Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Electrical Control of Cell Polarization (ECCP)

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-2011-CIG, 2011)
Start date: 2013-05-01
End date: 2017-04-30
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

Cell polarization describes the ability of a cell to use external and/or internal stimuli to decide in which direction to grow, crawl or divide. Cells can sense different cues in vivo such as chemical gradients, sites of cell adhesion, and electric fields. In this proposal, we aim at investigating the electrical aspects of cell polarization. Endogenous electrical signals are present around tissues in the body, yet their possible contribution in globally organizing spatial aspects of cell polarity remains poorly appreciated. Steady electric fields (EFs) have been measured across epithelial layers and may guide cell polarity in wound healing, metastasis and development. Even single cells organize trans-cellular ion currents, through asymmetries in ion transporters localization, which contributes to the regulation of polarity. It has long been observed that the exogenous application of an EF, similar to those measured in vivo, can direct polarity, migration and division in cell types ranging from bacteria to mammalian cells. Application of EFs has potential clinical value, for instance in wound healing and tissue engineering. The mechanisms by which cells generate or sense EFs remain however poorly described. In here, we propose a global multidisciplinary approach to study these aspects. We will use the genetic model organisms, fission and budding yeast as rigorous quantitative systems to derive molecular mechanisms. In a first aim, we will characterize and manipulate trans-cellular loops of ion fluxes around yeast cells to test their role in cell polarity. In a second aim, we propose to perform genome-wide screens on EF effects on the polarity of these cells. Finally in a third aim we will use EFs to control the position of different proteins in cells. These studies promise to bring novel understanding in the mechanisms of cell polarization, and will open new synthetic ways to control and manipulate polarity in cells and tissues.

Keywords: cell biology,physiological biophysics,yeast,polarity,electric fields,microfluidics,cell engineering,membrane transport
Well-Being, Decision-Making and Unemployment in Europe (WEDEPLOY)

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-2011-CIG, 2011)
Start date: 2012-06-01
End date: 2015-05-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 75000.0
EU funding (EUR): 75000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

This project examines the linkage between well-being, decision-making and unemployment using available data. The project will develop econometric models of unemployment that allow for complex interactions between morale, job decisions and unemployment status.

Keywords: well-being,decision and employment in the eu
Impact of hydrological extremes on alpine karst groundwater resources (IMKA)

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-2011-CIG, 2011)
Start date: 2012-03-01
End date: 2016-02-29
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Karst aquifers supply ca. 25 % of the global population with drinking water. In some European countries and Alpine regions, more than 50 % of the water supply relies on karst groundwater. At the same time, karst aquifers are particularly vulnerable to contamination, because of their hydrogeological characteristics, such as rapid and turbulent flow in a network of conduits and caves. Karst springs often show rapid and marked discharge variations in response to precipitation and snowmelt. Chemical and microbial parameters also display large variations. Long periods of good water quality are occasionally interrupted by short but intense contamination events, often following storm rainfall. Identifying these events and reacting accordingly is crucial for the safe use of these water resources. Due to climate change, spatial and temporal precipitation patterns will change and the frequency and intensity of storm rainfall will increase. Therefore, contamination events at alpine karst springs are also expected to become more frequent and intense. Thus, the overall goal of the proposed project is to study the influence of intensified storm rainfall events on groundwater contamination in alpine karst regions. The three major methodological approaches of the project include: (i) Detailed monitoring of spring discharge and water quality parameters at selected springs; (ii) experimental field work, such as tracer tests during different hydrological conditions, ranging from low- to high-flow conditions and (iii) application of different concepts for groundwater protection zone delineation and development of an adjusted concept which incorporates the impact of climate change. This will directly allow a re-evaluation of existing groundwater delineation guidelines, the prediction of the contamination risk and help save groundwater as a future drinking water resource.

Keywords: alps,applied geology,groundwater protection,karst,pollutants,storm rainfall,vulnerability
Optimality Principles in Human Motor Control (OPT)

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: Netherlands
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-CIG, 2011)
Start date: 2012-04-01
End date: 2015-03-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 75000.0
EU funding (EUR): 75000.0
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

Understanding how the brain controls even the simplest movement is a major challenge due to the bewildering complexity of the sensorimotor and musculoskeletal system. For example, the large number of joints and muscles provide the human musculoskeletal system with numerous degrees of freedom. As such, any motor task can be achieved via an infinite number of different muscle activation patterns. Yet, experimental studies show very consistent and stereotypical patterns of kinematics and muscle activation. Furthermore, to adequately control and execute movements, the brain needs accurate information about the state of the musculoskeletal system and about (its relationship with) the world around it. The brain receives information from the many sensory systems in the human body. However, this information is corrupted with noise that is inherent to processes in any biological (nervous) system. The proposed research is aimed at testing two influential theories in human sensorimotor control – ‘Optimal Control Theory’ and ‘The Uncontrolled Manifold Theory’- that try to explain how the brain deals with the many degrees of freedom. This will be done through a combination of computer simulations with a state-of-the-art neuro-musculoskeletal model of the human arm and new experimental designs using a unique exoskeleton robot. Furthermore, Bayesian Decision Theory has a great amount of success in explaining various phenomena in sensory-motor neuroscience. In the proposed research, this theory will be integrated with Optimal Control in combination with a detailed model of the neuromuscular plant. Specific predictions will be tested using a novel experimental design.

Keywords: movement coordination,musculoskeletal modeling,optimal control,bayesian decision theory
Transposon based Forward Genetic Screen for the Identification of ncRNAs involved in Colorectal Cancer Metastasis (TRANSPOSON GET NCRNA)

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-2011-CIG, 2011)
Start date: 2012-03-01
End date: 2015-08-11
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 75000.0
EU funding (EUR): 75000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

In the era of target-based cancer therapies there is still missing a univocal hit for treating cancer metastatic spread, which is ultimately the main cause of cancer death. Non-protein-coding RNA transcripts (ncRNAs) were for long regarded as transcriptional noise; interestingly, it turns out that most of the genome does not carry protein-coding genes (PCGs) and yet is transcribed in a developmentally regulated manner producing ncRNAs with biologically relevant functions (e.g. development and tumor). As for tumor initiation, also for tumor metastasis, it is now becoming common knowledge that the set of metastasis promoting and suppressing genes consists both of PCGs and ncRNAs. Notwithstanding the growing interest in ncRNAs, the ability of forward genetic screens to discover novel genes has not been used in the ncRNA field. Therefore, with the present project we will develop a novel forward genetic screen that specifically retrieves ncRNAs. We will use this genetic screen in human intestinal epithelial cells, which will be tested in anoikis (death induced by anchorage absence) resistance assay. Cells that survive anoikis, which is a rate limiting step during cancer cell metastasis, will have loss of function mutations in ncRNA genes that we will then proceed to characterize. The present proposal is relevant for the 2011 People Work Programme since it will support the applicant Milena Sabrina Nicoloso in establishing an independent research position in Europe (as a group leader) and ultimately it will improve EU, Italy and the Host Institute excellence thanks to the knowledge and expertise that the applicant acquired during a 5 year international experience in EU competitor countries.

Keywords: colorectal cancer metastasis,non-coding rnas,transposons,forward genetic screen
REHABNET: NEUROSCIENCE BASED INTERACTIVE SYSTEMS FOR MOTOR REHABILITATION (REHABNET)

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-2011-CIG, 2011)
Start date: 2012-04-01
End date: 2016-03-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Given the aging of the population, stroke will become one of the main contributors to the burden of disease by 2030, being one of the major challenges for modern societies and healthcare systems. Many stroke survivors depend on their relatives and require continuous rehabilitation and therapy, which represents a significant psychosocial and economical burden for patients, relatives and healthcare systems. Public healthcare can not always provide patients with the rehabilitation duration and frequency they may need. Thus, there is a pressing need to find more effective solutions. Recently, the more mature status of novel technologies and new neuroscientific findings have allowed the rapid growth of computed mediated rehabilitation tools for stroke. Unfortunately, most of this rehabilitation approaches require patients to have a high degree of motor control in order to use them. Thus, the more impaired patients - and therefore those in more need of more effective and alternative treatments - can not benefit from these approaches. Based on the current knowledge on the brain mechanisms for recovery, RehabNet will develop, evaluate and deploy a novel ICT platform for personalized and interactive computer-based rehabilitation for stroke patients with upper limb motor deficits. The goal of RehabNet is to develop effective neuroscience based motor training paradigms for the rehabilitation of the upper limbs that are accessible to all patients, particularly those with the worst prognostic. Hence, Rehabnet will develop a novel robotic assisted Virtual Reality (VR) training system that is able to restore active movement in low mobility patients, and that collecs synchronized real-time behavioral, performance and brain activity data. On a second stage, RehabNet will use these unique dataset to propose and evaluate a novel rehabilitation paradigm using mental practice by means of a VR neurofeedback system for the clinical and at home rehabilitation of no mobility patients.

Keywords: biomedical engineering,stroke rehabilitation,human computer interaction,neuroscience,cortical pasticity,personalized training,information communication technologies,eeg,robotics
Single-enhancer knockout analysis of Myf5 function in the developing mouse embryo (EPAXIALMYF5KO)

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-2011-CIG, 2011)
Start date: 2012-04-01
End date: 2016-03-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

During embryonic development the integration of numerous synergistic signalling pathways turns a single cell into a multicellular organism with specialized cell types and highly structured, organized tissues. To achieve this, cells must grow, proliferate, differentiate and die according to their spatiotemporal position. Unravelling the mechanisms by which a cell adopts the correct fate in response to its local environment remains one of the fundamental goals of biological research. In vertebrates skeletal myogenesis is orchestrated by the activation of the myogenic regulatory factors (MRFs) in response to signals that are interpreted by their associated regulatory elements in different precursor cells during development. The MRFs trigger a cascade of transcription factors and downstream structural genes, ultimately resulting in the generation of one of the fundamental histotypes. Myf5, the first of these MRFs to be activated in the mouse embryo, is first expressed in the dorsomedial lip of the dermomyotome. In the absence of Myf5, the myogenic process is delayed for 48h. The phenotype is rescued by the activation of another member of the MRF family, MyoD. In the double Myf5/MyoD KO animals there is no rescue of the phenotype and they lack all skeletal musculature. To further investigate the function of Myf5, we have generated a new inducible KO strain in which the enhancer element that drives the first wave of Myf5 expression in the dermomyotomal lip can be deleted from the genome. Preliminary data show that this domain of expression has been specifically targeted. We plan to fully characterise the new KO strain and to study the effects of eliminating Myf5 function only from the dorsomedial lip. Furthermore, we will cross it with the MyoD KO strain in order to block myogenesis only this precursor cell population. This should result in a better understanding of the function of Myf5 and of the contribution of dorsomedial lip derivatives to adult skeletal musculature.

Keywords: natural sciences,developmental biology,genetic engineering,myogenesis,skeletal muscle,myf5,myod
Molecular recognition of bacterial cell wall peptidoglycans and related molecules by innate immune receptors (PGN-INNATE)

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: Hungary
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-CIG, 2011)
Start date: 2014-01-01
End date: 2020-01-01
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The immune system of higher organisms is using pattern recognition receptors (PPR) of the host cell to fight pathogenic bacteria by recognizing molecular signatures called Pathogen Associated Molecular Patterns (PAMP) unique to the bacteria but absent from the host. Bacterial cell wall peptidoglycan (PGN), a polymer of disaccharide-pentapeptide repeating units is one of the most important PAMPs. Fragments of PGN and related small molecules can also elicit immune response i.e., act as PAMPs. Although the mechanism of action of PGNs leading to immunostimulation in the host is not yet completely understood, it has been shown that several families of PRRs mediated PGN recognition such as the Toll-like receptors and the recently discovered family of Peptidoglycan Recognition Proteins. Immunological studies of mannosylated PGN fragments indicated that the mannose receptor could also be involved in the recognition of mannosylated or even unmodified PGN fragments. The MR is considered as a ‘non-canonical’ PRR able to bind endogenous molecules as well as pathogens that mediates physiological clearance and acts as a bridge between homeostasis and immunity. However, the function of MR in host defense is not yet clearly understood. This proposal is aimed at investigating the molecular recognition of PGNs and related molecules by the PPRs at the molecular level using a combination of experimental and computational approaches such as Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, Isothermal Titration Calorimetry (ITC), Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) and molecular docking calculations. These findings will provide an increased understanding of the molecular recognition by these innate immune receptors and could therefore form a basis of designing improved immunomodulators used as vaccine adjuvants or in the treatment of inflammatory diseases, to aid cancer treatments, to help organ transplants or to fight increasingly resistant inflections.

Keywords: structural chemistry,structural biology,spectrochemistry,vaccines
Financialization, economic development and crisis (FINANCIALIZATION)

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-2011-CIG, 2011)
Start date: 2012-04-01
End date: 2016-03-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

This research project aims to analyze the determinants of economic growth and development and specifically how the recent changes in the realm of finance affect the economic growth and development processes. It then aims to devise alternative economic policy suggestions based on the results of this analysis. The research will have a theoretical and an applied component that will focus on the Turkish economy. Advanced research methods such as economic modeling, empirical data analysis, and econometrics will be combined with a historical political economy analysis. The findings of the research will be presented at international conferences and distributed first as working papers and then will be submitted to leading academic journals. This research project is extremely timely given the financial turmoil that the world economy and within it the European economy is going through. There is very little economic research that can explain the reasons behind this financial turmoil, its relation to economic growth and alternative economic policies to overcome it. Hence, this research will contribute to European excellence and competitiveness by filling a very significant gap in the economics literature.Compared with the U.S. the studies on this topic has been relatively few and limited. However, the applicant has been one of the leading researchers in the U.S. working on the causes and consequences of financialization, published numerous peer reviewed journal articles, a book and many book chapters on the topic. He has also had the chance to work with and collaborate with the leading economists in the field during his stay in the U.S. All these qualifications make him the perfect candidate to study the topic with this grant. The host organization, Kadir Has University in Istanbul, will provide him with the necessary infrastructure and research opportunities, including a set of very dynamic economics faculty and research assistants to cooperate with.

Keywords: financialization,growth,development,crisis,financial markets,investment
Microbial Expression Platform for Membrane Integrated Enzymes (MINT ENZYMES)

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: Denmark
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-CIG, 2011)
Start date: 2012-07-01
End date: 2016-06-30
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

We wish to explore how and why the architecture of the DNA code for membrane proteins vary between kingdoms and affect protein production under different growth conditions - with an unprecedented systematic approach. At the core of biotechnology is heterologous expression of proteins, i.e. to transfer genes into foreign hosts like microorganisms for protein production. One of the key challenges in protein production relates to the degeneracy of the genetic code. Genetic information flows from DNA via RNA into proteins, but the code is degenerate because different DNA/RNA-nucleotide sequences can be translated into the same protein sequence. In the DNA and RNA code, three nucleotides (a codon) are translated into one amino acid residue, and amino acids can be encoded by up to six different “synonymous” codons. Substantial evidence, from studies of soluble proteins, points to a role for this “deeper layer” of the genetic code in the proper timing of co-translational protein folding. For example, regions rich in rare codons may slow down translation to allow time for folding of specific secondary structures. However, since codon usage is not conserved like the universal genetic code, protein-folding information hidden in the DNA code is difficult to transfer from one organism to another. As a result, heterologous expression often leads to misfolded, non-functional proteins. Very limited experimental evidence exist on the connection between codon usage and production of functionally active proteins and in the case of membrane-integrated protein, no such systematic studies have been performed. The knowledge gained will be exploited to engineer new scaffolds for microbial factories. Successful designs will be a novel, invaluable tool in molecular biology and may spawn future solutions for converting from a fossil fuel-based to a bio-based industrial society

Keywords: membrane protein expression,codon usage,cytochrome p450 monooxygenases,microbial cell factories,diterpenoids,genetically modified organisms