Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Kerr based Opa for High Energy infraRed PulsE geNeraTion (KOHERENT)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: International Outgoing Fellowships
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IOF, 2011)
Start date: 2012-07-01
End date: 2015-06-30
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 248220.9
EU funding (EUR): 248220.9
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

High-energy, few-cycle duration, laser sources in the near-to-mid infrared (NMI) spectral region are sought for a number of different fields, e.g. for high-field physics. Recently, seminal investigations with NMI radiation aimed at the generation of high-order harmonics and attosecond pulses have been made and to this purpose, many groups are involved in the development of laser sources with the required features, i.e. 1.5-3 microns wavelength range, 20-30 fs duration and energy above 1 mJ. All approaches used so far are based on parametric processes in second order nonlinear media (SNMs). This method does not allow a scale-up in energy, mainly due to the impossibility to scale in size or to pump with very high energies SNMs supporting large amplification bandwidth. In this project we propose an alternative route, based on parametric interaction in Kerr media, that solves these issues allowing the generation of NMI pulses with the desired features. We have recently observed that parametric processes in Kerr media allow for the generation of NMI few-cycle pulses with efficiency comparable to that of SNM but without their limitations. We shall thus develop a Kerr-based parametric source with more than 10mJ/pulse energy, tunable in the NMI spectral region and with few-cycle duration. This will be of remarkable importance and will result in a novel tool to be implemented in the new European high-power laser facilities (including the return institution), to be used in a host of novel, exciting experiments, e.g. the investigation of analogue Hawking radiation (subject of this proposal return phase). The partner organization (INRS-EMT) is the best choice to this purpose, thanks to the possibility of accessing ALLS, one of the most powerful (up to 5J/pulse energy) and state-of-the-art laser facilities in the world (40M$), and thanks to the recognized expertise in the fields of energetic, infrared, single-cycle pulse generation and nonlinear interactions with matter.

Keywords: physical sciences,technological sciences
Molecular architecture of adaptive diffusion in sibling allopolyploid lineages (Dactylorhiza, Orchidaceae) (TRANSADAPTATION)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Intra-European Fellowships
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Austria
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IEF, 2011)
Start date: 2012-12-20
End date: 2014-12-19
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 180191.4
EU funding (EUR): 180191.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Hybridization and genome doubling regularly stimulate plant diversification and speciation. Immediately following a polyploidization event, a genome suffers adjustments in organization and function at the genetic and epigenetic levels. These alterations have the potential to induce novel expression patterns, which together with permanent heterozygosity and gene redundancy, might result in significant phenotypic shifts and elevated evolutionary flexibility. Here we aim to screen genome-wide natural diversity in gene expression rates among sibling species in order to identify genes that may drive adaptation to different environments and lead to isolation. By taking advantage of the most recent advances in genomic technologies we will test the theoretical predictions that only a few genetic loci controlling key traits are necessary for rapid ecological diversification. We will use ecologically divergent but related species of Dactylorhiza in their native environmental context as model system. Using previously available parental reference transcriptomes, we will map millions of short reads quantitatively sequenced for several individuals with Illumina. Further, we will look for quantitative patterns correlated with native environmental parameters, as well as loci showing greater between-species expression difference relative to within-species variation. These loci will be further analyzed and their variation characterized, including across transplants. The project will lead to an enhanced appreciation of the effects of polyploidy on the evolution of metabolic pathways that are significant to adaptation and speciation. Finally, it has the potential to provide a drastically new perspective on the links between polyploidy and functional diversity and it will contribute toward a better understanding and hence prediction of the spectrum of genetic and epigenetic mechanisms active at the intraspecific (population) level.

Keywords: molecular ecology,polyploidy,hybridization,transcriptomic,biological sciences,evolutionary biology,molecular evolution,plant genetics
Sumoylation: a regulatory mechanism for circadian clock function (MOLECULAR CLOCK)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Intra-European Fellowships
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Spain
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IEF, 2011)
Start date: 2013-06-01
End date: 2015-05-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 226548.4
EU funding (EUR): 226548.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The past decade has seen a remarkable advance in our understanding of the plant circadian system, mostly in Arabidopsis thaliana. It is now well established that Arabidopsis clock genes and their protein products operate via negative feedback loops that promote rhythmic oscillations in cellular, metabolic and physiologic activities. Evidence about the relevant role of transcriptional mechanisms regulating the circadian clock has been provided in a number of different studies. However, the importance of post-translational regulation within the plant circadian clock still remains to be fully elucidated. In this proposal, we attempt to explore the molecular, cellular and biochemical determinants involved in the post-translational regulation of the Arabidopsis circadian clock. We will characterize protein sumoylation and its regulation of the circadian system, deciphering its potential role modulating the light input to the clock. To date, no other studies have demonstrated the importance of this post-translational modification within the plant circadian field, which provide evidence about the novelty and biological relevance of this proposal. Overall, the successful completion of the proposed objectives will provide a substantial advance on our knowledge of circadian clock function in plants.

Keywords: circadian clock,natural sciences,sumoylation,molecular mechanisms,photoreceptors,cryptochrome,light input
Generalizations in the Law (GENERALIZATIONS)

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-2011-CIG, 2011)
Start date: 2012-02-01
End date: 2016-01-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The project deals with the ways in which generalizations, both quantified and unquantified, are used in legal fact-finding, either explicitly as pieces of evidence or implicitly as support for certain inferences. The project begins by identifying confusing intuitions and practices, according to which some types of generalization are used as a matter of course (e.g. compensation for loss of earnings relies on the average life expectancy), whilst other types of generalization raise strong objections, such as the case of Sally Clark, in which an expert witness relied on a quantified generalization according to which the probability of two cot deaths in one family like the Clarks is 1 per 73 million. The project develops an original account to aid in distinguishing between acceptable and objectionable generalizations. The new account is grounded on Kant’s concept of moral autonomy. According to the account, a generalization is objectionable when it requires the legal fact-finder to presuppose that an individual’s behaviour was determined by a property he shares with other people and when the evidence is used in the context of attributing personal culpability to that individual. For example, using racist generalizations in legal fact-finding is objectionable not only because these generalizations might be factually wrong or offensive to the accused and to other people. Using racist generalizations also undermines the very basis of attributing moral responsibility to the accused, because their use requires the fact-finder to presuppose that members of the group in question share some property that causally influences their criminal behaviour and this presupposition is inconsistent with attributing personal culpability to the accused. The account also emphasises that our approach to the use of generalizations in court should be derived from answers to deeper questions about what “culpability” is, how it should be determined and what role it should have within the law.

Keywords: humanities
Dynamical processes in the tropopause region and their impact on the distribution of atmospheric trace gases (PROTRO)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Intra-European Fellowships
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Switzerland
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IEF, 2011)
Start date: 2013-01-01
End date: 2014-12-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 184709.4
EU funding (EUR): 184709.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

This proposal outlines a research project in atmospheric sciences that addresses tropopause related processes, which contribute to chemistry-climate coupling. The tropopause region is characterized by frequent air mass exchange between the upper troposphere (UT) and lower stratosphere (LS). It is a region of significant coupling between atmospheric dynamics, chemistry, and radiation. It is therefore particularly relevant to climate. The aim of this project is to improve our ability to quantify the interaction of dynamical and chemical processes controlling the UT/LS in a changing climate. The study will make use of a novel concept of the dynamical tropopause recently developed by the applicant. This tropopause is identified by maximized potential vorticity (PV) gradients on isentropes. There is a close consistency of this PV gradient-based tropopause and the chemical discontinuity in trace gas concentrations near the jet streams suggesting that the novel tropopause concept well identifies the barrier for cross-tropopause transport. Further, preferred transport pathways in the UT/LS are revealed by studying regions where strong trace gas gradients and the PV gradient-based tropopause decouple. Using the novel tropopause concept, this project will in particular investigate stratosphere-troposphere exchange (STE) on higher altitudes than hitherto common and will aim at an improved quantification of trace gas fluxes across the tropopause. Feature-based climatologies of tropopause structures will be produced using 20 years of ERA-Interim data. UT/LS trace gas constituents associated with these tropopause structures will be investigated using state-of-the-art numerical models, the chemistry-climate model WACCM and the Lagrangian model CLaMS. High quality observational trace gas data based on the SPURT and START08 aircraft campaigns will be employed for model evaluation. In summary, this study will provide new insight into fundamental and climate relevant UT/LS processes.

Keywords: natural sciences
Modeling Arm Recovery after Stroke (MARS)

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: France
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IIF, 2011)
Start date: 2012-06-01
End date: 2014-05-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 269096.4
EU funding (EUR): 269096.4
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

Stroke affects 1.1 million Europeans every year, and a majority of stroke survivors show deficits in arm function 6 more after stroke. However, current motor therapy treatments are both expensive and relatively ineffective. The objectives of this IIF proposal are: 1. To develop and validate a multiple-time scale computational model of stroke recovery based on a scientific understanding of neural plasticity and motor learning after brain injury, and 2. To develop a novel adaptive, personalized, and low cost motor trainer to improve function of the upper extremity after stroke based on predictions of long-term recovery from the predictive model. The uniqueness of this proposal lies in the care that will be taken to ensure that the models of upper limb recovery are valid, relevant, and practically useful. The predictive model and the adaptive trainer will be developed in close collaboration with the RE-ARM research group of the M2H laboratory at the University of Montpellier, whose members have the rare opportunity to collect a very large amount of repeated arm movement data, as well as functional and neurological data from 50 patients in the acute phase after stroke using a novel serious game for stroke rehabilitation via an ongoing clinical trial conducted at the Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine departments from Montpellier’s and Nîmes university hospitals. Additional collaborations withe a top French Informatics and Robotics lab, the LIRMM, and the recently created Laboratory of Excellence NUMEV will ensure the success of the proposed project.

Keywords: brain research,neuroinformatics,neurology,stroke,neurorehabilitation,predictive models,motor learning,computational motor control
Biogeochemical Impacts Of Mixotrophy and Ecological Stoichiometry (BIOMES)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Intra-European Fellowships
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: France
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IEF, 2011)
Start date: 2012-06-01
End date: 2014-05-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 193594.8
EU funding (EUR): 193594.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Marine phytoplankton and zooplankton communities mediate a large flux of carbon from the atmosphere into the ocean. This biogeochemical process has traditionally been modelled with the focus primarily on the supply and consumption of essential nutrients. I propose to broaden this approach to resolve important processes occurring at higher trophic levels. I plan to use observations and food-web models to examine how trophic interactions influence and control large-scale ecology and biogeochemical cycling. I will address two outstanding questions that have not yet been examined from this perspective. 1) Marine ecosystem models have traditionally classified phytoplankton as strictly photoautotrophic consumers of inorganic nutrients. This view is challenged by recent observations showing that the majority of photosynthetic plankton also graze upon a large fraction of the bacterial community. These ``mixotrophic'' species combine autotrophic and heterotrophic nutrition. They have a large capacity to increase the flux of carbon through the marine biota, but their ecology is not yet clearly understood. I will explore the mechanisms by which mixotrophs are able to compete in different environments, and I will examine how their success affects the cycling of elements at the ocean basin scale. 2) Phytoplankton show large variability in their elemental composition. These changes are driven by adaptation and acclimation to different environments, and hence the changing balance of marine communities should affect elemental ratios across broad environmental gradients. This elemental variability is an important component of the global carbon cycle, but the underlying links between physiology, ecology and biogeochemistry are still poorly understood. I will ask how biodiversity can facilitate observed ecological and biogeochemical distributions on the global scale, and examine how physiological changes may affect the biogeochemical function of marine communities.

Keywords: biological oceanography,biogeochemistry,ecology,pelagic ecosystems,food web ecology,theoretical ecology
CD4 T AND B LYMPHOCYTES IN HEPATITIS B PATIENTS: ROLE IN ACUTE AND CHRONIC INFECTION (LINFOEPAB)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Intra-European Fellowships
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Switzerland
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IEF, 2011)
Start date: 2012-05-01
End date: 2014-04-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 248451.4
EU funding (EUR): 248451.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Hepatitis B virus (HBV), an hepatotropic non-cytopathic DNA virus, still represents a global health problem, with million of deaths for year because of complication of chronic infection. Chronic infection and its outcome are believed a consequence of defective antiviral response, mainly in T-cell arm, probably mediated by prolonged exposition to large amounts of viral antigens. Recently, many advancements have been done on virus-specific CD8 dysfunction or “exhaustion”, while far less is known about the role of other components of immune response. Thus, aims of the present proposal are the evaluation of phenotype and function of CD4 T cells and B cells in both acute self-limited HBV infection, and in chronic HBV, in order to identify correlates of protection, and additional markers of immune impairment. The project will focus on multiple immunological parameters: dynamics of CD4 memory development, and lineage differentiation, B cells memory development and antibodies functional assays, in acute self limited infection; degree and role, if any, of CD4 T and B cells exhaustion in chronic infection, with different degree of viral control. The analysis will be conducted on cryopreserved PBMCs samples of patients affected by HBV (acute or chronic) and will be performed by both molecular and cellular approaches. Interestingly, many of them have been developed at the host institution. Thus, in addition to the possibility to develop a challenging project of strong impact, due to training that the host will provide, the permanence at the host institution, where multiple competences of very high scientific level coexist, will represent for the applicant an unique experience for scientific and working career.

Keywords: chronic diseases,immunology,infections,cd4 t lymphocyte,b lymphocyte,immune exhaustion
Bioassay integration under the European Water Framework Directive: A step towards an ecological approach (QWATER)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Intra-European Fellowships
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Portugal
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IEF, 2011)
Start date: 2013-01-01
End date: 2015-05-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 157748.4
EU funding (EUR): 157748.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The Water Framework Directive (WFD) is the most important piece of water legislation in Europe for many years. It aims at ensuring the ‘good water status’ of EU water bodies and thus achieve both its good chemical and ecological status. To achieve and assess a ‘good ecological status’, the WFD advocates the integration of various disciplines. Its successful implementation raises new challenges, and demands that we make available a set of low-cost tools and techniques to deliver appropriate data. The WFD accounts for chemical and ecological evaluation, but there are no requirements regarding the establishment of cause-effect relationships in the assessment of environmental quality. By incorporating bioassays to ascertain the cause-effect of a failing ecological status in a water body, a more sound approach may be included within the assessment. This project (QWATER) aims to fill this gap, by gauging the ecological relevance of integrating short-term toxicity bioassays into quality elements in the WFD, as these may contribute to our ability to assess and manage European water bodies. To test the projects working hypothesis ‘that bioassays may contribute significantly to our ability to more comprehensively assess and manage water bodies in compliance with the WFD’, ecologically relevant in situ cost-effective toxicity bioassays will first be developed and validated with the aim of achieving a full battery of in situ assays using organisms representative of several key functions at the ecosystem level. Then, modelling tools will be used to verify whether the integration of bioassays as ‘quality elements’ will (or will not) strengthen the robustness of the standard Ecological Quality Status approach to assess water quality.

Keywords: marine ecosystem management,applied ecology,aquatic ecology,ecotoxicology,environmental monitoring,health and environment (environmental protection),pollution control,water policy,bioassays