Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Synaptic foundations of low level perception (BRAIN PERCEPTS)

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: 2012-11-01
End date: 2014-10-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 260758.8
EU funding (EUR): 260758.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Our visual system has the ability to extract, in a “pop-out” fashion, contrast edges and contours as well as higher order information and statistical regularities from our sensory environment. This primal low-level perceptual analysis is achieved in spite of the continuously updated flow of images received from the environment and the perturbations introduced by the eye movements we generate to scan our surroundings. Underlying this remarkable ability are cortically built-in perceptual grouping mechanisms that can link together image features that arise from the same physical source (e.g., the same rigid object) irrespective of partial masking and that can encode more abstract perceptual attributes of the visual scenes (eg, colinearity, global motion) irrespective of self-generated eye-movements. Object recognition, and many other perceptual capabilities such as figure-ground segregation, would be impossible without appropriate and immediate perceptual grouping. Although the visual system seems to perform these tasks effortlessly, i.e. without requiring targeted attention, it remains one of the main on-the-fly computational challenges in robotics and other artificial vision systems. Despite being attributed to the first integration stages of visual cortical processing, the elementary neural-based mechanisms in charge of perceptual grouping are still poorly understood. In primary visual cortex, long-range horizontal axons link distant neurons, with the potential of playing a role in global perception and grouping, but the overall functional impact of these cortical horizontal connections is unknown. In this proposal we will use in vivo intracellular electrophysiology and voltage-sensitive imaging in the mammalian visual cortex to explore in a multiscale approach (ranging from the synaptic to the cell assembly levels) the cortical emergence of Gestalt laws which guide our everyday low-level perception.

Keywords: neuroscience,visual perception,perception-action,intracellular electrophysiology,synaptic imaging,visual cortex,horizontal connections,eye-movements,perceptual grouping
Interaction Trichoderma-Stenotrophomonas and its effect on plant growth and health (ITRIS)

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: 2013-06-01
End date: 2015-05-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 249890.2
EU funding (EUR): 249890.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The use of beneficial microorganisms to suppress plant diseases has become a reliable alternative to reduce the application of pesticides. There is a strong growing market for microbial inoculants worldwide with an annual growth rate of approximately 10%. The use of ‘Omic technologies leads to products with more predictable and consistent effect. The future success of biological control will depend on interdisciplinary researches about the ecological interactions taking place in soil and root environment. Aim of the present research is to gain insight on the interaction between biological control agents (BCAs) and to assess its potential synergistic effect on suppression of the fungal pathogen Verticillium dahliae and on plant growth and health. The protagonists of the research are one of the most important beneficial fungus for agriculture, Trichoderma velutinum G1/8 and one of the most promising candidate for application as a BCA and plant growth promotion, the bacterium Stenotrophomonas rhizophila DSM14405T. Character of absolute innovation is the assessment of the role played by secondary metabolites and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the interaction between the BCAs, between the BCAs and the pathogen and between the BCAs and the plant. Controlled lab-based and environmental microcosms will be developed to carry out the molecular ecological interactions. DNA-based methodologies in combination with proteomic and confocal laser scanning microscopy will be used to assess the dynamics of interaction, biocontrol activity and expression of each other’s primary biocontrol genes. This research effort will result in new knowledge of the mode of the interaction between BCAs, BCAs and the pathogen, and BCAs and the plant. This will constitute the basis for the development of innovative biotechnological applications.

Keywords: environmental & agricultural microbiology,microbial ecology,interaction,biocontrol,plant growth promotion,trichoderma spp,stenotrophomonas spp,secondary metabolites,vocs,clsm,gene expression
In vivo analysis of the p53 and p73 tumor suppressors using a unique mouse model. (ONCOSWITCH)

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: United Kingdom
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IEF, 2011)
Start date: 2013-09-01
End date: 2015-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 209033.4
EU funding (EUR): 209033.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Cancer is the second cause of death in Europe, after cardiovascular diseases. These lethal diseases are in desperate need of new therapeutic approaches: despite dramatic advances in the use of conventional chemo and radiotherapy and the growth of more “targeted” drugs, many cancers are still incurable. Cancers are difficult to treat not because they are so mechanistically diverse (indeed, we argue that cancers are not very diverse mechanistically) but because they evolve in response to any pharmacological elective pressure we impose upon them. To address this problem, we employ a novel class of genetically engineered mouse (GEM) in which individual tumour suppressor genes may be systemically toggled off and on, reversibly and at will, in vivo. In this way we can identify the most effective therapeutic targets. We hypothesize that targeting the functionally non-degenerate signaling nodes that link robust networks offers two unique advantages as a therapeutic strategy: a durable therapeutic response, and the possibility for treating many distinct cancer types. In this project, we will focus our attention to the non-redundant tumor suppressor p53, and investigate its relevance as a discrete or combined therapeutic target for the treatment of cancer and protection of individuals from radiological or chemotherapeutic injury. Furthermore we will also examine the potential tumour suppressor role of p73, with the same technical approach. Our overarching aim is to deliver to the pharmaceutical industry pre-clinical models of what drugs would do, both therapeutically and in terms of side effects, were we are able to target any intracellular effector of choice.

Keywords: p53,tumor suppressor,oncogene,anticancer therapy,mouse model
SET induced COMParison principles for COMPlex systems (SETCOMP)

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: Netherlands
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IEF, 2011)
Start date: 2012-07-01
End date: 2014-06-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 183805.8
EU funding (EUR): 183805.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The current trend in control engineering which is traditionally defined by the societal needs is to deal with the complexity of dynamical systems in order to provide tools that allow the development of efficient, sustainable and low-cost solutions to control problems. Systems developed by engineers are now large-scaled, networked, and exhibit high nonlinear behavior. Also, the efficient development of reseasrch fields such as systems biology is increasingly allowing the exact study of natural phenomena, slowly moving away from a reductionism philosophy. The research agenda concerns the stability analysis and contrtol synthesis by enhancing an already advanced theoretical tool stemming from Lyapunov stability theory, which is Comparison systems theory. The introduction of new original concepts such as Dual Comparison principle and Control Comparison systems, along with the generalization and relaxation of the theory in order to provide viable solutions will bridge the gap between theory and practice in control engineering. Complex systems cannot be controlled with simplistic techniques. The proposed method does not simplify or approximate, rather, it aims at exploiting the structure of the complex dynamics. These new ideas and techniques will be implemented in crucial real life systems, namely energy conversion, water management, and systems biology. In detail, the method will be applied to switched power converters aiming at reducing energy consumption as well as improving energy conversion. The method will be applied to the activated sludge process in order to lead to more reliable performance guarantees for wastewater treatment. Lastly, the introduction of set-theoretic approaches stemming from the comparison principle in population dynamics in biology is unique and the possible implications will provide a new insight on the complexity structure.The qualities of the researcher and the ideal environment provide a strong guarantee these goals will be reached.

Keywords: control engineering,systems theory,complex systems,nonlinear systems,large-scale systems,polyhedral and vector lyapunov functions,power electronics,systems biology,comparison principle
Institutionalised care for people with mental disorders in South America: indicators and trends (INCAS)

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): 208239.9
EU funding (EUR): 208239.9
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

In the Caracas declaration of 1990, South American countries committed themselves to improve the human rights situation and social inclusion of people with mental disorders, de-institutionalise their care and develop community mental health services. There is however little evidence on the extent to which this has happened and what the current trends are. Indicators of institutionalised care include the provision of psychiatric hospital beds, forensic psychiatric beds, involuntary admission rates, supported housing, and residential homes. A particular question is how many people with mental disorders have been imprisoned, since the prison population increased substantially over the past decade (e.g. in Chile by more than 100%). The study has two aims 1) to assess indicators of institutionalised care for people with mental disorders across South America since 1990 and identify trends of de-, trans- or re-institutionalisation; 2) to establish the rate of people with mental disorders in a prison population in Chile. Primary data sources from ministries and social welfare, national prison administrations, hospital administrations and non-governmental organisations will be used to obtain indicators of institutionalised care. The prevalence of mental disorders in a prison population in Chile will be assessed in interviews of a representative sample of 800 prisoners. It is hypothesized that there is a trend towards trans-institutionalisation with a decrease of conventional hospital beds, but with high rates of people with mental disorders in prison and an increased provision of supported housing, whilst community services are still lacking. The findings will be explained against the background of societal, economic and professional developments in South America. The study will be based at the Universidad de Chile and the Queen Mary University of London, two centres of excellence in social psychiatry, and it will reinforce Europe’s leading position in Global Mental Health.

Keywords: institutionalised care,mental health care,prison mental health,south america,supported housing,community mental health
Controlling elastic waves: structured media and metamaterials in the mechanics of solids and structures. (DYNA META  11)

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: United Kingdom
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IEF, 2011)
Start date: 2012-08-22
End date: 2014-08-21
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 278807.4
EU funding (EUR): 278807.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The ability to control the propagation of elastic waves is an issue of fundamental importance in different sectors of Structural Engineering ranging from the problem to attenuate vibrations and radiated noise, or to control localization phenomena that may induce failure mechanisms in turbo machinery and in turbines, up to the possibility to protect Civil Engineering Structures from earthquakes. The project deals with fundamental issues of control of elastic wave propagation in structured media. Such waves are dispersive, and the structured media are anisotropic, in general. The proposed approach will enable us to combine asymptotic analysis of fields and frequencies, corresponding to standing waves within the elementary cell of the structure, with accurate numerical simulations delivering the information about the dispersion properties and stop bands for Bloch-Floquet waves. The special attention is paid to structures referred to as metamaterials. In our case, the examples include an invisibility cloak for elastic waves, a shear polarizer, and filtering and focussing devices incorporating structured interfaces (flat lenses). Also, the effect of negative refraction in structured media, which is well studied for electromagnetic waves, remains a challenging problem in elasticity.

Keywords: asymptotic methods,engineering mathematics,bloch-floquet waves,metamaterials,earthquake resistant structures,smart structures,structured media
Functional analysis of transcription factors in L-cell biology (TRAFALOGY)

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): 192622.2
EU funding (EUR): 192622.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

L-cells in the intestinal epithelium are specialized enteroendocrine cells which secrete several peptide hormones after a meal, including glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP1), oxyntomodulin (OXM) and peptide tyrosine tyrosine (PYY). These hormones are key regulators of glucose metabolism and body weight, by stimulating insulin release by pancreatic beta cells, slowing down gastric emptying and by acting on brain areas involved in body weight control. Although all three of these hormones are at least in pre-clinical trials for the treatment of obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus, surprisingly little is known about the biology of L-cells and the molecular mechanisms behind metabolite sensing as well as GLP1/OXM/PYY expression and release by L-cells. This proposal aims to identify novel regulators of L-cell biology by defining transcription factors regulating these processes. Transcription factors are critical regulators of all cellular processes; nonetheless the identification of transcription factors involved in L-cell biology has not been addressed yet in a systematical manner. In the proposed work, the applicant will use a lentiviral-based siRNA knockdown screen to determine which transcription factors are critical for metabolite sensing by L-cells, subsequent GLP1/OXM/PYY expression and release as well as L-cell survival and mitosis in vitro. Finally, post-translational modifications of the defined transcription factors, their target genes and the affected signaling pathways will be characterized. The expected results will allow us to understand how fuel sensing is mechanistically linked to release of these three key peptide hormones by L-cells and thus increase our knowledge of this highly relevant enteroendocrine cell type.

Keywords: health sciences,glucagon-like peptide 1,physiology,diabetes,obesity,hormone,l-cells
The role of isomerisation of green leaf volatiles in fine-tuning tritrophic interactions (ISOSPIT)

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: Netherlands
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IEF, 2011)
Start date: 2013-04-01
End date: 2016-08-05
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 183805.8
EU funding (EUR): 183805.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Plants continuously emit organic volatiles into the air, but upon herbivory the amounts increase dramatically. Emission of herbivore-induced plant volatiles, i.e. especially of terpenoids, aromatic compounds and C-6 based ‘green leaf volatiles’ (GLVs), leads to the attraction of foraging natural enemies of herbivores and therefore is referred to as indirect plant defence. We recently found that the increased emission of (E)-isomers of GLVs, induced in wild tobacco (Nicotiana attenuata) by tobacco hornworm (Manduca sexta) feeding, tripled the foraging efficiency of its natural predators in nature. Surprisingly, we discovered that the conversion of the plant’s (Z)-aldehydes to (E)-aldehydes was solely and directly due to isomerase activity in the herbivore’s oral secretions (Allmann and Baldwin (2010) Science 329). The fact that the insect thus betrays its whereabouts to its enemies raises an intriguing question: why did evolution not select against the presence of this enzyme? Here I propose to characterize the enzyme responsible for GLV isomerisation and to elucidate its function in the caterpillar’s physiology, life history and ecology. First I will purify the enzyme, clone the corresponding gene and cDNA, and characterize the enzymatic properties; second I will describe the expression and activity throughout the hornworm’s life cycle; thirdly I will manipulate its expression to investigate the consequences of increased or decreased emission of GLV (E)-isomers for the caterpillar’s growth, development and immune response. Finally, I will investigate the costs and benefits of GLV-isomerisation by tobacco hornworms under natural conditions in the field. Doing so I expect to learn which physiological or ecological benefits have allowed the insect to maintain this treacherous enzyme.

Keywords: green leaf volatiles,tritrophic interactions,chemical ecology,entomology,genetically modified organisms
Informal Media Economies (IME)

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: Netherlands
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IEF, 2011)
Start date: 2013-10-25
End date: 2015-04-24
Duration (months): 18.0
Total project cost (EUR): 143756.55
EU funding (EUR): 143756.55
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The aim of this proposal is to study the conflicts between different stakeholders about the future of intellectual property regulation. At the moment there seems to be an irreconcilable difference between bottom-up social norms governing informal media economies (copynorms) and top-down copyright regimes. This project plans to map the values, norms and self-regulatory approaches of individuals and online communities participating in exchanges in informal media networks to guide and inform policy formulation and possible shift in the formal regulatory frameworks. A better understanding of the bottom-up means of creating, protecting, using of intellectual properties may help to close the aforementioned gap and result in a more egalitarian, commonly accepted and up to date system of copyright regulation.

Keywords: knowledge economy,socio-economic research,intellectual property,copyrights,piracy,socio-legal research,copynorms,informal media economies,information policy,self-governance,common pool resources
Integration of Analyses among fMRI, Biophysical Models and Genetic Data (IAFBG)

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: United Kingdom
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IIF, 2011)
Start date: 2012-10-01
End date: 2014-09-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 278807.4
EU funding (EUR): 278807.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

This project is interdisciplinary in character with three background topics. (1) Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which has become an important technique in the study of the cognitive functions of the brain. This topic also has important applications in the routine diagnosis and prognosis of thoracic surgery and mental diseases. (2) Bioinformatics, which has developed into a key approach in the life sciences, relating molecular data to a number of genetic diseases. (3) Biophysical mathematical models, such as the leaky integrate-and-fire neuron, the Hodgkin-Hulexy model, neural mass models and the neural field equation. These have been utilized to study neuronal activities and functions at the cell and tissue level for many years. The project will combine the three background topics, and is aimed towards the integration of data and models. It will establish a framework composed of modelling, mathematical analysis and statistical inference. The ultimate aim is the integration of fMRI, biophysical models and genetic data. This will involve modelling and mathematical analysis to understand the underlying mechanisms due to the intrinsic complexity and noise of biological systems. The specific problems we intend to solve are: (1) Integration of EEG-fMRI data and a neuronal network model; (2) Integration of fMRI and genetic data; (3) An fMRI data analysis, towards diagnosing mental disorders; (4) Modelling and mathematic analysis. The main goal of the project is to gain new insights into some mental disorders and, on the way, develop mathematical models and theory that can explain the observed phenomena. The significance of our findings for social and economic impacts should be considerable since the project will address fundamental issues related to the daily life of human beings. It will take advantage of the quantity and quality of data that are now available and the power of modern computers and mathematical techniques.

Keywords: neural networks,biomathematics,bioinformatics,medical statistics,neurophysiology,brain research