Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Optogenetic Analysis of Serotonin Function in the Mammalian Brain (5HT-OPTOGENETICS)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Neurosciences and neural disorders
Countries involved: Portugal
Call:  (ERC-2009-AdG, 2009)
Start date: 2010-07-01
End date: 2015-12-31
Duration (months): 66.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2318636.4
EU funding (EUR): 2318636.4
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

Serotonin (5-HT) is implicated in a wide spectrum of brain functions and disorders. However, its functions remain controversial and enigmatic. We suggest that past work on the 5-HT system have been significantly hampered by technical limitations in the selectivity and temporal resolution of the conventional pharmacological and electrophysiological methods that have been applied. We therefore propose to apply novel optogenetic methods that will allow us to overcome these limitations and thereby gain new insight into the biological functions of this important molecule. In preliminary studies, we have demonstrated that we can deliver exogenous proteins specifically to 5-HT neurons using viral vectors. Our objectives are to (1) record, (2) stimulate and (3) silence the activity of 5-HT neurons with high molecular selectivity and temporal precision by using genetically-encoded sensors, activators and inhibitors of neural function. These tools will allow us to monitor and control the 5-HT system in real-time in freely-behaving animals and thereby to establish causal links between information processing in 5-HT neurons and specific behaviors. In combination with quantitative behavioral assays, we will use this approach to define the role of 5-HT in sensory, motor and cognitive functions. The significance of the work is three-fold. First, we will establish a new arsenal of tools for probing the physiological and behavioral functions of 5-HT neurons. Second, we will make definitive tests of major hypotheses of 5-HT function. Third, we will have possible therapeutic applications. In this way, the proposed work has the potential for a major impact in research on the role of 5-HT in brain function and dysfunction.

Keywords: computational neuroscience,olfactory system,reinforcement learning,serotonin,5-ht,optogenetic,rat,psychophysics
A Systems Level Approach to Proliferation and Differentiation Control in Neural Stem Cell Lineages (NEUROSYSTEM)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Cellular and Developmental Biology
Countries involved: Austria
Call:  (ERC-2009-AdG, 2009)
Start date: 2010-04-01
End date: 2015-03-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2499875.0
EU funding (EUR): 2499875.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The aim of this proposal is to understand how self-renewal is controlled in neural stem cell lineages and how defects in this process can lead to the formation of brain tumors in model organisms. The system we use are Drosophila neuroblasts, stem cell like progenitors in the developing fly brain that undergo repeated rounds of asymmetric cell division. During each division, protein determinants called Numb, Prospero and Brat are segregated into one of the daughter cells where they stop self-renewal and ultimately trigger neuronal differentiation. Mutations in those proteins or their segregation machinery lead to the formation of tumor neuroblasts, which proliferate indefinitely leading to the formation of a deadly brain tumor. The approach we take is to determine the transcriptional network that acts in neuroblasts to control self-renewal. We will use time-resolved transcriptional profiling to determine, how this network changes in the differentiating daughter cell and develop tools for medium-throughput functional analysis of the key network players. We will develop methodology for tissue-specific chromatin immunoprecipitation to determine, how the asymmetrically segregating determinants feed into this network. Using this data set, we will determine the pathological state of the network in the tumorigenic situation. We will determine, how wild type neural stem cells limit their proliferation capacity and how those control mechanisms are affected in the tumor situation. Ultimately, we will expand this analysis to other stem cell systems inside and outside the fly nervous system to determine how modifications of stem cell systems like transit amplifying pools or perpetual adult proliferation are reflected in network architecture.

Keywords: asymmetric cell division,tumor stem cells
Science and technology development for in situ detection and cjharacterization of subsurface life on the Iberian Pyritic Belt (IPBSL)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Evolutionary, population and environmental biology
Countries involved: Spain,Germany
Call:  (ERC-2009-AdG, 2009)
Start date: 2010-06-01
End date: 2015-05-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 3246000.0
EU funding (EUR): 3246000.0
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

Terrestrial subsurface geomicrobiology is a matter of growing interest on many level. From a fundamental point of view, it seeks to determine wheter life can be sustained in the absence of radiation. From an astrobiological point of view, it is an interesting model for early life on Earth, as well as a representation of life as it could occur in other planetary bodies. Río Tinto is an unusual extreme acidic environment, it rises in the core of the Iberian Pyritic Belt (IPB), one of the biggest sulfidic ore deposits in the world. Today it is clear that the extreme characteristics of Ró Tinto are not due to mining activity, but to the chemolithotrophic microorganisms thriving in the high concentration of metal sulfides of the IPB. To explore the hypothesis that a continuous underground reactor of chemolithotrophic microorganisms thriving in the rich sulfidic minerals of the IPB is responsible for the extreme conditions found in the river, we propose a drilling project to detect the subsurface microbial activity, the potential resources to support these microbial communities, and to follow the in situ geomicrobiological evolution in real time. In this project, we propose to explore the Río Tinto at deep-basement regions (200-1000 m) by means of new approaches comprising: i) detection of life and estimation of the microbial diversity at the drilling sites providing an instant picture of the subsurface habitat, and ii) real time monitoring, inside the borehole, of physico-chemical parameters and biological activity generating essential information to recognize matter and energy fluxes. All these procesess are associated to long-term changes in the underground habitats and are not fully understood based on seasonal discontinuous subsurface analysis. To achieve these goals we will analize cores and fluids in the field site using new and poweful tools.

Keywords: subsurface microbiology,chemolithoautotrophy
Translation of Computational Heart Models into the Clinic (COMHEART2CLINIC)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: European Re-integration Grants
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2009-RG, 2009)
Start date: 2010-04-01
End date: 2012-03-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 30000.0
EU funding (EUR): 30000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The main objective of ComHeart2Clinic is the integration of multi-scale computational models of the heart into the clinic, addressing the translational challenges of this research. The project is focused on the Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy – CRT, a treatment for Heart Failure. This therapy consists of the placement of three pacing leads in the heart of the patient to restore its synchrony. There is currently a rate of 30% of non-responders to CRT. Recent developments in heart computational models are providing promising tools that could increase CRT effectiveness, broaden inclusion criteria, maximize the CRT benefit and avoid unnecessary procedures. The research hypothesis is that such models will reduce the uncertainty of diagnosis and predict the response to CRT. The expected result is the development and validation of a “ComHeart-assisted CRT” system for an enhanced CRT clinical outcome by a better patient selection, lead position planning and pacemaker configuration. The project will address the personalization of the computational models, the system prototyping and the model verification &amp; system validation.

Keywords: cardiology,biomedical engineering,computational biology
Next generation atom chips. Planar microwave traps for experiments with cold atoms and ions/electrons. (NGAMIT)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: European Re-integration Grants
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2009-RG, 2009)
Start date: 2010-04-01
End date: 2013-03-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 45000.0
EU funding (EUR): 45000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The scope of this project is the experimental implementation of the next generation atom chip. Atom chips consist of planar microstructures (several µm down to 100 nm), which generate the magnetic/electric fields for confining and cooling of neutral atoms. Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) can be regularly achieved on atom chips. The key feature of the new chips will be trapping of neutral atoms by means of microwaves. These interact with the atomic hyperfine structure and will be locally generated on the chip’s surface using planar transmission-lines, like microstrips, slotlines and coplanar waveguides. Remarkably, the novel microwave traps will enable the simultaneous trapping of neutral atoms and charged particles with a single common technology for all trapped species. The resulting atom-ion chip will become a powerful tool for studying several topics in atomic physics: collisions of ultracold atoms with ions/electrons, charge-transfer reactions, sympathetic cooling of charged particles by cold atoms, hybrid quantum computation schemes with atoms and ions, etc. The project will also focus on the improvement of the precision of some fundamental constants, like atomic masses and electronic g-factors, through the implementation of matter-wave-interferometry tools for charged particles, similar to those demonstrated for neutral atoms on chips.

Keywords: atomic physics,spectroscopy,rf design,statistical physics,metrology
The Ontology of Mental Causation (MENTALCAUSE)

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-2009-IEF, 2009)
Start date: 2010-09-01
End date: 2011-08-31
Duration (months): 12.0
Total project cost (EUR): 117544.8
EU funding (EUR): 117544.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The proposal being submitted is an interdisciplinary project belonging to the area of ontology of mind. The long-term goal of the project is to find an answer to the question whether a consistent conception of events, properties and agents can be proposed and defended which would make it possible to speak about irreducible, causally potent, mental factors. Subsequent research stages of the project are: (1) The analysis of anti-dualistic arguments: the supervenience argument, the exclusion argument, the overdetermination argument; (2) The comparative and reductive analysis of causal relata; (3) The analysis of causal relation; (4) The analysis of dispositional properties; (5) The ontology of subjects of experience as rational selves and free agents. As a result of the research project, I expect: (i) preparing and developing an adequate terminology in which issues in mental causation can be framed; (ii) analysing the problem of causal relata and causal relation itself and formulating basic theses in otology of properties, events and agents; (iii) reconstructing and critically analysing anti-dualistic arguments; (iv) recognizing interconnections between various groups of metaphysical and scientific problems intertwined with such notions as overdetermination, causal closure of the physical domain, realization, determination, ontological dependence and emergence; (v) critically analysing some of the options within the mental causation debate such as anomalous monism, reductive and non-reductive physicalism and emergent dualism; (vi) developing a sufficiently rich ontology of the human person which will be in position to deliver persuasive answers to the most frequent questions that appear within the mental causation debate and the metaphysics of human being.

Keywords: mind,causation,person,agent,overdetermination,supervenience,emergence,closure,disposition,property,event,continuants,occurrents,humanities,philosophy,ontology
Lagrangian approach to understand upper ocean processes (LAGAPOCE)

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: Spain
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2009-IOF, 2009)
Start date: 2010-08-20
End date: 2013-08-19
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 200729.9
EU funding (EUR): 200729.9
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The ocean is an important part of the earth climate’s system, contributing to transport the excess of heat from the equator to the northern latitudes. The air-sea interaction and most of the biological productivity occur in the upper ocean. Despite that, the precise physical processes that govern the ocean surface circulation are still not well defined. The objective of this proposal is to advance in the understanding of the physical processes that govern the upper-ocean circulation of the oceanic subtropical gyres, by focusing in two complementary systems, the Kuroshio Current (outgoing phase) and the Canary Current (return phase), the western and eastern components of the north Pacific and Atlantic subtropical gyres. The particular scientific objectives will be approached by way of an innovative methodology that combines surface lagrangian velocities and satellite data. Surface lagrangian observations provide now a days the most accurate and feasible representation of surface ocean circulation at open and coastal ocean. This methodology, recently developed by the outgoing research group, will permit to obtain the first detailed analysis of the actual surface circulation patterns of both areas. The outgoing phase will be carried in one of the world’s most prestigious ocean research organizations, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (USA). Data analyses and evaluation of results will be jointly carried out with scientist with wide expertise in the proposed scientific and methodological topics, and in the framework of current multidisciplinary experiments of the outgoing host group. The return phase, in one of the leading European centre for ocean research, the Instituto Español de Oceanografia (Spain), will permit to capitalize the experience and training acquired, by addressing the return scientific objectives. The fellowship will permit to bring back to Europe a unique knowledge in the use of surface lagrangian data to understand and monitor the upper ocean.

Keywords: climate,ocean circulation,physical oceanography,ocean observing systems and operational forecasting,lagrangian observations
Role of the mitochondrial sirtuins, SIRT3 and SIRT5, in hepatic metabolism and pathology. (RMSSSHMP)

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-2009-IEF, 2009)
Start date: 2011-02-01
End date: 2013-01-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 173565.2
EU funding (EUR): 173565.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The function of the three mitochondrial sirtuins SIRT3, 4, and 5 is poorly understood at present. As a limited number of studies have focused on SIRT3, its exact function and regulation in mammalian physiology need still to be elucidated. Likewise, beyond its recently discovered role in the regulation of carbamoyl phosphate synthase 1 (CPS1), nothing is known about the function of SIRT5, one of the other mitochondrial deacetylases from the sirtuin family. The present research project proposes to elucidate the function of SIRT3 and SIRT5 in the liver, a tissue in which both sirtuins are highly expressed. To accomplish this we will achieve the following specific aims: first, generating mice that lack SIRT3, SIRT5, and both SIRT3 and 5 specifically in hepatocytes. Second, evaluating how altering SIRT3 and/or SIRT5 expression levels specifically in liver can affect the hepatic and organismal response to metabolic stresses such as diets rich in carbohydrates and fat, in proteins, or in ethanol, whose metabolism takes place mostly in the mitochondria and, for the most part, in liver cells. Finally, we want to study whether SIRT3 and SIRT5 are involved in liver tumor development: exposure to different tumorigenic stimuli as alcohol-rich diets or certain mutagenic treatments leads to a change in SIRT3 and SIRT5 activity and cellular localization; all this points towards a possible function of these proteins in liver tumor development, an aspect we want to study in this project. We expect that our research will elucidate the basic function of hepatic SIRT3 and SIRT5 in metabolism and cancer. The outcome of our work will not only be useful from a fundamental scientific point of view, but it will also pave the way to new therapies that target SIRT3 and/or SIRT5 or the signaling pathways controlled by them in metabolic disease and hepatocarcinoma, ultimately improving healthspan and healthy aging.

Keywords: natural sciences,metabolism,sirtuin,sirt3,sirt5,liver,cancer,mouse model
Dynamic Near Field Imaging (DYNEFI)

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-2009-IEF, 2009)
Start date: 2010-11-01
End date: 2012-10-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 180470.8
EU funding (EUR): 180470.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Dynamic Light Scattering is a widespread technique for measuring fluid properties in soft matter. It is used to investigate complex fluids, colloids, proteins, nano-particles, but also samples of bio-physical and medical interest. The advent of pixilated sensors like CCD cameras and fast computers allowed the design of different imaging techniques aimed at providing the same quantitative information. Dynamic Near Field Imaging (DyNeFI) is a family of novel optical techniques of this kind. Different variants of this new approach have been successfully designed and used for very refined measurements, nevertheless the soft matter community is not aware of this intriguing possibility. The proposed project aims at: increasing the measuring capabilities of DyNeFI by the integration of new measuring concepts, applying it to samples coming from different research areas thus providing new science and starting developing instruments which can be commercialized in a next future. Essentially the project can be divided into three modules: A) Investigation of the dynamics of the transition between capillary waves and non equilibrium fluctuations in a critical binary mixture undergoing phase transition in order to get deeper insight of the dissolution of an interface between two fluid phases and also provide a tool to measure the effective surface tension B) Application of the technique to micro-rheological measurements, in order to compare the Dy-NeFI technique with other tools for measuring the viscoelastic properties of complex fluids C) Extension of the technique to fast dynamics, through Micro Mirror Device concept, in order to overcome the major disadvantage of the technique, which is the limited ability to investigate fast dynamics

Keywords: soft matter and polymer physics,experimental physics,applied optics,dynamic light scattering,complex fluids,micro-rheology,capillary waves,non equilibrium fluctuations,diffusion,critical mixtures
Plant-words and the transformation of personhood in Masikoro healing practices in Madagascar (PLAWOMAD)

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-2009-IEF, 2009)
Start date: 2010-10-01
End date: 2013-07-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 171740.8
EU funding (EUR): 171740.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

My tenure at the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology in Oxford would be used to examine the mechanisms which guide indigenous therapeutic practices and to critically examine conventional scholarly approaches which regard these practices as &quot;traditional pharmacopoeia&quot; and tend to incorrectly equate them with the pharmacopoeia of Western biomedicine. My research at the ISCA aims to set up the methodology and to develop and refine the following two hypotheses that will be used in the field;1) traditional medical treatments dynamically integrate newly introduced plants; 2) plants and animals used in cures for everyday ailments involve ritual and symbolic dimensions. For this complex study which draws from several disciplines, 12 months of pre-field study preparation is essential. Indeed, one of my central aims is the creation of an approach that combines medical anthropology, botany. Among many other things, residence at ISCA will provide me access to experts from medical anthropology. In particular, my project will benefit from collaboration with renowned experts in my topics, notably E. Hsu, a specialist on medical anthropology and ethnobotany. As concerns my first hypothesis, the first step requires establishing a general overview of the known invasive plants in the tropical areas of the Indian Ocean and in particular in Madagascar (see for example P. Binggeli, 2003). This work will be done through an analysis of bibliographic resources, of Herbarium resources in Kew Garden including databases from Kew Garden and Sonnerat. As concerns the second hypothesis, I will analyze the information on plants and animals in the southwest of Madagascar (see for example Goodman, 2003) in light of my working hypotheses on the logic of local therapeutic practices in Madagascar. In particular, I will undertake an exhaustive bibliographic search to develop theories on the physical traits of plants that the Malagasy are likely to draw upon when naming and using them.

Keywords: social sciences medical anthropology madagascar materiality plant