Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Improved detection and characterisation of breast cancer using multimodal magnetic resonance imaging and novel computer-aided detection/evaluation (CADe) techniques (CADE4BMRI)

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-2011-CIG, 2011)
Start date: 2012-04-01
End date: 2015-11-25
Duration (months): 42.0
Total project cost (EUR): 87500.0
EU funding (EUR): 87500.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Breast magnetic resonance imaging is finding clinical application as an adjunct diagnostic procedure to ultrasound and mammography. A major limitation of MRI, however, is that although it has a high sensitivity to breast cancer, its specificity is poor to moderate. Poor specificity equates to a high chance of making a false-positive diagnosis. This research aims to improve the specificity and sensitivity of the technique, and therefore its clinical utility, through the use of computerised image analysis and the integration of morphologic, kinetic, and structural information. If successful this will not only lead to improved cancer detection, but also enhance clinical management of the disease.

Keywords: image processing,breast cancer,biomedical engineering,magnetic resonance imaging
FLUORINATED SUGARS: CHEMICAL TOOLS FOR THE STUDY OF CARBOHYDRATE-BINDING PROTEINS (FGLYP)

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: Spain
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-CIG, 2011)
Start date: 2012-04-01
End date: 2015-03-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 75000.0
EU funding (EUR): 75000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

This project focuses on the preparation of potentially biologically active fluorinated glycoconjugates (mainly lipids, amino acids, peptides and eventually proteins) and also to explore the biological and biophysical properties of these molecules in vitro and in living cells that are decorated with these unnatural fluorinated elements on their surfaces. For this purpose, the project will first focus on the preparation of a range of fluorinated carbohydrates and lipids with configurations related to those recognized by lectins. The synthesis of fluorinated carbohydrates and lipids will be carried out using already established procedures and by developing new procedures based on carbohydrate chemistry or asymmetric synthesis. The next step will consist of attaching the prepared fluorinated materials to the corresponding aglycons, amino acids, peptides or proteins (in the case of F-carbohydrates) or to the corresponding sugars in the case of F-lipids. In the second part of the project, the conformation of these F-glycoconjugates will be studied using leading spectroscopic techniques (mainly 19F STD-NMR, X-ray, etc.). This will provide valuable information on how these molecules might interact with target proteins and receptors. Next, those constructs with most interesting properties will be employed for proteomic analysis as multifunctional affinity-based probes, to screen, detect and isolate carbohydrate-binding proteins with/without enzymatic activity. Finally, the sensitivity and the absence of a F background signal in 19F NMR will be used to study the metabolic profile of those F-glycoconjugates (by 19F NMR) and establish correlations between alteration of biosynthetic pathways, biodistribution, metabolite concentrations, immune response and disease.

Keywords: carbohydrates,glycobiology,fluorosugars,glycolipids,glycoproteins,conformation,vaccines
High Impact Weather in the Arctic, fundamental understanding and future projections (HIMWARC) (HIMWARC)

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: Norway
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-CIG, 2011)
Start date: 2012-07-01
End date: 2016-06-30
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

HIMWARC will extend our fundamental knowledge and concomitantly restrain present levels of uncertainty with respect to future changes of high impact weather in the Arctic. The weather in the Arctic features several severe types of extremes such as polar lows and strong low-level winds in the vicinity of topography. These extremes rigorously influence the socio-economic structure of the affected regions and communities by extensive material damages and loss of lives. Our current understanding of the formation and intensification of these weather phenomena is still at an infant level, which limits our forecasting capabilities and hence restrains our abilities of mitigation measures. Furthermore, a detailed and comprehensive assessment of changes with respect to high impact weather in the Arctic in a future climate will also be limited to our understanding of the underlying processes giving rise to these phenomena. HIMWARC´s approach is twofold. Firstly, extending our fundamental understanding of high impact weather in the Arctic. Secondly, incorporating novel findings into improved diagnostics to assess future changes in spatial distribution, frequency and intensity of Arctic severe events. The pursuit of these goals is aided by the affiliation of HIMWARC with THORPEX, a WWRP initiative by the WMO, and its recently established Polar Project. HIMWARC builds on previous efforts by IPY-THORPEX via use of its field campaign data and sustaining established scientific network between research institutions and forecasting agencies. Outcomes of HIMWARC will be: (i) revised and unified theory on polar low genesis by incorporating a novel concept to the formation process; (ii) better understanding of the interactions between atmospheric flow with steep topography in the light of extreme wind events and cyclogenesis; (iii) assessment of future changes of high impact weather in the Arctic; (iv) determine the influence of high impact weather on the ocean circulation.

Keywords: arctic weather and climate,climate change,polar lows,cyclones,orographic flow,atmosphere-ocean interaction
Strategies toward enhancing prediction of climate and its impacts (STEPS)

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: Norway
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-CIG, 2011)
Start date: 2012-05-01
End date: 2016-04-30
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Climate predictions are increasingly being used to inform policy at national and international level. However, predicting climate and its impacts remains a major challenge, with large uncertainties existing, particularly at a regional level. This project aims to contribute to meeting this challenge through an innovative modelling approach and by enhancing understanding of key uncertainties. A super model is an optimal combination of several models that leads to a model superior to any of the individual models. For low order models this approach, coming from non-linear dynamics and machine-learning concepts, is successful. This exciting approach is being applied to climate modeling in European Union (FP7) and United States of America (DOE) funded projects. This project’s first objective is to strengthen both initiatives, by sharing knowledge and software. This may lead to a super-model constructed from models developed in Europe and the USA. If this controversial approach proves fruitful, then combining a greater number of different models will give even greater gains. Near-term (10-20yr) prediction has potential to improve the response of society, particularly in developing countries, to climate shifts, which can cause famine and disease outbreaks. However, understanding of climate variability on these time-scales is limited and poorly modeled. This is major impediment to near-term climate prediction. The project’s second objective is to better understand uncertainties in Northern Hemisphere climate prediction, by extending an inter-model comparison of Atlantic decadal variability to include the Pacific and also a synthesis of paleo-proxy records. Unfortunately, a gap also exists between predicting climate and its associated impacts. As one step toward closing this gap, the project’s third objective is to quantify uncertainty in key variables for major crops and vector born diseases, such as Malaria and Dengue fever.

Keywords: climate change,human health (global change),climate modelling (climate change),climate change impact (climate change),water-climate interactions,paleoclimate (climate change)
Parental care: shaped by parent–offspring conflict and co-adaptation (FAMILY AFFAIRS)

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: Netherlands
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-CIG, 2011)
Start date: 2012-01-01
End date: 2014-12-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 75000.0
EU funding (EUR): 75000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Interactions between caring parents and their offspring are among the most widespread and fundamental social behaviours. Surprisingly, however, the underlying genetics, even of well-studied model systems, are largely unknown. Traditionally, behavioural ecologists studying the evolution of parental care have typically focused on how evolutionary conflict between parents and offspring has shaped parental provisioning and offspring solicitation behaviours, while ignoring the underlying genetic mechanisms. Recently, a quantitative genetics perspective has emerged that aims to explicitly model and measure the quantitative genetics underlying parent–offspring interactions, and which emphasises the potential importance of co-adaptation of offspring demand and parental supply in the evolution of parent–offspring interactions. Such parent–offspring co-adaptation is predicted to lead to genetic covariation between parental provisioning and offspring solicitation behaviours. The co-adaptation hypothesis furthermore predicts the presence of fitness costs to parents and/or offspring if the phenotypic correlation between parental and offspring behaviours is disrupted – causing a mismatch between the behavioural responses of parents and offspring. However, few empirical studies have tested these ideas, and the fitness implications and underlying genetics of parent–offspring conflict and co-adaptation are virtually unknown. We propose to integrate approaches from behavioural ecology and quantitative genetics in an ecological setting to remedy this situation: we will investigate the genetics and fitness implications of parent–offspring conflict and co-adaptation in wild blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus), which are an ideal model for this purpose. The research outcomes will improve our understanding of how evolutionary conflict and co-adaptation shape social interactions within families.

Keywords: behavioural ecology,evolutionary biology,family interactions,parent-offspring conflict,cooperative behaviour,quantitative genetics
WETMATE – a 33kV Subsea Wet-Mateable Connector for Offshore Renewable Energy (WETMATE)

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: United Kingdom,Denmark,Croatia,United Kingdom,Switzerland,Norway,United Kingdom,United Kingdom,Spain
Call:  (FP7-SME-2012, 2012)
Start date: 2012-12-01
End date: 2015-09-30
Duration (months): 34.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1601614.7
EU funding (EUR): 1207378.0
Participants: 9
Project status: CLOSED

Most European offshore wind farms are currently installed within 20 km of the coast in shallow water depths up to 20m. The next generation will be developed at distances of 40 km in sea depths up to 80m. These new locations present technical challenges for engineering and the possibility of new synergies between all marine renewable energy resources including wave, tide and wind. Inspection and maintenance at depth is difficult and the raising of transmission voltages to keep cable sizes manageable is urgently required as the technical difficulty of hauling heavy cables is significantly increased. The availability of self-monitoring connectors to eliminate routine maintenance at greater depths is seen as a potential step-change improvement in infrastructure management and the development of ROV-installable wet-mate connectors as an alternative to dry-mated cable is a dominant industry objective. We will deliver a prototype 33kV hybrid wet-mate connector with a connectivity monitoring system and future-proof features for higher voltage connector technologies. This will lead to efficient power transmission, reduced installation and maintenance costs and precision remote monitoring that reduces routine maintenance and intervention by divers, benefitting health, safety and affordability.

Keywords: offshore power cables connectors
On-line Intelligent Diagnostics and Predictive Maintenance Sensor System Integrated within the Wind Turbine Bus-Bar structure to aid Dynamic Maintenance Scheduling (WIND TURBARS)

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: France,United Kingdom,Spain,Croatia,United Kingdom,Spain,Türkiye
Call:  (FP7-SME-2012, 2012)
Start date: 2012-12-01
End date: 2014-11-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1401367.8
EU funding (EUR): 1066000.0
Participants: 9
Project status: CLOSED

Renewable energy (RE) sources have gained a great importance due to their inexhaustibility, sustainability, ecological awareness and supply of energy security. Among all RE sources, wind energy is currently viewed as one of the most significant fastest growing (at an average annual growth rate of more that 26% since 1990), commonly used and commercially attractive source to generate electrical energy. The vision of the wind industry in Europe is to increase wind’s fraction of electrical energy mix to more than 20% within the next 2 decades. To implement this, an average 10-15GW of additional capacity must be manufactured, delivered and implemented every year in Europe. In order to achieve this, further improvements in wind turbine technology are still needed. Wind turbines are not new concepts but still face challenges as a stable and reliable source of energy – issues with efficiency, operations, maintenance and its general costs. There is a need to reduce the rate of electrical system faults and the corresponding downtime per fault which will contribute significantly to the overall reduction of the operational and maintenance cost associated with current and future wind turbines. This project aims to develop an advanced diagnostics and predictive maintenance intelligent sensor system network for Wind Turbine (with particular focus on faults, failures and breakdowns relating to the electrical system of the wind turbine).

Keywords: sensing technologies,wind turbines,renewable energy,maintenance,energy
Replacing the Animal Source of Viscous Fluids Used in Cataract Surgery with the Okra Plant Source (OKRAVISION)

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: Estonia,Croatia,Sweden,Norway,United Kingdom,Germany
Call:  (FP7-SME-2012, 2012)
Start date: 2012-11-01
End date: 2014-10-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1434467.0
EU funding (EUR): 1105000.0
Participants: 7
Project status: CLOSED

Eye cataracts, leading to the loss of vision present a major problem for the aging population. This is currently cured by surgical procedure which requires a viscoelastic High Molecular Weight (HMW) product of Ophthalmic Viscosurgical Device to fill the space in the eye created during the surgery and to protect the healthy endothelial cells. Due to the growing elderly population, this market segment is expected to grow at least 7% per year and will reach €80 Mn in the EU and €240 Mn worldwide by 2014. The market need for (HMW) products is currently served by Hyaluronic acid (HA) and cheaper alternatives derived from cellulose with properties inferior to HA. The manufacturers have currently to rely on few suppliers of the high-quality raw materials i.e. roosters bred on a special diet. The animal nature of the raw materials makes the SMEs particularly vulnerable in light of a bird flu outbreak, creating the threat of losing up to an entire year supply of the raw material with a single outbreak in the region. In addition, using raw materials of animal origin in humans requires compliance with existing EU regulations (EC 1774/2002 and Directive 90/426/EEC, and also Directive 86/609/EEC, 3 R’s Declaration, and REACH). Hence EU SMEs such as ourselves realize that we should switch to a non-animal source of HMW substance, as a substitute to rooster combs originating HA. The main objective of the OkraVision project is to substitute animal based production of HMW HA with a cheaper and non-animal HMW substance: Rhamnopyranose–Galactopyranose–Galactopyranosyluronic Acid (RGGA) from the okra plant (fruit) with the targeted chain length of 800-1000 units, MW of 5-6 MDa, and the targeted zero shear viscosity of 1-3 Mn mPas for 1-2.5% aqueous solution. This will be done by developing a continuous and automised extraction and purification process of HMW RGGA from the okra fruit with a production efficiency of 3 g of RGGA from 1 kg (0.3% weight-to-weight) of sliced okra fruit.

Keywords: biocompatibility,purification,sterilisation,nanofiltration,catalytic oxidation
Clinical development of a VAR2CSA-based placental malaria vaccine (PLACMALVAC)

Framework: FP7 — Cooperation
Programme: Health
Destination: Translating research for human health
Action type: Collaborative project
Countries involved: Denmark,Denmark,France,Benin,Germany,Germany
Call:  (FP7-HEALTH-2012-INNOVATION-1, 2012)
Start date: 2013-03-01
End date: 2017-02-28
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 7863094.1
EU funding (EUR): 5934980.58
Participants: 6
Project status: CLOSED

Placental malaria, a special form of malaria targeting pregnant women, causes the death of 200,000 infants and 10,000 pregnant women each year. Placental malaria has no sustainable cure. The overall success criterion of the proposed project is to enable the manufacture of a vaccine, which protects fetus and mother against the adverse effects of malaria during pregnancy. Administered to women before they get pregnant the vaccine should induce antibodies that prevent the binding of malaria parasites in the placenta. Vaccine development is facilitated by the availability of an in vitro assay that predicts clinical immunity. With this proposal, we seek funding to produce the first placental malaria vaccine and perform the first clinical studies in humans. In parallel, we will prepare a field site and a protocol for a phase II study in African women. The partners behind the application have secured funding for ongoing work to down-select the current VAR2CSA lead antigens and to produce GLP batch protein for toxicology studies in animals, prior to the initiation of the work proposed here. Under the proposed FP7 project an SME, ExpreS2ion Biotechnologies will optimize production and purification of the vaccine. ExpreS2ion Biotechnologies operates a unique expression platform and this project will enable the company to expand their business into downstream process development. The academic partners are strong. Researchers at University of Copenhagen, (UCPH) originally discovered the vaccine protein and they have been collaborating with Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement (IRD) and Université d'Abomey-Calavi (UAC) to optimize vaccine antigens and to prepare sites for clinical testing. The European Vaccine Initiative (EVI) will provide product management and coordinate execution of the phase I clinical trial. Thus, this study will provide a product to continue into efficacy studies in Africa, which could be initiated shortly after the end of the project.

Keywords: malaria,vaccine,clinical phase i trial,sme,prevention,var2csa,placental malaria,preparation for efficacy trials
Advancing Binaural Cochlear Implant Technology (ABCIT)

Framework: FP7 — Cooperation
Programme: Health
Destination: Translating research for human health
Action type: Collaborative project
Countries involved: United Kingdom,France,Germany
Call:  (FP7-HEALTH-2012-INNOVATION-2, 2012)
Start date: 2012-09-01
End date: 2015-08-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 5279350.4
EU funding (EUR): 4000000.0
Participants: 4
Project status: CLOSED

Cochlear implants (CI) are the most successful sensory prosthetic devices developed to date, as judged by their ability to restore sensory and motor function (i.e. hearing and normal speech patterns) in the profoundly deaf. With 1 in 7 of the population affected by hearing impairment, and an increasingly ageing population Europe-wide, sensory therapies for hearing are critical for the future physical, social and economic health of the European Union. Nevertheless, considerable progress remains to be made if CI users are to be able to hear and communication in even moderately challenging ‘cocktail party’ environments, where sources must be localized and individual conversations heard out from a background of multiple talkers, room reverberations and extraneous noise sources. This requires two-eared, or binaural, hearing. To this end, the next generation of cochlear implants will be binaural and feature semi-automated fitting procedures, aided by the objective measurement of evoked brain responses. The restoration of binaural hearing, the ability to integrate information from the two ears is critical to hearing performance. Although bilateral implantation (an independent implant in each ear) provides some opportunity for this, the temporal information required to achieve true binaural hearing is completely absent. The current proposal will develop the first generation of binaural implants capable of exploiting the temporal information arriving at each ear to provide true cocktail party listening for deaf individuals using cochlear implants, and a new generation of medical devices that take account of the requirements of the binaural brain to restore effective hearing. Significant benefit will accrue to the SME, Neurelec, in the development of new stimulation algorithms and research interfaces, and both they and hearing-impaired individuals will benefit from the development of a sensory technology designed to enhance communication over the life course.

Keywords: hearing disability,cochlear implant,binaural processing,novel objective measures,automated fitting,pre-clinical testing