Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Biological diversity in an inconstant world: temporal turnover in modified ecosystems (BIOTIME)

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: United Kingdom
Call:  (ERC-2009-AdG, 2009)
Start date: 2010-08-01
End date: 2016-01-31
Duration (months): 66.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1812782.0
EU funding (EUR): 1812782.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

This project addresses a key issue in fundamental research - one that has challenged ecologists ever since Darwin s time that is why some species are common, and others rare, and why, despite marked turnover at the level of individual species abundances, the structure of a community is generally conserved through time. Its aim is to examine the temporal dynamics of species abundance distributions (SADs), and to assess the capacity of these distributions to withstand change (resistance) and to recover from change (resilience). These are topical and important questions given the increasing impact that humans are having on the natural world. There are three components to the research. First, we will model SADs and predict responses to a range of events including climate change and the arrival of invasive species. A range of modeling approaches (including neutral, niche and statistical) will be adopted; by incorporating temporal turnover in hitherto static models we will advance the field. Second, we will test predictions concerning the resistance and resilience of SADs by a comparative analysis of existing data sets (that encompass communities in terrestrial, freshwater and marine environments for ecosystems extending from the poles to the tropics) and through a new field experiment that quantifies temporal turnover across a community (unicellular organisms to vertebrates) in relation to factors both natural (dispersal limitation) and anthropogenic (human disturbance) thought to shape SADs. In the final part of the project we will apply these new insights into the temporal dynamics of SADs to two important conservation challenges. These are 1) the conservation of biodiversity in a heavily utilized European landscape (Fife, Scotland) and 2) the conservation of biodiversity in Mamirauá and Amaña reserves in Amazonian flooded forest. Taken together this research will not only shed new light on the structure of ecological communities but will also aid conservation.

Keywords: terrestrial,freshwater,community structure,biological diversity,species abundance distribution
Microbial Network Organisation (MINOS)

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: Norway
Call:  (ERC-2009-AdG, 2009)
Start date: 2010-06-01
End date: 2015-05-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2499937.0
EU funding (EUR): 2499937.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The project faces the problem of handling complexity in the microbial part of the marine pelagic food web. The basic idea is that there is a generic structure created by the interactions between three fundamental life strategies - competition, defense and predation/parasitism. This generic structure links the life strategies to central system features such as biodiversity, biogeochemistry, population dynamics and evolution. The structure repeats itself and excert control over phenomena from microdiversity within prokaryotic species to basin scale biogeochemistry. It thus it thus creates self-similarity as in fractal theory, generating complexity and intricate patterns at many levels from simple rules. The project has a theoretical part where individual based models will be used to represent life strategies, adaption and evolution at the cell level - allowing microbial diversity to evolve as a product of the models. The theoretical work will be challenged with experimental work at two levels: the effect of host-virus interactions on biodiversity within microbial communities, and the effect of predation on structuring the balance between communities of osmotrophic microorganisms (bacteria and phytoplankton).

Keywords: self-similarity,complexitry,killing-the-winner
P.E.L.E (Protein Energy Landscape Exploration): a la carte drug design tools (PELE)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Diagnostic tools, therapies and public health
Countries involved: Spain
Call:  (ERC-2009-AdG, 2009)
Start date: 2010-05-01
End date: 2015-04-30
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1399998.72
EU funding (EUR): 1399998.72
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The goal of this project is to provide, to the large community of scientist working in molecular target therapies, a fast and accurate tool capable of obtaining an atomic detailed mechanism of the protein-ligand induced fit, of its recognition process and of the ligand migration. Understanding these aspects is essential to obtain better drugs with the ability, for example, of bypassing drug resistance induced by protein mutations. This resistance mechanism is currently a fundamental process that will be increasing substantially with further development of specific molecular targets. The main ideas are based on state of the art methodologies recently developed in our laboratory capable of describing these processes. PELE, our novel technology based on protein structure prediction algorithms and a Monte Carlo sampling, is capable of describing the all atom dynamical interaction between a protein and a ligand. The proposed objectives includes: 1) Continue the methodological development of PELE, 2) developing automatic protocols for the study of the drug-protein dynamical interaction, and 3) building a web server allowing public use of these development The resulting technology will allow scientist to understand the atomic mechanism for drug delivery, drug resistance, etc., in only few days, approximately in 100 hours of CPU, allowing for a la carte design of improved inhibitors in a timely fast manner (essential when probing hundreds of compounds!). The development of the modelling tools, disseminated and freely accessible by means of a web server, will be conducted at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, the Spanish national supercomputing center with one of the best computational infrastructures in Europe.

Keywords: drug resistance / protein mutation / drug design tool
T cell receptor αβ : in control of signal initiation and T cell fate (TERRAINCOGNITA)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Immunity and infection
Countries involved: Switzerland
Call:  (ERC-2009-AdG, 2009)
Start date: 2010-04-01
End date: 2015-03-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1930000.0
EU funding (EUR): 1930000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

One of the central mysteries of immunology is self-tolerance. How does the human body select ~10e12 T lymphocytes, that are reactive to foreign pathogens but tolerant to normal cellular constituents of the host? Over the last few years, my laboratory identified 2 fundamental mechanisms used by thymocytes to establish T cell tolerance. We demonstrated that the affinity threshold for negative selection is a constant for all thymocytes expressing MHC I restricted TCRs. This binding affinity threshold (KD H 6 ¼M; estimated T1/2 H 2 sec) is the fundamental biophysical parameter used by TCRs to delete autoimmune T cells. We also established how the TCR generates distinct signals for positive and negative selection. At the selection threshold, a small increase in ligand affinity for the T-cell antigen receptor leads to a marked change in the activation and subcellular localization of Ras and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling intermediates. The ability to compartmentalize signaling molecules differentially within the cell endows the thymocyte with the ability to convert a small change in analogue input (affinity) into a digital output (positive versus negative selection) and provides the molecular basis for central tolerance. In the present application, we plan to fully understand 1-how the biophysical events during antigen binding to the TCR initiate an intracellular signal; 2-how these signals program an unambiguous cell fate and 3-how the system fails, when an autoimmune T cell is generated and activated. We will use a combination of transgenic and knockout mice, biochemistry and molecular imaging to fully define how the TCR functions as a molecular switch.
Higher order structure and function of biomembranes (BIOMEMOS)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Molecular and Structural Biology and Biochemistry
Countries involved: Denmark
Call:  (ERC-2009-AdG, 2009)
Start date: 2010-04-01
End date: 2015-03-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2444180.0
EU funding (EUR): 2444180.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The biomembrane is a prerequisite of life. It enables the cell to maintain a controlled environment and to establish electrochemical gradients as rapidly accessible energy stores. Biomembranes also provide scaffold for organisation and spatial definition of signal transmission in the cell. Crystal structures of membrane proteins are determined with an increasing pace. Along with functional studies integral studies of individual membrane proteins are now widely implemented. The BIOMEMOS proposal goes a step further and approaches the function of the biomembrane at the higher level of membrane protein complexes. Through a combination of X-ray crystallography, electrophysiology, general biochemistry, biophysics and bioinformatics and including also the application of single-particle cryo-EM and small-angle X-ray scattering, the structure and function of membrane protein complexes of key importance in life will be investigated. The specific targets for investigation in this proposal include: 1) higher-order complexes of P-type ATPase pumps such as signalling complexes of Na+,K+-ATPase, and 2) development of methods for structural studies of membrane protein complexes Based on my unique track record in structural studies of large, difficult structures (ribosomes and membrane proteins) in the setting of a thriving research community in structural biology and biomembrane research in Aarhus provides a critical momentum for a long-term activity. The activity will take advantage of the new possibilities offered by synchrotron sources in Europe. Furthermore, a single-particle cryo-EM research group formed on my initiative in Aarhus, and a well-established small-angle X-ray scattering community provides for an optimal setting through multiple cues in structural biology and functional studies

Keywords: membrane proteins sodium-potassium pump sortilin receptors protein-lipid interactions membrane protein crystallography cryo-em saxs
Cellular and circuit determinants of dendritic computation (DENDRITE)

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: United Kingdom
Call:  (ERC-2009-AdG, 2009)
Start date: 2010-06-01
End date: 2016-05-31
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2416078.0
EU funding (EUR): 2416078.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

What is the fundamental unit of computation in the brain? Answering this question is crucial not only for understanding how the brain works, but also for building accurate models of brain function, which require abstraction based on identification of the essential elements for carrying out computations relevant to behaviour. We will directly test the possibility that single dendritic branches may act as individual computational units during behaviour, challenging the classical view that the neuron is the fundamental unit of computation. We will address this question using a combination of electrophysiological, anatomical, imaging, molecular, and modeling approaches to probe dendritic integration in pyramidal cells and Purkinje cells in mouse cortex and cerebellum. We will define the computational rules for integration of synaptic input in dendrites by examining the responses to different spatiotemporal patterns of excitatory and inhibitory inputs. We will use computational modeling to extract simple rules describing dendritic integration that captures the essence of the computation. Next, we will determine how these rules are engaged by patterns of sensory stimulation in vivo, by using various strategies to map the spatiotemporal patterns of synaptic inputs to dendrites. To understand how physiological patterns of activity in the circuit engage these dendritic computations, we will use anatomical approaches to map the wiring diagram of synaptic inputs to individual dendrites. Finally, we will manipulate dendritic function using molecular tools, in order to provide causal links between specific dendritic computations and sensory processing. These experiments will provide us with deeper insights into how single neurons act as computing devices, and how fundamental computations that drive behaviour are implemented on the level of single cells and neural circuits.

Keywords: dendrite,dendritic computation,multiphoton imaging,synaptic integration,neural circuit,electron microscopy,patch-clamp recording
Origins, proliferation and pathogenesis of L-form (cell wall deficient) bacteria (OPAL)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Immunity and infection
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call:  (ERC-2009-AdG, 2009)
Start date: 2010-04-01
End date: 2015-09-30
Duration (months): 66.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2028888.6
EU funding (EUR): 2028888.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Jeff Errington is a bacterial molecular cell biologist with nearly 30 years of research experience. He spent much of the first 15 years or so working on spore formation in B. subtilis as a simple model for development and differentiation. His lab developed a method with which to clone the complete set of sporulation genes and then contributed in a major way to working out how sporulation is controlled spatially and temporally. Work on the spatial control of gene expression and protein localization led him to pioneer some of the methods of digital imaging of bacteria on which the modern field of bacterial cell biology was founded. He has contributed in a major way to understanding the division machinery of bacterial cells and particularly how division is restricted to the correct mid cell position. Errington made the seminal discovery that bacteria have true homologues of actin (MreB proteins) and showed that MreB filaments govern cell shape by directly organising the cell wall synthetic machinery. Recent work has opened up the neglected field of L-form bacteria to molecular and cellular analysis by developing methods to study the L-form state in a controlled way in B. subtilis. Errington has promoted the commercialization of the basic science emerging from his lab through foundation of a spin-out company Prolysis Ltd, which has developed the first cell division inhibitors with proven efficacy. Errington has founded the new Centre for Bacterial Cell Biology in Newcastle, to promote the recovery of basic science on model bacterial cells and has recruited several world leading experts to the Centre. Over his career he has helped train nearly 50 graduate students and post-docs, many of whom have gone on to become independent group leaders. He is an elected Fellow of several internationally important Academies.
Occurrence, distribution and cost of antibiotic resistance in marine sediment bacteria (MARIBACT)

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: Sweden
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2009-RG, 2009)
Start date: 2010-04-01
End date: 2013-12-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 45000.0
EU funding (EUR): 45000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The presence of antibiotic/antimicrobial substances in the marine environment is of high concern since it potentially accelerates widespread bacterial antibiotic resistance (AR), and may have negative effects on non-pathogenic bacteria responsible for sustaining vital ecosystem functions. Our understanding of how antibiotics affect, and how AR develops and spreads in natural systems is very limited. Yet this knowledge is a prerequisite for the identification of sources and mechanisms involved in the global development of AR, which threatens to impair both ecosystem and human health. This research investigates 1) the occurrence and distribution of antibiotic resistance (AR) in marine sediment bacteria (MSB) in relation to environmental antibiotic exposure, 2) the physiological costs for sustaining AR, 3) the effect of antibiotics on MSB community structure and function and 4) the potential transfer of AR bacteria along marine food chains. Molecular methods will be applied when investigating presence of AR genes and structural changes in MSB in relation to antibiotic exposure. The outcome will contribute significantly to our knowledge on AR occurrence in MSB, effects of antibiotics on natural marine sediment systems, and show if marine sediments act as sources for AR and marine food chains as vectors for the transfer of AR bacteria to higher trophic levels.

Keywords: marine biodiversity,environmental biology,microbiology,ecotoxicology,anthropogenic impact on ecosystems
Multidimensional Image Coding. Applications to Remote Sensing and Telemedicine (MIC_RS_TM)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: International Incoming Fellowships
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Spain
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2009-IIF, 2009)
Start date: 2010-07-12
End date: 2012-01-11
Duration (months): 18.0
Total project cost (EUR): 155390.5
EU funding (EUR): 155390.5
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The research proposal focuses on the coding and transmission of massive images, i.e. those images acquired by sensors able to capture data with more than 3 dimensions. Such multi-dimensional images are currently available in the medical environment, including functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) in 4D (3D spatial + 1D temporal), and also in Remote Sensing scenarios, e.g. through Atmospheric Infrared Sounder Sensor (AIRS), which continuously captures ultra-spectral images of the Earth’s surface producing ultra-spectral video (2D spatial + 1D spectral + 1D temporal). With the ever increasing number of sensors acquiring massive images in airplanes, satellites, and medical centres, there is an urgent need in institutions and centres to properly deal with such data. There are few studies tackling the coding and proper manipulation of such massive data sets. Nevertheless, Prof. Michael W. Marcellin (Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Arizona, USA) and the Group on Interactive Coding of Images (GICI, Dept. of Information and Communications Engineering, Universitat Autònoma Barcelona, Spain) have established themselves as pioneers in this nascent field. The core of the proposed project will be built upon the ISO standard JPEG2000; Prof. Marcellin was one of its key developers, and many applications thereof. We hereby propose to host Prof. Marcellin with GICI during 18 months to create the ideal team for research on the coding and transmission of massive images. The study will be undertaken on digital medical images granted by Parc Tauli Health Corporation (Sabadell, Spain), and on remote sensing images granted by Center for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications (Bellaterra, Spain), ensuring the relevance and applicability of the proposal. The project is expected to have a truly global impact and influence, helping to raise European excellence and competitiveness, and is devised as a first step towards long term collaboration.

Keywords: technological sciences,computer engineering,image processing,signal processing
Economic Nationalism and the European Union: The case of the automobile industry (ECONAT)

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: Hungary
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2009-RG, 2009)
Start date: 2010-06-01
End date: 2013-05-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 45000.0
EU funding (EUR): 45000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Heated debates about ‘Buy American’ clauses and ‘British jobs for British workers’ have demonstrated the continued salience of economic nationalism as a public policy issue today. Among scholars, too, there has been a growing interest in the theme in recent years, which has gone hand in hand with a shifting understanding of economic nationalism away from a mere focus on state policies, and towards broader notions of collective identity. Building on this work the project sets out to analyse the relationship between economic nationalism and the process of European integration since the launch of the Single European Market in the mid1980s. Situated at the intersection between European studies and International Political Economy literatures the project will conceptualize this relationship in a twofold way, on the one hand, adopting the broader ‘Europeanisation’ framework, in terms of the EU impact on economic nationalism in selected member states, on the other hand with regard to possible trends of ‘supranationalisation’ of economic nationalism. The automobile industry will be chosen as a case study for the analysis. The project will result in the publication of a monograph, and will thus crucially help to advance the career of the applicant.

Keywords: european studies,political economy,contemporary history