant biomass degrading capacity in Norwegian native herbivores (PBDNH)

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: Norway
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IIF, 2010)
Start date: 2011-07-01
End date: 2013-06-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 209979.2
EU funding (EUR): 209979.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Understanding the enzymology of plant biomass conversion is a key issue in the world’s desire to establish a sustainable bio-based economy. Currently available enzyme technology is insufficiently effective, and several fundamental key questions as to how enzymes and plant cell walls interact remain. The present project will address these issues by studying a natural biomass-converting ecosystem adapted to the local biomass, namely the microbial community (microbiome) resident in the digestive tract of Svalbard reindeer. The project aims to generate a metagenomic reconstruction of microbial community structure and its metabolism using a combination of deep 454 sequencing technology as well as functional and sequence-based screens. It will specifically target recovering genetic determinants encoding genes underpinning the deconstruction of plant structural polysaccharides. Relevant genes identified from the metagenome using bioinformatic and functional screens, will be cloned, over-expressed, and their gene products characterised in detail. In addition to creating fundamental insight into the microbial ecology and enzymology of plant biomass conversion, insight into the reindeer microbiome may also contribute to a better understanding of the health and well-being of this important Norwegian animal. This project will link the most prominent Norwegian research group on biomass enzymology (Prof. Vincent Eijsink, UMB) to one of the most prominent research groups in gut metagenomics (Prof. Morrison, CSIRO, Australia) and to a truly international network of (highly relevant) contacts and collaborations. The project complements existing activities in the host laboratory on polysaccharide converting enzymes and complements ongoing international efforts in herbivore microbiome metagenomics by focusing on a Norwegian “niche” species. The project will also contribute to strengthening research in microbial functional genomics at the host institution.

Keywords: metagenomics cellulases plant cell wall reindeer gut microbiome enzymology bioenergy lignocellulose
The effect of emergent compounds and climate change in aquatic organisms with different early life history strategies (EARL)

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-2010-IEF, 2010)
Start date: 2011-08-01
End date: 2013-07-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 210092.8
EU funding (EUR): 210092.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

A present challenge in global change research is to determine and understand how multiple environmental stressors combine to affect individuals, populations and ecosystems. In the marine habitat, stressors appear to strongly affect the larval stages. Most aquatic animals develop through dispersive larval stages, highly vulnerable, that must survive and recruit to the adult stocks in order to ensure population persistence; failures in recruitment lead to population extinction. However, organisms differ in their life history strategy and habitat use, even if they are closely related; these differences may have profound effects on responses to stress. The objective of this proposal is to evaluate the combined role of climate driven variables (salinity, temperature) and anthropogenic compounds (pharmaceuticals) on aquatic animals with different life history strategy. Both salinity and temperature are forced by climate; concentrations of pharmaceuticals have been determined in coastal waters only recently and constitute an “unknown” as a source of larval mortality. The hypothesis is that larval responses to a combination of temperature, salinity and concentration of pharmaceuticals will depend on the life history. This will be tested using three closely related species of European shrimp (Palaemon serratus, P. longirostris and Palaemonetes varians) with different life history. These are economically relevant estuarine-coastal shrimp, exposed to important environmental variability. The project will follow a modern comparative experimental approach evaluating the performance of larvae characterized by different functional traits. This proposal works on multidisciplinary aspects with tools from ecology, biochemistry and modeling, establishing mechanistic relationships between larval traits, adaptive strategies and larval survival. The results will help to predict changes at the level of populations and adapt aquaculture facilities in response to future climatic conditions.

Keywords: global change,animal ecology,animal physiology,aquatic ecology,ecology(environment,fisheries and aquaculture interactions),ecotoxicology (pharmaceuticals)
Enhancement of the Material Point Method for fluid-structure interaction and erosion (GEO FLUID)

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-2010-IEF, 2010)
Start date: 2011-08-15
End date: 2013-02-14
Duration (months): 18.0
Total project cost (EUR): 120327.5
EU funding (EUR): 120327.5
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

In the framework of the proposed cooperation between Deltares and Technical University of Lodz, the material point method will be enhanced to allow for the simulation of fluid-structure interaction and erosion. The dumping of a geocontainer into flowing water and its impact on the seafloor will be investigated with this generalised MPM. Furthermore, simple problems of erosion will be studied with the developed method.

Keywords: physical sciences,technological sciences
Quantifying control of brain energy supply by the neuron-glia-vasculature unit (BRAINENERGYCONTROL)

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-2010-IEF, 2010)
Start date: 2012-03-01
End date: 2014-02-28
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 200049.6
EU funding (EUR): 200049.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The relationship between neuronal activity, blood flow and metabolism provides the basis for the functional brain imaging techniques widely in use today. Local changes in glucose utilization, oxygen utilization, blood flow and hemoglobin oxygenation are taken as indicators of the activity of neuronal pathways during behavioral tasks or mental states. Surprisingly however, the cellular mechanisms that underlie the coupling between neuronal activity, cerebral blood flow and metabolism are poorly understood. Unlike in other tissues, a complex flow of information between neurons, astrocytes, pericytes and arteriolar smooth muscle regulates blood flow. Elucidation of the mechanisms coupling brain energy supply to energy use is essential for understanding how brain imaging data relate to neural function and for using these data to identify mechanisms of neuropsychiatric disorders such as depression, Alzheimer’s disease or schizophrenia, in which alterations in neurometabolic function are detected. These mechanisms are also of great therapeutic and economic importance because of their relevance to treating stroke and other disorders of brain blood flow. This project will investigate some of the most controversial problems in our understanding of: how the brain’s energy supply is regulated at the vascular level, how this relates to the blood flow increase underlying functional imaging signals and how individual neurons and glia control their energy supply. More specifically, we will ask: how important is control of energy supply at the capillary level, by pericytes? Which synapses control blood flow, thus generating functional imaging signals, in the cortex? How are lactate and other metabolites trafficked between neurons and astrocytes? To answer these questions, we will use a combination of mathematical modeling, in vitro experiments and to a lesser extent in vivo experiments.

Keywords: brain energy metabolism,neuron-glia-vasculature interactions,cerebral blood flow,pericytes
How temperature affects co-evolutionary interactions between partners: a study on physiological underlying mechanisms (COEVOLCLIM)

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-2010-IEF, 2010)
Start date: 2011-11-01
End date: 2013-10-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 176685.6
EU funding (EUR): 176685.6
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

Global warming often triggers the question if species response to a changing environment will enable them to persist. However species persistence is also dependent on species interactions. Relationships between tightly co-evolved species within communities are expected to be disrupted by thermal changes. An example of a co-evolutionary arms race is found in parasitoid insects, which develop in other arthropods to complete their larval development. The outcome of host-parasitoid interactions is known to depend on thermal regime but a full understanding of the effect of temperature requires insight into the underlying mechanisms. The proposed research will elucidate the effect of temperature on the interactions between the grain aphid host Sitobion avenae and its main specialist parasitoid, Aphidius rhopalosiphi. I will examine the thermal responses of the outcome of aphid parasitoid interactions in the pre-oviposition phase, when behavioural strategies largely determine parasitoid oviposition success, and in the post-oviposition phase, when the parasitoid is developing inside the aphid, as immunological interactions determine aphid or parasitoid survival. Most importantly, I will identify the underlying physiological mechanisms of behavioural and immunological responses that determine the outcome of the interaction. The combination of mechanistic and ecological approaches will provide understanding of the impact of temperature on interacting species that can be extrapolated to other systems.

Keywords: climate change impact (climate change),entomology,functional biology,behavioural biology,animal physiology,evolutionary biology
Crystal surface simulations (CRYSURFSIM)

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-2010-IEF, 2010)
Start date: 2012-01-03
End date: 2014-01-02
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 209092.8
EU funding (EUR): 209092.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Crystals exhibit various external morphologies ranging from the dendritic forms of snow crystals, the needle shape of epsom salt or the cubic form of rock salt. Understanding, simulating and influencing the crystal morphology is a major concern in today´s crystal morphology engineering. A widespread problem in industry is the appearance of undesired crystal morphologies giving rise to problems in handling and product-quality, or to such issues concerning the blinding of filters and tubes. Moreover, the design of crystal morphologies has gained an increasing interest within “for example” the pharmaceutical industry or the application of nanotechnology, because influencing the crystal morphology enables the crystal engineer to prepare materials with tailored physical and chemical properties. The morphology of crystals is determined by many parameters, such as crystal structure, surface energy, supersaturation, temperature, pressure and the uptake of impurities. According to this, several methods exist to predict crystal morphologies favouring one of the driving parameters over the other. The aim of the proposed project CRYSURFSIM (crystal surface simulations) is to develop a unified crystal growth model that combines classical crystal growth theories with modern quantum mechanical simulations. Thus the bond valence deficiency model (BVD) developed by the applicant (Mutter, 2007), merging the geometrical crystal growth theories based on Bravais-Friedel-Donnay-Harker together with the bond valence approach of Brown (2002), will be extended by application of the Density Functional Theory (DFT), Molecular Dynamic Simulations (MDS), Lattice Dynamic Simulations (LDS) and Monte Carlo Simulations (MCS). This innovative approach to balance different crystal growth models with atomistic simulations will lead towards a harmonized model, by which crystal surface processes and crystal morphologies can be simulated satisfactorily.

Keywords: crystal surface,crystal morphology,computational modelling,bond valence deficiency,density functional theory,lattice dynamics,molecular dynamics,monte carlo simulations,geosciences