Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
THE TAPHONOMY OF COLOUR IN FOSSIL INSECTS AND FEATHERS (FOSSIL COLOUR)

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: Ireland
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-CIG, 2013)
Start date: 2013-09-01
End date: 2018-05-11
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Coloration is a multifunctional attribute of modern animals but its evolutionary history is poorly resolved, in part due to our limited ability to recognize and interpret fossil evidence of colour. Indeed, original coloration was considered one of the most enigmatic aspects of the biology of ancient organisms, but recent studies on fossil feathers and the cuticles of fossil insects have led to advances in the field. Research to date, however, has focussed on very specific aspects of colour, i.e. fossil melanosomes in feathers and structural colours in fossil insects. As a result, key aspects of the fossil record of colour in insects and feathers are unknown, and the evolutionary histories of the diverse colours and colour patterns deployed by modern insects and birds are poorly resolved. The innovative and multidisciplinary research proposed herein will resolve these issues by employing a powerful three-fold approach combining decay experiments, maturation experiments and fossil analysis to the study of the taphonomy of key pigments (melanins, carotenoids and pterins) and colour-producing structures in insects and feathers. Experiments will simulate the processes of autolytic decay and deep burial, and will elucidate, for the first time, the chemical steps involved in the alteration of key pigments in insects and feathers during decay and diagenesis, and the extent to which this process, and alteration of structural colours, is impacted by sedimentological and taxonomic factors. The experimental results will ground truth data obtained from comprehensive analysis of diverse fossil insects and feathers from the Cenozoic and Mesozoic, facilitating the first systematic attempt to map preservation of colour in fossil insects and feathers through deep time. In doing so the research will resolve outstanding questions regarding the taphonomy of colour and will enhance our ability to infer original coloration and its evolution and functions in fossil insects and theropods.

Keywords: fossil preservation,taphonomy,soft tissue,pigments,structural colour,biophotonic nanostructures,melanin,melanosomes,carotenoids,pterins,insect cuticle,lipids,keratin
The Effects of Emotion on Top-Down Prioritization Among Younger and Older Adults (EMOTION AND CONTROL)

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: United Kingdom
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-CIG, 2013)
Start date: 2013-12-01
End date: 2018-06-28
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Our everyday surroundings provide an overwhelming amount of information. In contrast, our processing resources are limited. Thus, it is necessary to prioritize important information while inhibiting distracting information. This prioritization process is especially important when encountering a situation or stimulus which is important for survival and feeling emotional arousal. However, there is surprisingly little consensus about how emotional arousal influences top-down prioritization. Building on our recent model, the proposed project addresses the novel hypothesis that emotional arousal influences top-down prioritization by enhancing the processing of important information (target enhancement) and suppressing representations of distracting information (distractor suppression). To test this hypothesis, I will examine the effects of arousal for target enhancement and distractor suppression separately by using both behavioural and neuroimaging methodologies. In addition, the proposed project will include both younger and older adults to characterize the age-related changes between emotional arousal and top-down prioritization. Relative to younger adults, older adults typically show selective deficits in distractor suppression with preserved target enhancement processing. Thus, examination of the effects of arousal in older adults should provide insights into whether emotional arousal can facilitate target enhancement independently from distractor suppression. For decades, research on emotion-cognition interaction focused on whether and how emotionally arousing stimuli are differently processed than neutral stimuli. However, this focus is only part of the story. The results from this project should advance scientific understanding of another important aspect of arousal effects: how and why emotionally arousing stimuli can influence the processing of other neutral information.

Keywords: cognitive psychology,emotion,cognition,ageing,top-down prioritization,top-down control,affective science,neuroimaging
Host defence peptides from neuroendocrine cells as a new source of anti-HIV compounds (PEPTHIV)

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: France
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-CIG, 2013)
Start date: 2013-10-01
End date: 2017-09-30
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: TERMINATED

The AIDS pandemic has been a major challenge to global health for nearly three decades. According to current estimates, over 34 million people are still living with HIV worldwide. Although the introduction of antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has considerably reduced HIV-related mortality rates, HAART fails to achieve complete viral clearance and still raises drug toxicity and resistance issues. Besides advances in the treatment of HIV infection, numerous efforts have also been made on HIV prevention. However, despite extensive research, no prophylactic HIV vaccine has emerged to date. Consequently, topical microbicides have recently been improved as a solution to moderate HIV transmission but the clinical trials were globally unsatisfactory. As a consequence, innovative approaches to identify new anti-HIV molecules are critical. Host defence peptides (HDPs) constitute an exciting class of drug candidates, especially because they are unlikely to induce drug resistance. HDPs constitute important components of the innate host defence against a broad spectrum of pathogens. To date, several natural biologically active HIV inhibitors have been characterized. However, systematic screens for naturally occurring anti-HIV peptides has been a major failure due to technical issues but also to a limited accessibility of fluids, tissues or organelles enriched in HDPs. Secretory granules are unique organelles in which secretory products are stored upon secretion. Secretory granules of neuroendocrine cells are particularly enriched in HDPs and therefore constitute an excellent model to screen new anti-HIV compounds. Here, we propose an innovative approach to identify new potent anti-HIV peptides, using the secretory granules of neuroendocrine cells as a model. Our long-term goal is to characterize the lead molecules as a prerequisite to the development of new anti-HIV components that can be used as an alternative to HAART or for the development of a new HIV microbicide.

Keywords: host defence peptides,chromogranins,microbicide,antiretroviral therapy
Shaping Community Boundaries in a Networked Society: The Case of the ultra Orthodox Community in Israel (CBNS)

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: Israel
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-CIG, 2013)
Start date: 2013-10-01
End date: 2017-09-30
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The recent penetration of ubiquitous digital technologies into bounded communities is dramatically reshaping the power structures within these communities and evoking formidable resistance from established traditional authorities. In light of the recent dramatic penetration of digital technologies amongst bounded communities, the proposed study seeks to examine the impact of free flowing and non-formal sources of knowledge on these societies. The study aims to uncover the potential impact of new media on bounded societies with a focus on fundamentalist communities. More specifically, I investigate the ways knowledge repositories shape informal religious learning in the public sphere, and to explore how religious digital knowledge repositories (DKRs) provide opportunities for strengthening and defining religious identity and community, for sharpening the boundaries between religious sub-communities, and for creating channels of communication and exchange of information. Accordingly, the proposed research aims to explore the case of the ultra Orthodox variant in Israel. The study is concerned with the potential of digital knowledge repositories (DKR) (e.g. religious blogs, forums, websites, responsa websites, memes, smart phone/tablet applications, video sharing sites, podcasts, webinars) to strengthen communal identity, sharpen boundaries, and foster unity, while at the same to potentially undermine the well-established authority. This will be explored through a triangulated analysis of key informants, in depth interviews with digital content creators and a semiotic and discourse analysis of ultra Orthodox DKRs, the study aims to uncover the content and impact of these sources of knowledge. Inferences of this study relate to the sources of communication, informal education and social change that accompany closed societies (e.g. immigrants, ideological or religious groups) that are prevalent in the EU and beyond in a digitally inclined network society.

Keywords: internet studies,digital religion,digital ethnography,new media and society
Identification of TRAIL sensitivity/resistance mechanisms and searching for novel TRAIL-sensitizing agents in Glioblastoma Multiforme (TRIGBM)

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: Türkiye
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-CIG, 2013)
Start date: 2013-09-01
End date: 2017-08-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The overall goal of this proposal is to explore the molecular basis of TRAIL-response in an aggressive brain cancer, Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM), and identify new reagents that will augment the TRAIL response of GBMs. Tumor necrosis factor related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL), emerged as a prime candidate for cancer treatment due to its tumor-specificity, however its clinical success is likely limited by the innate or acquired resistance of some tumors to TRAIL. Dr. Bagci-Onder will address whether aberrant expression or activity of apoptotic program components is associated with TRAIL-resistance in GBMs. Specifically, she will address the role of a pro-apoptotic factor, harakiri (HRK), that she found to be significantly repressed in the TRAIL-resistant subpopulation of a primary GBM cell line. The potential role of this hitherto unstudied protein in GBM cell TRAIL response will be uncovered using expression analysis and functional assays in a large panel of GBM lines with varying TRAIL responses. Since multiple components of TRAIL signaling might be misregulated in TRAIL-resistant cells, Dr. Bagci-Onder will generate dual bioluminescent reporter systems of HRK and other TRAIL-associated factors, such as TRAIL receptors DR4/DR5; TRAIL signaling inhibitor proteins Flip, XIAP and Bcl-2 to assess gene expression changes. It is becoming evident that TRAIL-based combinatorial therapies with additional agents that can augment the TRAIL-response of tumors are more efficacious than using TRAIL alone. Using the novel reporter systems, Dr. Bagci-Onder will screen for novel TRAIL-sensitizing agents to identify potential TRAIL-sensitizers among FDA-approved chemicals. The function of these agents will be validated in mouse xenograft GBM models using neural stem cells as vehicles for TRAIL delivery. Together, this project will further the understanding of GBM biology and lead to potential clinical applications.

Keywords: glioblastoma multiforme (gbm),trail,harakiri (hrk),combinatorial therapy,neural stem cells as delivery vehicles,reporter,screen
DNA Damage Response (DDR) signaling in tumor formation and therapeutic resistance of gliomas (GLIDD)

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-2013-CIG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-07-01
End date: 2018-06-30
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The gliomas are a large group of brain tumors and Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) is the most common and lethal primary central nervous system (CNS) tumor in adults. Despite the recent advances in treatment modalities, GBM patients generally respond poorly to all therapeutic approaches and prognosis remain dismal. Standard therapy for GBMs includes resection of the tumor mass, followed by concurrent radiotherapy and chemotherapy, using the alkylating agent temozolomide (TMZ). Nonetheless, GBM patients remain refractory to treatment. Understanding the genetic events that lead to glioma formation and the mechanisms of resistance to therapy will be instrumental for the development of new treatment modalities for gliomas. Maintenance of genomic integrity is essential for embryonic development and adult tissue homeostasis. Defects in the DNA Damage Response (DDR) machinery, a network of protein complexes capable of detecting DNA lesions and signaling to downstream effector pathways (cell cycle checkpoints, DNA repair, apoptosis, etc.), are linked to numerous pathological states including brain cancers. The focus of this proposal is the identification of DDR genes involved in tumor formation and therapy resistance of gliomas. We will also investigate how the tumor microenvironment contributes to resistance to standard treatment modalities. We reason that these studies will help to define new therapeutic targets for treatment of brain tumors.

Keywords: glioma,gbm,dna damage response,therapy resistance
Non-Classical Correlations and Entanglement in Twin-Atom Beams (CORENT)

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: France
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-CIG, 2013)
Start date: 2013-08-01
End date: 2017-07-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Quantum atom optics aims at performing with atoms similar experiments to that performed in quantum optics with photons. The motivation for doing so is twofold. From a fundamental point of view, we wish to demonstrate that non-classical correlations and entanglement exist also for massive particles and behave as predicted by quantum theory. From a more practical point of view, such properties also represent the central resource for quantum computing and a tool to increase the sensitivity of atom interferometers. Yet atoms are much more difficult to manipulate than photons because of their coupling to the environment and there is a long way to go until quantum atom optics catches up with quantum optics. This proposal investigates a new route towards this goal as it focuses on pairs of atoms with an entangled momentum state, in sharp contrast with the vast majority of quantum atom optics experiments so far, which relied on the internal degrees of freedom. More precisely, the research project proposes to generate two atomic beams in a two-mode squeezed state and to probe the entanglement by means of a Mach–Zehnder-like interferometric measurement. In this setup, the spatially separated twin-atom beams will be recombined onto a beam splitter and the two output ports will be monitored by a single-atom detector. The analysis of correlations between the atom number at each port will allow us demonstrating the presence of entanglement. Using mechanical degrees of freedom, we will closely follow the reasoning put forward by Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen, and we be able to demonstrate entanglement in the most “classical” situation.

Keywords: atomic physics,quantum optics,quantum gases,interferometry
Intramembrane Proteases, their Inactive cognates, and Disease (IPAD)

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: Portugal
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-CIG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-01-01
End date: 2017-12-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The ability to release signals from the cell surface is dependent on the correct functioning of the secretory pathway. This proposal focuses on trafficking regulation and quality control within the secretory pathway by members of the rhomboid superfamily, and members of the Signal Peptide Peptidase-Like family (SPPL). The metalloprotease TACE (TNF alpha converting enzyme) is an important sheddase for cell surface proteins, including the proinflammatory cytokine TNF (tumour necrosis factor), and ligands of the epidermal growth factor receptor. Crucially, TACE activity is highly regulated by diverse physiological and pathological stimuli, but little is known about the mechanism of regulation. Recently I have shown that iRhoms, endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-localized catalytically inactive homologs of rhomboid proteases, are essential TACE regulators. iRhoms act as trafficking factors: they bind to TACE in the ER and control its trafficking into the Golgi apparatus, wherein TACE undergoes an essential activation step (prodomain removal). Because of this TACE activation defect, mice null for iRhom2 have profound inflammatory defects (caused by a failure to shed TNF). iRhom1 mice die a few weeks after birth because of a range of defects, whereas iRhom double knockout (DKO) mice, which completely lack TACE activity, die during mid embryogenesis. The fact that the DKO phenotype is worse than the TACE knockout implies the existence of novel clients. This program, which has a strong biomedical focus, will examine iRhom regulation in response to stimuli to address whether iRhoms are the illusive ‘sensors’ for TACE-activating stimuli. It will also identify novel clients implied by the severe iRhom DKO phenotype. Combining mouse knockouts, disease models and biochemistry, we will also examine the role of the rhomboid-like protein UBAC2, in aspects of ER quality control. Finally, we will examine the physiological and mechanistic roles of members of the SPPL family.

Keywords: intramembrane proteolysis,rhomboid superfamily,irhom,tace,adam17,endoplasmic reticulum,er-associated degradation,ubac2,intercellular signaling,cancer,inflammation,sppl
Efficient storage, access and transmission of whole-slide pathology images (PIMCO)

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: United Kingdom
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-CIG, 2013)
Start date: 2013-09-01
End date: 2017-08-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Traditionally, pathology slides are handled by cutting a tissue sample into paper-thin sections, and staining them, so to bring out regions of interest (RoIs). Pathologists then put these thin sections on a glass slide to be analyzed under a microscope. Recent advances on whole-slide digital scanners have made possible the digitization of pathology slides, thus allowing storing them as digital images. Consequently, traditional analysis techniques that rely on pathologists looking under a microscope are rapidly being complemented by techniques that rely on pathologists looking at digital images on a monitor. The digitization of pathology slides not only allows storing the imaging data for future research and clinical purposes, but also sharing them electronically for collaborative work. However, due to the high resolution required to digitize whole pathology slides, the resulting imaging data are usually very large in file size, which poses heavy demands on storage and transmission resources. Therefore, designing coding algorithms for efficient storage, access and transmission of whole-slide pathology images remains a challenge. The main objective of this proposal is to design a coding algorithm capable of reducing both storage and transmission bandwidth requirements needed for archival and communication of whole-slide pathology images of tissue biopsies. The proposed algorithm will reduce the amount of data needed to represent these images, with no loss of information, while providing scalability and RoI coding capabilities. The algorithm will be based on integer wavelet transformation for data decorrelation, automatic image segmentation for RoI coding and layered entropy coding for scalability. The successful completion of the proposed algorithm will facilitate the storage, access and transmission of whole-slide pathology images, which will increase their utility as an essential tool in the diagnosis and treatment of deadly diseases such as cancer.

Keywords: medical images,whole-slide pathology images,lossless coding,tele-medicine,scalable coding,wavelet transformation