Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
From Isolated Compartments to Intracellular Networks: Deciphering Interorganelle Communication (ORGANET)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Cellular and Developmental Biology
Countries involved: Switzerland
Call:  (ERC-2013-StG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-03-01
End date: 2019-02-28
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1494503.0
EU funding (EUR): 1494503.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Organelles exchange metabolites and information to coordinate essential aspects of cellular physiology, thus behaving as an integrated intracellular network. For example, the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) makes contacts with several organelles, including the plasma membrane, mitochondria, the Golgi apparatus, and lysosomes. These contacts allow the coordination of calcium and lipid homeostasis across the cell. Yet, little is known about their molecular nature. A long-standing question in cell biology has been how membrane-rich mitochondria receive lipids synthesized in the ER in the absence of vesicular transport between the two organelles. One model suggests that lipids directly shuttle from one organelle to the other at sites of contact, although the hypothesis lacked molecular details. A breakthrough in the field resulted from my postdoctoral research in Peter Walter's laboratory, where I discovered a protein complex that tethers the ER and the mitochondria. This tethering complex called ER-Mitochondria Encounter Structures (ERMES) provides the tethering force necessary to physically couple the two organelles. Our discovery of molecular components of ER-mitochondria junctions opened a fascinating new area of research in interorganelle communication. Our long-term goals for ER-mitochondria study are to understand: (a) the physiological importance of these connections, how they facilitate interorganelle metabolite transport and how this transport affects the functionality of the respective organelles, (b) the molecular architecture that results in interorganelle tethering, (c) the regulation of these junctions, and (d) the conservation between yeast and higher eukaryotes. As most membrane bound compartments establish networks of contact sites with their neighbors, we anticipate that the findings of our proposed ERC research on the ERMES complex will set a framework for deciphering the entire intracellular interorganelle network.

Keywords: interorganelle communication mitochondria ermes endoplasmic reticulum membranes
Unraveling the cellular responses to aberrantly-folded and aggregated proteins (PROTEOTOXNET)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Genetics,Genomics,Bioinformatics and Systems Biology
Countries involved: Switzerland
Call:  (ERC-2013-StG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-03-01
End date: 2019-06-30
Duration (months): 64.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1500000.0
EU funding (EUR): 1500000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Protein aggregation diseases are associated with the intracellular accumulation of specific misfolded protein aggregates, that are directly implicated in cellular dysfunction. A range of human disorders of previously unknown nature now falls into this category. The mechanisms of aggregation-induced cell degeneration are however unclear, resulting in poor therapeutic strategies. In this project we will characterize the network of cellular responses to a set of disease-related aggregation-prone proteins (APPs) and determine how to efficiently modulate proteotoxicity. In a discovery phase, we will use proteome-wide screens to identify functional modules that sequentially respond to APP aggregation. A novel method to probe conformational changes of proteins in their biological matrix will be applied to quantify concomitant changes in APP conformation during the toxicity cascade. Our eminently quantitative approach will allow us to characterize the kinetics of intracellular aggregate formation and the resulting cellular responses. A set of biological markers for different functional modules and toxicity stages will be measured using a selected reaction monitoring-fingerprint assay, through a set of genetic and chemical modulators of proteotoxicity. This will unravel how modulators rewire or compensate for the deregulated networks and suggest their most efficient combinations. The multi-level information will be iteratively integrated with prior data and network structure. Emerging hypotheses will be tested using a combination of genetic and biochemical tools and targeted proteomic experiments. This project features novel concepts and methods and will allow us to unravel the molecular events accompanying the onset of proteinopathies and their modulation. It will positively impact biomedical research on protein aggregation diseases, guide identification of suitable therapeutic strategies and advance our understanding of the biology of protein aggregation.

Keywords: targeted proteomics,protein aggregation,mass spectrometry,protein networks
Families and food poverty in three European Countries in an Age of Austerity (FFP)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Institutions, values, beliefs and behaviour
Countries involved: United Kingdom,Norway,Portugal
Call:  (ERC-2013-StG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-05-01
End date: 2019-04-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1370937.49
EU funding (EUR): 1370937.49
Participants: 6
Project status: CLOSED

Food poverty in the global North is emerging as an urgent social and moral concern, increasingly recognized as a central issue in the field of health inequalities in industrialized countries. With widening income disparity in Austerity Europe and ‘the end of cheap food’, these effects are being exacerbated. International media report an increase in the number of children arriving at school hungry, a dramatic rise in the number of food banks handing out food parcels to families and parents forced to choose between ‘heating and eating’. However, little is known about how food practices are negotiated in low-income families, children’s and young people’s perspectives of food poverty and how it affects their lives, or how food poverty manifests and is addressed in different places. The proposed interdisciplinary, ambitious and innovative study will answer such questions, breaking new ground by: a) applying a mixed method international comparative case study design to the study of household food poverty b) including the experiences of children and young people using both extensive and intensive data and c) drawing on methodological developments in the sociology of food and consumption to elucidate habitual behaviour. Providing for ‘a contrast of contexts’ in relation to conditions of austerity, the study focuses on Portugal, where poor families with children have been most affected by economic retrenchment, the UK, which is experiencing substantial cuts in benefits to poor families, and Norway which, in comparison with most societies, is highly egalitarian and has not been subject to austerity measures. Building on the Principal Investigator’s (PI’s) current mixed-methods UK research on families, food and paid work, the project will develop the PI’s research skills, publication record and international reputation. Engaging academic and non-academic beneficiaries at various stages of analysis and dissemination the study will achieve societal as well as scientific impact.
Citicoline and deoxyglucose as new molecular imaging probes of DNP hyperpolarized MRI for cancer and neuroimaging (HYPERPOLARIZED MRI)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Diagnostic tools, therapies and public health
Countries involved: Israel
Call:  (ERC-2013-StG, 2013)
Start date: 2013-11-01
End date: 2018-10-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1650000.0
EU funding (EUR): 1650000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Radioactively labeled deoxyglucose and choline are the leading molecular imaging probes for positron emission tomography (PET). The clinical applications for this imaging modality include brain function, cardiac imaging, and inflammation, along with oncological applications which are taking the lead. The radiation exposure associated with these examinations is limiting the use of this powerful technology in repeated examinations, in specific populations (pregnant women and children), as a screening tool for the wide population, and as a clinical research tool. Hyperpolarized magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is an evolving pre-clinical and clinical imaging modality which is non-invasive and non-radioactive. As in PET, the molecular imaging probe used is at the heart of this examination. Originally developed for the purpose of distinguishing the metabolic products of the injected molecular probe, our group, in collaborations with researchers abroad, is a pioneer in showing that direct imaging of specific molecular probes (stable isotope labeled choline and glucose analogs) with hyperpolarized MRI is capable of showing specific tissue uptake, a pre-requisite for diagnostic imaging. The purpose of the current proposal is to establish hyperpolarized MRI capabilities in our own lab and reach two general goals: 1) to use various physiological and pharmacological models to further establish and characterize the conditions in which non-radioactive choline and glucose analogs and derivatives can be useful as imaging probes; and 2) to investigate further the molecular probe that is best suitable for these imaging applications in terms of pharmacokinetics, metabolism, and imaging efficiency. Our focus will be on 1) the actual chemical entity of the probes - where citicoline and deoxyglucose are promising candidates; and 2) the stable isotope labeling strategy. The overriding goal is to aid in translation of this pre-clinical imaging approach to clinical use.

Keywords: cancer,neurological and psychiatric conditions,nmr,mri,mrs,spectroscopy,spin hyperpolarization,dynamic nuclear polarization,choline,glucose,carbon-13,deuterium
Dynamics, noise, and coupling in gene circuit modules (COUPLED GENE CIRCUIT)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Genetics,Genomics,Bioinformatics and Systems Biology
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call:  (ERC-2013-StG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-02-01
End date: 2019-12-31
Duration (months): 71.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1499571.0
EU funding (EUR): 1499571.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Cells must integrate output from multiple genetic circuits in order to correctly control cellular processes. Despite much work characterizing regulation in these circuits, how circuits interact to control global cellular programs remains unclear. This is particularly true given that recent research at the single cell level has revealed that genetic circuits often generate variable or stochastic regulation dynamics. In this proposal we will use a multi-disciplinary approach, combining modelling and time-lapse microscopy, to investigate how cells can robustly integrate signals from multiple dynamic genetic circuits. In particular we will answer the following questions: 1) What types of dynamic signal encoding strategies are available for the cell? 2) What are the benefits of dynamic gene activation, whether stochastic or oscillatory, to the cell? 3) How do cells couple and integrate output from diverse gene modules despite the noise and variability observed in gene circuit dynamics? We will study these questions using 2 key model systems. In Aim 1, we will examine stochastic pulse regulation dynamics and coupling between alternative sigma factors in B. subtilis. Our preliminary data has revealed that multiple B. subtilis sigma factors stochastically pulse under stress. We will look for evidence of any coupling or interactions between these stochastic pulse circuits. This system will serve as a model for how a cell uses stochastic pulsing to control diverse cellular processes. In Aim 2, we will examine coupling between a deterministic oscillator, the circadian clock, and multiple other key pathways in Cyanobacteria. We will examine how the cell can dynamically couple multiple cellular processes using an oscillating signal. This work will provide an excellent base for Aim 3, in which we will use synthetic biology approaches to develop ‘bottom up’ tests of generation of novel dynamic coupling strategies.

Keywords: single cell time-lapse microscopy,mathematical modelling,synthetic biology
Empirical Macro-Finance and the Financial Economics of Insurance Markets (EMF-FEIM)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Individuals, institutions and markets
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call:  (ERC-2013-StG, 2013)
Start date: 2013-10-01
End date: 2018-09-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1077765.32
EU funding (EUR): 1077765.32
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

My project consists of two lines of work. 1.Empirical Macro-Finance: Asset prices are informative about the macro-economic risks that matter to investors and about the welfare costs of economic fluctuations. However, recent empirical evidence suggests that leading asset pricing models cannot explain how risks are priced across maturities in equity markets, which is a key input to measuring the costs of business cycles. An analysis of what leading models miss will vastly improve our understanding of how the real economy and asset prices are related. Also, by expanding our empirical evidence about the term structure of equity to the firm-level, I plan to study how investment decisions relate to asset prices. My goal is to measure the firms' incentives to invest and how this impacts economic growth more broadly. 2.Financial Economics of Insurance Markets: Households in Europe and the US can choose from a wide variety of insurance products that insure health and mortality risks. Choosing between these products is no easy task and the costs from sub-optimal insurance choices are estimated to be large. My plan is to develop a comprehensive life-cycle theory of insurance choice that accounts for family structure, risk factors such as labor income and housing, and different institutional settings across countries. I also plan to study the supply side of insurance markets. The traditional view is that insurance prices are driven by life-cycle demand or informational frictions. However, as is clear from evidence during the financial crisis, insurance companies are in fact financial institutions. If financial constraints bind, it may affect insurance prices and ultimately consumers' welfare. My goal is to understand how financial frictions affect insurance companies. A policy implication of my research may be that the private supply of insurance is an imperfect substitute for public supply as insurance companies face different incentives and constraints than the government.
The Idea of Animation: Aesthetics, Locality and the Formation of Media Identity (IDEAOFANIMATION)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Cultures and cultural production
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call:  (ERC-2013-StG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-01-01
End date: 2018-12-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 560734.0
EU funding (EUR): 560734.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

This project examines how changing notions of animated film emerged during the period of its consolidation, from the introduction of animated films in cinema programmes in the mid-1910s to the surge in interest in animation and the global prominence of Walt Disney studios in the 1930s. The project investigates how a changing cultural and aesthetic identity of animated film was negotiated within films and articulated in the discourse surrounding cinema. As a new medium, animated film was marked by shifting understandings of its identity, with animated films themselves often experimenting with and reflecting on the form. Sometimes situating themselves within contexts of modernity and modernism, animated films negotiated the place of animation as a medium within a wider cultural and social field. Animation was also closely entwined with other media and arts; in addition to live action film, music, comic strips, illustrated books and theatre all played a prominent role in the constitution and development of animated film. Further shaping its identity, the reception and discourse of animation – including marketing, theorizations and discussions in the popular press – contributed to an emerging sense of what animation was, what it could (or should) do, and what its place in a wider context of visual culture entailed. In order to trace these various facets of animated film, the project will focus on three of the most significant national contexts of exhibition and production during the period: the United States, England and France. This will allow for a comparative examination of ideas of animation, linked to national and transnational spheres of production, exhibition and reception. In doing so, the project will develop new approaches to the historiography of animation that enlarge our perspective on this crucial subject in the history of twentieth century visual culture, during an under-researched period in its development.

Keywords: animation,film,aesthetics,media identity,modernity
Modeling and controlling traffic congestion and propagation in large-scale urban multimodal networks (METAFERW)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Environment and society
Countries involved: Switzerland
Call:  (ERC-2013-StG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-02-01
End date: 2019-01-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1242162.0
EU funding (EUR): 1242162.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

As cities grow rapidly and more people through different modes compete for limited urban road infrastructure to travel, it is important to manage traffic space to improve accessibility for travelers. This project tackles the problem of modeling and optimization in large-scale congested traffic networks with an aggregated realistic representation of dynamics and route choice and multiple modes of transport. This is a highly motivating problem both because of the socio-economic influence of congestion and the challenges embedded in the optimization framework and the modeling aspects. Currently most optimization methods for transport networks (i) are suited for toy networks with simplified dynamics that are far from real-sized networks, (ii) apply decentralized control, which is not appropriate for heterogeneously loaded networks, (iii) investigate engineering solutions through micro-simulation models and scenario analysis that make the problem intractable in real time, (iv) are not considering interactions and conflicts between transport modes (car, bus, delivery vehicle). This problem is even more challenging if one considers that transportation networks have a hierarchical structure with freeways and urban roads with mixed or separated traffic (e.g. bus-only lanes), that have dissimilar traffic flow dynamics. Lack of coordination among the jurisdictions during traffic operations or limited means of traffic data monitoring and communication can impede such mixed traffic network ideal goal. Traditionally, choices of people in transportation networks are based on equilibrium conditions with small variations.The huge amount of datasets (including thousands of GPS data from taxis, cars and buses and road detector data from heavily populated cities worldwide) can provide a unique way to understand how really people make choices, how these choices affect the development and spreading of congestion in networks and integrate them in the macroscopic dynamics and optimization

Keywords: transportation,traffic congestion,public transportation,traffic signal control,urban systems,traffic flow,logistics
Unraveling the Language of Perspective (PERSPECTIVE)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: The Human Mind and its complexity
Countries involved: Netherlands
Call:  (ERC-2013-StG, 2013)
Start date: 2013-12-01
End date: 2019-03-31
Duration (months): 64.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1044798.0
EU funding (EUR): 1044798.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

We always take in a certain perspective when we speak. Languages have a wide variety of linguistic means to express perspective. While perspectival elements are most of the time used from the perspective of the speaker, they can also be used from the perspective of someone else, a possibility that is fully exploited in narratives. The central aim of this project is to deepen our understanding of perspective shifts. It will not only elucidate the semantic and pragmatic mechanisms underlying interpretation shifts of specific expressions, but also unite them in a general formal model of perspective shift. Moreover, these insights will be used to unravel the linguistic grounding of narrative perspective. The project will focus on Ancient Greek, a language with a particularly rich perspective system. Not only do many classes of expressions involve perspective in some way (e.g. attitudinal particles, optative mood, tense and aspect, evaluatives, participles), but authors like Thucydides are also known for their subtle manipulation of narrative perspective. It is far from clear, however, how these shifts in narrative perspective are effected by the linguistic expressions used. This project will study (i) the relation between attitudinal particles and perspective shifts, (ii) the role of evaluative expressions, and (iii) the relation between temporal perspective and narrative perspective. State-of-the-art computational methods will be used to extract data from existing corpora, revealing patterns that have eluded traditional methods; this methodology will be a major innovation in the field of classical philology. The present project goes beyond previous semantic studies (i) by investigating more subtle and pervasive ways of perspective creation than the free indirect discourse technique and (ii) through the development of a general formal model of perspective shift, integrating the contribution of several perspective involving expressions.

Keywords: formal semantics,philosophy of language,pragmatics,indexicality,speech reports,attitude reports