Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Effective and reliable optical system for cleaning validation in pharmaceuticals manufacture (OPTI-CLEAN)

Framework: FP7 — Capacities
Programme: Research for the benefit of SMEs
Destination: Research for SMEs
Action type: Research for the benefit of specific groups
Countries involved: Ireland,Spain,Finland,Ireland
Call:  (FP7-SME-2011, 2011)
Start date: 2011-11-01
End date: 2013-10-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1489301.0
EU funding (EUR): 1149720.0
Participants: 8
Project status: CLOSED

Cleaning validation in the pharmaceutical industry is the verification that the cleaning procedure used to remove contaminants from equipment surfaces is successfully reproducible. In pharmaceutical manufacture, plants or individual pieces of equipment may be dedicated to individual products or indeed used in multi-product manufacture. Cleaning should be carried out as soon as practical after the end of processing and should leave the plant in a suitable condition for next use. The impact of inadequate cleaning procedures is that any of a number of contaminants may be present in the next batch manufactured on the equipment. Current cleaning validation techniques are largely based on laborious, time consuming and expensive swab sampling techniques, whereby swabs of the cleaned surface are taken and then tested using HPLC techniques in the laboratory. Equipment can be down for days, which poses enormous economic burden in the pharmaceutical industry. The proposed project will build on the promising results of preliminary research using NIR Chemical Imaging technology to detect on surfaces low concentrations of APIs and detergents used in pharmaceutical manufacture. The results have shown the feasibility of such technology to be used to provide accurate information in real-time, thereby opening up the possibility for the development of a custom-made version of the technology that could be trialled and validated for its use in the pharmaceutical industry as a cleaning validation tool. A portable imaging device will be designed and built and tested on a commonly used APIs and detergents in real pharmaceutical environments in order to validate its effectiveness and reliability. The impact of the uptake of the technology will enable rapid turn-around times, increased through-put and profitability in EU pharmaceutical plants, as well as increased safety standards, which are paramount to safeguarding the health and safety of EU citizens.

Keywords: pharmaceutical,bio pharmaceutical and medical device sectors,cleaning validation,spectroscopic methods,product safety
ADVANCED LABORATORY FOR THE NANO-ANALYSIS OF NOVEL FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS (AL-NANOFUNC)

Framework: FP7 — Capacities
Programme: Research Potential
Destination: Unlocking and developing the Research Potential of research entities established in the EU�s Convergence regions and Outermost Regions
Action type: Coordination and support actions
Countries involved: Spain
Call:  (FP7-REGPOT-2011-1, 2011)
Start date: 2011-10-01
End date: 2015-03-31
Duration (months): 42.0
Total project cost (EUR): 3637820.0
EU funding (EUR): 2687409.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The AL-NANOFUNC project has been designed to install and fully develop at the Materials Science Institute of Seville (ICMS, CSIC-Univ.Seville, Spain) an advanced laboratory for the Nano-analysis of novel functional materials. Advanced Nanoscopy facilities, based on latest generation electron microscopy equipments, will be devoted to breakthrough research in specific topics of high interest: i) Nanomaterials for sustainable energy applications; ii) protective and multifunctional thin film and nanostructured coatings; iii) nanostructured photonic materials and sensors. To take the ICMS laboratories to a leading position that is competitive in a world-wide scenario, the AL-NANOFUNC project is contemplated to up-grade the actual research potential in several directions: i) improve equipment capabilities regarding the Analytical High Resolution Electron Microscopy facilities; ii) improve the impact and excellence of basic research through hiring of experienced researchers and transnational exchange with the reference centers in Europe; iii) develop and improve the innovation potential of the ICMS’s research by opening the new facilities to companies and stakeholders; iv) organize workshops and conferences, dissemination and take-up activities to improve research visibility. Close collaborations with reference centers and companies in Liège (Belgium), Graz (Austria), Jülich (Germany), Oxford (England), Cambridge (England), Dübendorf (Switzerland) and Rabat (Morocco), as well as with laboratories at Andalucian Universities, are foreseen in this project. Five companies in Andalusia will also collaborate in close synergies to promote the long-term strategic lines of interest for the region in the natural and artificial stone products and solar and renowable energy sectors.

Keywords: analytical high resolution transmission electron microscopy,functional nanomaterials,protective coatings,optical sensors,nanotechnology in energy and environment,thin films,nanoparticles
FAcilitated Niche creation Through Indirect interactions in SIZE structured ecological communities: Ontogenetic Asymmetries and Alternative-Stable-States (FANTI-SIZE)

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-2010-IEF, 2010)
Start date: 2011-07-01
End date: 2013-11-27
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 259565.0
EU funding (EUR): 259565.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Under the emergent facilitation hypothesis, size-selective predators create a niche for another predator through facilitating the availability of previously scarce size-classes of prey by reducing competition amongst them. Emergent consumer facilitation has been proposed to give rise to Alternative Stable States (ASS) in species composition of ecological communities. There is a great deal of interest in ASS due to being linked to fisheries collapse and explaining biodiversity loss. The objectives of this proposal are to determine the likelihood of emergent consumer facilitation in an experimental aquatic food web with increasing biological realism, to generalise ecological theory of the role of facilitation in the dynamics of ecological communities and to determine the role of indirect facilitative interactions between consumers on the creation of, and shifts between, Alternative Stable Ecological Communities. This research will be undertaken using State-of-the-Art aquaria, mesocosm, modelling and whole lake approaches in a well studied boreal aquatic ecosystem in northern Sweden. The objectives are highly feasible and will be achieved through the establishment of a structured workplan and the strong science and complementary skills training by Professor Persson and his collaborators Professors De Roos and Diehl. Training objectives in experimentation, modelling and analysis linked to each scientific objective, are designed to increase my scientific maturity. And the mobility proposed is genuine, both in terms of geography, ecology and in exposure to new skills for both myself and the host research group (e.g. mesocosms, comparative analysis). Ultimately, the development of my track-record in the study of structured community dynamics, and the benefit of working with a world-class interdisciplinary research team will contribute to European excellence through advancing cutting-edge theory and comprehensive understanding of what creates biodiversity.

Keywords: animal ecology,ontogeny,facilitation,life-history,predator-prey,size-structure,indirect interaction,competition,population,community,dynamics,regulation,fisheries,biomass,abundance
Quantum opto-mechanics with photonic and phononic crystals (OPTOMECH)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: International Outgoing Fellowships
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Austria
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IOF, 2010)
Start date: 2011-09-01
End date: 2014-08-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 234044.8
EU funding (EUR): 234044.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Micro- and nanomechanical resonators are currently receiving enormous interest due to their potential as a new class of quantum systems, with possible impact ranging from the foundations of quantum physics, quantum limited sensing and quantum information processing. A particularly successful system is the optomechanical oscillator, where the radiation pressure of light is used to manipulate and read-out the dynamics of the mechanical system. To date experiments have demonstrated individually each key ingredient for the preparation of optomechanical systems in the quantum regime, however still operating in the classical domain. In this proposal we want to take the field one step further, by increasing the optomechanical coupling strength to a level where single-photon effects become dominant. In this regime, one can exploit the full non-linear character of the interaction. This will be achieved by designing and optimizing optomechanical crystals, a novel system where the photonic and phononic modes are localized in a single device, which have recently been developed by the outgoing host. These systems currently outperform all existing optomechanical devices in coupling strength and are ideal candidates for single-photon quantum optomechanics. Envisioned experiments range from answering fundamental questions in quantum physics to quantum information processing tasks - optomechanical crystals can be engineered on-chip, with the potential for realizing a mass-maufacturable quantum technology. Also, the frequencies of the optomechanical crystals can be designed to allow for ground-state preparation when cooled in a dilution refrigerator, which is an enabling regime for observing quantum effects even with coherent optical input fields. The ideal match of the expertise of the outgoing host and the experienced researcher in quantum optics and (quantum) opto-mechanics will result in ground-breaking new developments in this young and rapidly expanding field.

Keywords: physical sciences,quantum mechanics,experimental physics,quantum opto-mechanics,quantum optics,silicon photonics
Examining the relationship between linguistic- and non-linguistic cognitive processes in deaf children's vocabulary development in spoken and signed vocabulary (SIGNLEARNSPEAK)

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: United Kingdom
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IOF, 2010)
Start date: 2011-08-08
End date: 2014-08-19
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 245579.2
EU funding (EUR): 245579.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

This project is an investigation into the relationship between linguistic and –non-linguistic cognitive processes, comparing the spoken and signed language vocabulary of deaf children. Objectives are: (1) to contribute to our knowledge of modality effects on linguistic structure; (2) to contribute to the theoretical debate on the issue of language modularity; (3) to gain insight how mediated learning experiences can inform deaf children’s organization of their signed and spoken language systems; (4) to provide a model of how language learning occurs in deaf children in a short and very structured way. To receive objectives 1 and 2, deaf children’s understanding of different form-meaning mappings in signed and spoken language will be assessed during step 1 ; stimuli include vocabulary tasks and a rating scale to measure mode of acquisition of word meanings. To receive objectives 3 and 4, a test-teach-test paradigm is used in step 2, which includes the combined use of static (i.e., vocabulary test) and dynamic (i.e., mediated learning) assessments. By acquiring training and expertise at both host universities, the applicant will be in a position to effectively disseminate his expertise on an international level in his further expertise in research and teaching within the EU. The spreading of this expertise within the European Research Area will help establish successful co-ordination and co-operation across national borders. Furthermore, the project will make an important contribution to the development of appropriate assessment and intervention for young deaf language users. Long-term, this work will help to enable deaf graduates to pursue a degree in Higher Education and, possibly, a career in science. This has direct relevance to one of the main objectives of the People Specific Programme, which is a strong focus on the quantity and quality of its human resources and the effort to make Europe more attractive, as well as more equally accessible, to researchers.

Keywords: social sciences,language development,linguistics,cognition,vocabulary,assessment,learning disability,learning difference,sign language,deaf,mediated learning,dynamic assessment
New Developments in Competition Policy (COMPPOL)

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: 2011-09-01
End date: 2013-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 177340.8
EU funding (EUR): 177340.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

My goal is to shed light on the competition implications of two recent much-talked about developments in business, namely the surge of new financial derivatives and the high bonuses paid out to CEOs. First, there has been a rapid expansion of financial markets in the last decade and the therein used instruments, so-called financial derivatives. These products are generally not publicly exchanged on a market, which makes it hard to know how much they are used. But it is, for example, estimated that derivatives consist of between 20% and 40% of the total daily value traded on the London Stock Exchange. This same opaqueness of financial derivatives –apart from having likely been one of the causes of the current economic difficulties- has created a new array of tools for firms to change the rules of the game into anti-competitive, yet hard to detect ways. For example, a firm can buy a contract such that it benefits from a rival’s share price to decrease, which is a credible commitment to behave aggressively against that rival. Second, the use of large bonuses for managers has received a lot of criticisms in the press lately. But it has been largely neglected in economic research that these bonuses may also affect how managers, and the firms they lead, compete. It may occur, for example, that bonuses may motivate managers to collude with their competitors. It is perhaps time to more deeply explore how bonuses -and more in general the design of contracts in the firm- may affect managers’ decisions to infringe competition laws. In my project, I shall study the competitive effects of widely used financial derivatives and executive bonuses, and I will do this both from a theoretical and empirical perspective.

Keywords: competition policy,financial derivatives,ceo bonuses,strategic delegation models,empirical analysis
Regulation of ventral otic patterning and integration with general programmes of neurogenesis in the zebrafish embryo (EM ZF OTIC 082010)

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: 2011-05-01
End date: 2013-04-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 210092.8
EU funding (EUR): 210092.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Both during my diploma and my PhD project, neural development has been a focus of my research interest. During my PhD thesis I have worked with the role of signalling pathways on the specification and patterning of the caudal neural tube and during early olfactory development mostly using an in vitro system. Now I would like to change focus and a future challenge lies in understanding the molecular interactions that underlie animal development. The proposed work together with Tanya Whitfield at the MRC Centre for Developmental and Biomedical Genetics (CDBG) in the Department of Biomedical Science, University of Sheffield would enable me to take a new, genetics based approach to questions that have fascinated me for a long time and increase my experience with in vivo studies. The otic placode gives rise to non-sensory, sensory and neural structures of the inner ear. Early during development, neural and non-neural regions form in the otic epithelium and both the first sensory hair cells and the neurons of the statoacoustic ganglion arise from ventral regions. Work from the Whitfield lab has implicated Eya1/Six1, Tbx1 and Otx1 in regulating neural versus non-neural patterning of the zebrafish ventral otic epithelium, but how these factors interact to regulate sensory patch spacing, and integrate with general programmes of neurogenesis, is not understood. I plan to elucidate in detail the genetic network responsible for ventral otic patterning. In a first step I plan to characterize the system through the analysis of the expression patterns of patterning (eya1/six1/tbx1/otx1) genes, neural progenitor soxB1 genes and markers for sensory neurons and hair cells in wild-type and mutant zebrafish lines. In parallel, I will start to test the model that Tbx1 and Otx1 restrict neurogenesis in the ear using double mutants, morpholino knockdown and overexpression experiments. Using a new otx1 mutant line, I will examine the role of Otx1 in specifying the lateral semicircular ca

Keywords: natural sciences,biological sciences,neurosciences,neurobiology,developmental biology,animal embryology
Exploring natural variation of Shade Avoidance Syndrome in Arabidopsis using high-throughput phenotyping and Genome-wide association studies (SAS-ARABIDOPSIS-GWA)

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: Switzerland
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IEF, 2010)
Start date: 2011-09-01
End date: 2013-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 185528.8
EU funding (EUR): 185528.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Higher plants respond to a change in light quality -indicative of competition from other plants- by eliciting a range of adaptations summarized under the term Shade Avoidance Syndrome (SAS). These action responses include e.g. increased elongation of organs (e.g. hypocotyls, stems), a decrease in leaf surface, a more erect leaf position, rapid changes in gene expression and an accelerated transition to flowering. Our molecular understanding of SAS mostly comes from studies in Arabidopsis thaliana but numerous questions remain unanswered. Most SAS studies were performed in young seedlings but the role of many SAS regulators in more adult plants remains poorly characterized. In order to extent our understanding of SAS the following issues are addressed in the proposed project: (i) SAS traits will be measured (phenotyped) on rosette stage plants using a custom built high-throughput phenotyping device (Scanalyzer HTS) as well as in young seedlings. (ii) The SAS includes a number of physiological adaptations in different organs and different growth stages. To determine the extent to which regulators of the SAS are involved in shade avoidance we will phenotype selected mutants with a defective response to shade such as pif4, pif5, and sav3. (iii) It has been proposed that PIF4/PIF5 and SAV3 act in different pathways. To test this hypothesis we will phenotype pif4, pif5, sav3 and associated double/triple mutants. (iv) Natural variation in shade avoidance will be assessed by phenotyping a collection of field-collected Arabidopsis accessions (v) SAS traits measured in those accessions will further be exploited by a Genome-wide association (GWA) study to identify genetic loci that control SAS and may underlie adaptation to their local environment. In consequence, the GWA could lead to unravel the function of known and novel regulators of SAS, which in turn should contribute to a better understanding of the SAS regulatory network in different organs and developmental stages.

Keywords: biology,plant growth,arabidopsis,shade avoidance syndrome,natural variation
The causes, consequences and conservation implications of individual specialisation in seabirds (ALBASPECIALISATION)

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-2010-IEF, 2010)
Start date: 2011-11-01
End date: 2013-10-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 185748.0
EU funding (EUR): 185748.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Albatrosses are the most threatened family of birds in the world. Their susceptibility to climate change and bycatch by fisheries, combined with their slow life cycle, makes them of paramount conservation concern. While much work to date has focussed on behaviour at the species level, there is growing evidence that the variation in the response of the individual is the crucial driver in population and species level changes. This project would use two unique data sets collected by CEBC-CNRS: 1) life history of individual albatross, including age, sex and relatedness measures 2) foraging behaviour of these individuals across multiple years. These datasets are among the most complete in seabird ecology and offer the potential to study a number of potential causes of variation in foraging strategy simultaneously. We would also initiate a novel project, which I would manage, quantifying personality differences between individuals. Such data would be the first of its kind collected on seabirds, and when combined with the long-term data, would enable the most complete analysis of the causes of individual specialisation in foraging behaviour in seabirds. These data would then be used to examine how such individual strategies may influence the response of albatrosses, and seabirds as a whole, to human threats such as fishery activity and climate change. This project would use state-of-the-art techniques to collect novel and exciting data. Fine scale movement data would be collected using recently developed bio-logging technology and the project would develop state-of-the-art behavioural assays for personality, which would be transferable across species. In addition, spatial analyses techniques are constantly evolving and this project would push to optimise the methods used for these data. These skills would enhance my quality, independence and maturity as a researcher. Such a project would address specific aims of the FP7 programme and multiple EU environmental policies.

Keywords: behavioural biology,marine ecosystems (climate change),personality,foraging strategy,individual specialisation,fisheries bycatch,life history and fitness consequences,conservation,seabirds