Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Organic Electrode Materials and Luminescent Polymers through Spiroconjugation (ORGBATT-SPIROPOL)

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: Germany
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2012-CIG, 2012)
Start date: 2012-11-01
End date: 2015-05-31
Duration (months): 31.0
Total project cost (EUR): 64583.33
EU funding (EUR): 64583.33
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The goal of this project is to design, synthesize, and test new organic materials for charge storage applications and spiroconjugated polymers as novel luminescent materials. The project will be carried out in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Bonn, Germany. The ability of long-known organic molecules with reversible redox behaviour to act as electrode materials will be exploited by synthesizing a variety of monomeric and polymeric materials incorporating these structural units in the first project proposed. These new materials will then be tested for their redox activity and incorporated into battery test cells. The proposed organic electrode materials have the potential for high cycling and charge capacities and will be recyclable, flexible and of light weight. The aim of the second project is to synthesize polymers with spiroconjugated backbones for use in optoelectronic devices. The electronic properties of the materials will be investigated and optoelectronic devices prepared. These luminescent materials are anticipated to possess high stabilities in the solid state and to form microporous structures. In both projects computational modelling will be performed to aid the search for suitable compounds and to support characterization.

Keywords: c141 organic chemistry,c139 polymer chemistry,structural properties of materials,new materials,electrochemistry,batteries,theoretical and computational chemistry,thin films,optoelectronics
Environmental control of carotenoid biosynthesis: a novel strategy to improve photosynthetic capacity (SMARTPLANT)

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-2012-CIG, 2012)
Start date: 2012-09-01
End date: 2015-08-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 75000.0
EU funding (EUR): 75000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Security of our future food supply will depend on our improved understanding of how plants regulate photosynthesis in response to a changing environment. Carotenoids are important for photosynthetic efficiency because they expand the range of wavelengths for photosynthesis and protect the photosystems against photo-oxidative damage. As environmental light and temperature cues are major regulators of carotenoids, increased knowledge of these signaling pathways will assist future crop improvement programs. This project aims to combine modeling with experimentation to determine the molecular mechanisms through which light and temperature modulate carotenogenesis, providing novel avenues for efforts to improve photosynthesis in the face of environmental change. A major driving force for carotenoid production is the transcriptional control of Phytoene synthase (PSY). The phytochrome photoreceptors promote PSY expression, while the PHYTOCHROME INTERACTING FACTORS (PIFs) act as transcriptional repressors. This antagonistic module provides a simple but robust system to modulate carotenoid biosynthesis. The Giberellin regulated DELLA proteins also participate in the light control of carotenogenesis by impairing PIF1 capacity to bind to the PSY promoter. However, in the light, not only de-repressing effects, but active induction of PSY takes place, hinting at the existence of positive regulators of the pathway. Preliminary evidence points at LONG HYPOCOTYL 5 (HY5) for this role. Many phytochrome dependent responses are strongly influenced by temperature, suggesting a convergence of signaling at the molecular level. Because PIFs, DELLAs and HY5 are temperature responsive, they could be integration nodes for environmental control of carotenogenesis. We aim to characterize they key molecular events, the dynamics and emerging properties of the signaling for carotenoid production as a basis for future development of crops resilient to climate alterations.

Keywords: molecular biology and interactions,computational biology,systems biology,metabolism,photobiology,transcription,climate change,adaptation,carotenoids,photosynthesis,photoprotection
Nutri-CARE: Nutrient restriction during Critical illness: from induction of Autophagy to Repression of aberrant Epigenetic alterations (NUTRI-CARE)

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: Belgium
Call:  (ERC-2012-ADG_20120314, 2012)
Start date: 2013-04-01
End date: 2018-03-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2500000.0
EU funding (EUR): 2500000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Modern intensive care medicine enables survival from previously lethal conditions. Risk of death is mostly attributable to lack of recovery from organ failure. Although intensive care has been practiced for over 6 decades, the understanding of why certain patients recover and others don’t remains very limited. Furthermore, organs and tissues from patients who do not swiftly recover, do not show overt signs of cell death but instead accumulate damaged organelles and protein aggregates and reprogram towards other cell lineages. Accumulation of cell damage can be compared with what occurs during ageing, but much more pronounced and within a much shorter time. Even when patients survive, many continue to suffer from severe morbidity, referred to as the legacy of critical illness. This indicates that acute life-threatening illnesses, and/or the intensive care management, induce “carry-over” effects with long-term consequences with important humane and financial implications. We recently showed that nutrient restriction early during critical illness is an intervention that affects these processes. Nutrient restriction unexpectedly accelerated recovery from organ failure and enhanced rehabilitation far beyond the time window of the intervention. These data radically contradict the traditional dogma that early anabolism is required for recovery from critical illnesses. Also, they raise the hypothesis that pathways which are activated by fasting play a key role. This project is designed to understand the underlying molecular and cellular mechanisms of the damage-induced “reprogramming” and the benefit of nutrient restriction, which is essential in order to develop novel preventive and therapeutic interventions. We hypothesize that activated autophagy and repressed deleterious epigenetic alterations play a major role. The results of these studies are expected to pave the way towards novel effective interventions to prevent/treat the debilitating legacy of critical illness.

Keywords: intensive care medicine,multiple organ failure
Illuminating the role of magnetic fields around dying stars (MAGNETIC AGB)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Life-long training and career development
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Sweden
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2012-CIG, 2012)
Start date: 2012-09-01
End date: 2016-08-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The study of the processes governing the end of the life of stars such as our Sun are of fundamental importance. During the final stages of their lives, stars undergo extreme mass-loss in which they expel large amounts of dust, atoms and molecules into the interstellar environment. This material is one of the main sources of the heavy elements essential for further formation of stars, planets and even life. As the expelled dust is responsible for much of the emission seen from young galaxies at cosmological distances, a proper understanding of the processes involved in the stellar mass-loss is also needed in order to reconcile cosmological galaxy evolution scenarios with the observations. Although significant advances have been made in recent years, our current understanding of the mass-loss process is however still very incomplete. There are indications of a missing component necessary to drive and shape mass-loss, and magnetism is a possible candidate. However, magnetic fields are one of the least studied of the potential mechanisms involved in mass-loss, and, despite being ubiquitous, are often ignored. This will change with the advent of several new and improved instruments, such as the Atacama Large (sub-)Millimeter Array (ALMA), as the observations of magnetic fields will enter a new era. Additionally, theoretical work will experience a similar advance. In this research project, observations and theory will be united to study the effects of magnetic fields on the stellar mass-loss. Models will be constrained by our unique recent and upcoming observations, and will thus drive the developments in this research field. The research project will provide the definitive answer on the role of magnetic fields in the mass-loss process of evolved Sun-like stars.

Keywords: p301 astronomy - astrophysics and cosmology,p211 magnetism
Study of the molecular mechanisms involved in the beneficial effect of high CO2 levels to preserve table grape quality during the storage at low temperature (MOLCHARAVITIS)

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-2012-CIG, 2012)
Start date: 2012-07-01
End date: 2015-04-22
Duration (months): 30.0
Total project cost (EUR): 62500.0
EU funding (EUR): 62500.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Low temperatures induce numerous cellular and physiological disorders, such as an increase in respiratory rate, reduction of photosynthetic activity and generation of reactive oxygen species causing a set of visible symptoms known as chilling injury in crops that are susceptible to cold. To overcome these alterations, fruit activate a number of defense mechanism that includes synthesis of pigments to protect from photoxidative stress, enzymes to reduce oxidative stress and an increase in the levels of cryoprotective and antifreezing proteins. Although table grape is classified as tolerant to chilling injury, non-treated grapes responded to temperature shifts in the first stage of storage at 0ºC activating defense responses related to the phenylpropanoid pathway, whereas the application of high CO2 levels reduced these responses. In addition, previous studies indicate that the efficacy of gaseous treatment reducing decay in table grapes was not mediated by the induction of pathogenesis-related proteins (PRs), such as chitinase and β-1,3-glucanase. All these seem to indicate that although table grape is tolerant to cold injury it senses temperature shifts triggering a stress response, and the treatment with high CO2 levels could be participating in the perception of low temperature by the fruit, alleviating partially this stress and improving fruit quality. However, very little is known about the biochemical and molecular mechanisms involved. Thus, having as a final goal the improvement of the quality of table grapes during the postharvest period, we aim to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in the differences observed in response to low-storage temperature between table grape bunches non-treated and treated with high levels of CO2. Concretely, we will focus on the study of two types of transcription factors (CBFs and ERFs) and their putative target genes (dehydrins and PRs).

Keywords: v404 food sciences,v403 agriculture related to crop production
Evolutionary ecology and extinct species: how do fossils change our interpretations of present-day biodiversity patterns? (EVOECO AND FOSSILS)

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,Ireland
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2012-CIG, 2012)
Start date: 2012-08-01
End date: 2016-07-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

Evolutionary ecology, the study of patterns and processes at the interface of evolutionary biology and ecology, is an exciting and rapidly growing research area. However, most studies ignore one important factor: extinction. I aim to develop methods for adding fossil species into phylogenies and evolutionary ecology analyses, using primates as a study group because the order has a lot of interesting extinct diversity. The methods developed will be applicable to any species, not just primates, and to a huge range of interesting evolutionary questions. The overall objectives are to build the first dated-phylogeny of primates to include extinct and extant taxa and to then use this phylogeny to test evolutionary ecology questions in primates. I will investigate three main questions: (i) Can historical primate extinctions be explained by competition with other species of primate? (ii) Does adding extinct giant lemurs into analyses of primate body size evolution alter our conclusions about rates of evolution in primates, particularly in the Strepsirrhini (lemurs and relatives)? (iii) If all of the presently endangered primates become extinct, what will the consequences be for the morphological and functional diversity of primates? How will this affect the functioning of the ecosystems they inhabit? The results of these analyses will have implications for evolutionary ecology methods, evolutionary theory, and conservation planning. This grant will allow me to become firmly established as a leader in my field, attract high quality students and postdoctoral researchers to my research group, develop new teaching materials, maintain and establish international collaborations, and contribute to European scientific excellence. All of these factors will be instrumental in achieving my goal of securing a permanent position in Europe at the end of my current five year contract.

Keywords: l804 biodiversity - comparative biology,l801 ecology,v201 paleoclimatology - paleoecology,l211 computational biology
Ecophysiological control by Mediterranean forest ecosystems on the exchange processes of ozone and reactive Volatile Organic Compounds with a polluted atmosphere (EXPLO3RVOC)

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: Italy
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2012-CIG, 2012)
Start date: 2012-08-01
End date: 2016-07-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Multipurpose and biodiverse forest ecosystems in the Mediterranean area have to deal with the negative effects of climate change and a strong human pressure, often represented by gaseous emission transported to the vegetation through polluted air sheds. In the polluted lower atmosphere ozone is formed in the presence of sunlight through photochemical reactions of volatile organic compounds (VOC) and oxides of nitrogen, which can have biogenic (foliar and soil emissions) or anthropogenic (e.g. combustion processes) sources.Plants are natural sinks for ozone and therefore phytoremediate the atmosphere. On the other hand, ozone is the main oxidant for plants and humans. The uptake of ozone by plant ecosystems is attributed to both stomatal (ozone enters leaves through stomata and is detoxified) and non-stomatal sinks (ozone is deposited on plant/soil surfaces or reacts with VOC in the gas-phase). The scientific program foresees experiments on key representative Mediterranean forest species with the intent to study environmental control on plant ecophysiology, and responses of plants in terms of ozone and VOC exchanges with the atmosphere. In the field, experimental stations will be equipped and advanced micrometeorological techniques will be used to measure stomatal and non-stomatal sinks of ozone and reactive VOC at canopy-scale in the soil-plant continuum, as well as different sources of VOC, and their reaction products in the atmosphere. Laboratory “in-vivo” investigations will finely describe leaf physiological responses to environmental variables, including exposure to different levels of ozone concentrations. Novel techniques will be applied to study the emission of constitutive and induced VOC emissions, quantifying endogenous emissions of oxidation products of VOC with Reactive Oxygen Species produced inside the leaves by ozone and temperature stress. The project would help understanding the complex interactions between Mediterranean forests and the atmosphere.

Keywords: natural sciences,mediterranean forest,volatile organic cmpounds,ozone,oxydation product,ecophysiology,stomatal and non stomatal deposition,fluxes
The Accident Externality from Driving: Evidence from Shabbat Exit and Entry (ACC_EXT)

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-2012-CIG, 2012)
Start date: 2012-09-01
End date: 2016-08-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

What is the relationship between traffic density and the probability of injuries or fatal accidents? Considering its human and economic importance, and although traffic accidents are a central issue both to the scientific community and to policy makers, there is very little empirical evidence on the magnitude and sign of this relationship. We will examine this question by exploiting the fact that in Israel, traffic density falls discretely every Friday at the onset of the Shabbat, as religious Jewish drivers stop driving and rises discretely every Saturday at the outset of the Shabbat, as the same drivers allow themselves to take to the road again. This unique setting will allow us to address the issue of identification of the causal relationship between traffic density and accidents and to provide direct evidence on this matter. We will use the set of all accidents with at least one person injured in 2000-2010 in Israel and take two complementing approaches. The first, we will analyze this relation in a country-wide perspective using a representative sample of non-urban roads in Israel matched with data on accidents in non-urban roads. The second, we will focus attention to the Ayalon Freeway, Israel’s main commuter freeway. We will merge comprehensive data of fifteen-minutes interval traffic counts in all road segments in the Ayalon freeway in 2000-2010 with the corresponding accident data and use a Fuzzy RDD approach with Shabbat entry and exit times as instruments for traffic density. The results of this study are potentially of general scientific interest and they may provide information valuable to policy makers in the European Union and other developed nations.

Keywords: e113 urban and regional economics,e114 public administration - public economics,accidents,traffic,externality
Environmental signaling and ovarian diseases susceptibility (ECOSIGNAL)

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: Serbia
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2012-CIG, 2012)
Start date: 2012-09-01
End date: 2016-08-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

In adult mammals, ovarian function is characterized by regular cyclic changes, which are critical for the egg development, sex steroid hormones production and fertility. These processes depend on the tight regulation of the activity of different ovarian signaling cascades that if altered during critical periods of development can lead to adverse effects on reproductive function. Initial investigations reveal that ovarian development and functions are sensitive to exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). Endpoints of EDCs action in the ovary have been well investigated; however, insufficient research has been done to identify molecular mechanism(s) by which EDCs perturb ovarian function. Alteration in signaling could provide plausible link between EDCs exposure and pathophysiology of reproductive diseases such as premature ovarian failure, polycystic ovarian syndrome and infertility in women. The aim of the EcoSignal is to investigate if exposure to EDCs affects the function of key ovarian signaling pathways and thus alters ovarian function. To achieve this goal, we will expose ovarian cells to a estrogenic EDCs and the signaling responses and ovarian function will be analyzed using various molecular and cell biology techniques. This includes identification of ERK and AKT signaling as estrogenic EDCs targets and their contribution to the ovarian dysfunctions. Identification of EDC-sensitive signaling in the ovarian cells is an important step in understanding the risk of EDCs on human reproductive diseases. This proposal will allow an experienced US-based postdoctoral fellow to join a research team in Serbia studying EDCs and reproductive biology. The project will provide him not only with an opportunity to identify signaling pathways in the ovary affected by EDCs, but will also considerably improve his chances for an academic position in the near future.

Keywords: ovary,granulosa cells,endocrine disrupting chemicals,signaling,akt,erk,premature ovarian failure,premature luteinization