Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Organoids as infection model (INFO)

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: 2012-04-01
End date: 2014-07-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 183805.8
EU funding (EUR): 183805.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The mucosal surfaces of the human stomach and gut are in constant contact with bacteria and viruses. This encompasses the often mutually beneficial relationships with commensals as well as encounters with pathogens. The study of host-microbe interactions is hampered by a lack of suitable model systems: many bacteria or viruses cannot be cultured or existing models do not sufficiently recount the human disease. This project aims at the development of new in vitro models and the subsequent characterization of the host response to three microorganisms: the carcinogenic bacterium Helicobacter pylori, the most common cause for non-bacterial gastroenteritis, Norovirus, and the commensal Small Filamentous Bacteria. A culture system that was recently developed in lab of Dr. Clevers will be used in which adult stem cells give rise to three-dimensional structures (‘organoids’) resembling mature, polarized epithelium of the stomach, small intestine and colon.

Keywords: health sciences,infections,host pathogen interaction,infection model,stem cells,carcinogenesis,helicobacter,norovirus,commensal
A Quantum Switch for Light (QUSWITCH)

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: 2012-04-01
End date: 2014-03-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 242193.4
EU funding (EUR): 242193.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Optical switches are devices that allow rerouting an incident optical signal to different ports and play a vital part in fiber optic communication networks. The realization of future quantum networks and quantum communication applications require so-called quantum switches, which, in contrast to classical optical switches, have to be treated quantum mechanically. In particular, quantum switches can be prepared and operated in coherent superposition states. We propose the experimental implementation of a fiber based quantum switch, for which the internal state of a single laser-cooled atom defines the output port of the incident light field. The key element of this proposal is a novel type of optical whispering-gallery-mode microresonator. It allows one to reach the regime of strong coupling, where a single atom is sufficient to drastically change the transmission properties of the resonator. The coupling of light into and out of this so-called bottle microresonator is realized with very low losses using tapered optical fibers. This fiber integration in conjunction with the extremely high optical quality of the resonator enables the realization of a highly efficient quantum switch with properties adequate for real applications. In addition to its potential use in quantum communication, an intrinsic property of this quantum switch is that it allows one to efficiently generate matter-light entanglement as well as highly entangled multi-photon states as, e.g., Schrödinger cat states. This is interesting both from an applied and from a fundamental point of view because the number of entangled particles can easily be adjusted, thus allowing the quantitative study of the transition from the quantum mechanical behaviour of the switch to the classical regime.

Keywords: physical sciences,quantum optics,cavity qed,atomic physics,quantum information,quantum communication,quantum mechanics,entanglement
A Direct Role for Nucleosome Turnover in Polycomb Response Element Function (REPLACOMB)

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: France
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IOF, 2011)
Start date: 2012-09-01
End date: 2015-08-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 280017.6
EU funding (EUR): 280017.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Polycomb group (PcG) and Trithorax group (TrxG) proteins are essential for maintaining different cell identities through chromatin-based regulation of gene expression during development. A crucial aspect of this system is the competition of PcG and TrxG proteins for cis-regulatory DNA elements called Polycomb Response Elements (PREs). However, the mechanisms underlying this competition remain largely unknown. Recent studies have shown that PREs are nucleosome-depleted sites, as a result of high nucleosome turnover in Drosophila. In addition, our preliminary results suggest that these transient nucleosomes at PREs are required for Polycomb-mediated repression. Here, we propose to test the idea that PRE chromatin structure dynamically alternates between two states, where PcG proteins initially bind to transient PRE nucleosomes, and TrxG proteins displace these nucleosomes allowing access to underlying binding sites in the DNA. First, we will evaluate the relevance of transient PRE nucleosomes for establishment and maintenance of target gene expression patterning in vivo. Second, we will implement an innovative technique for genome-scale epigenomic profiling, based on Micrococcal nuclease digestion and high-throughput DNA sequencing. Our recent work shows that this method reveals every site that is occupied by DNA-binding proteins and nucleosomes. We will use this technique in wild-type and nucleosome-depleted cells to assess the roles of transient nucleosomes for chromatin organization at PREs. Finally, we will directly test the role for transient nucleosomes in the recruitment of PcG/TrxG complexes at PREs by chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis. This project will explore links between nucleosome turnover and PRE function, while achieving significant technological innovation. The outgoing phase will be hosted by Dr. Kami Ahmad at Harvard Medical School, in Boston, while Dr. Geneviève Almouzni at the Curie Institute, in Paris will be the return host.

Keywords: chromatin dynamics,gene regulation,epigenetics,polycomb response element,histone variant h3.3,high-throughput dna sequencing
Automated analysis of opinions in a multilingual context (CROSSLINGMIND)

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: 2012-10-01
End date: 2014-09-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 233705.2
EU funding (EUR): 233705.2
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

In the recent years, massive amounts of personal opinions have been posted on the Internet. This allows the companies and institutions to get feedback about their services, provided that they are able to analyse this mass of information.Given that most people prefer to write and read information in their own language, it is clearly relevant to be able to analyse in one language opinions expressed in another language. This is an interdisciplinary topic, called cross-lingual opinion analysis, which involves opinion analysis and machine translation. Although both topics involved have reached a high maturity level, cross-lingual opinion analysis has been little explored. Most of the work done in this field aimed at leveraging resources in English to perform monolingual opinion analysis in another language. The objective of this project is to develop a cross-lingual opinion analysis system. To achieve this goal, the fellow will apply his knowledge in machine translation to adapt the monolingual opinion analysis system existing at the host institution. The fellow will develop a novel approach to map across languages concepts such as the opinion target entity, the corresponding attribute and its polarity. This approach consists of enriching the machine translation system with relevant contextual information. Furthermore several possible architectures of the system will be evaluated and finally a demonstrator will be developed. The underlying technology will eventually be transferred to the industrial sector, since this is one of the missions of the host institution. Thus the fellow will gain interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral competences. In addition, European companies will be able to improve their competitiveness. The citizens will be the final beneficiary since companies and public institutions will be able to better take their opinions into account.

Keywords: technological sciences,natural language processing,opinion mining,statistical machine translation
Genome Evolution in attine aNTS (GENTS)

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: Denmark
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IIF, 2011)
Start date: 2012-08-01
End date: 2014-07-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 238068.6
EU funding (EUR): 238068.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The colonies of eusocial insects (ants, bees, wasps, termites) are second in complexity only to human societies. They evolved by natural selection, in contrast to human sociality which has mostly cultural elements. In addition, insect societies have reproductive division of labor between sterile workers and fertile queens, a form of specialization that resembles germ-line and somatic cell differentiation in metazoan bodies. Social evolution theory increasingly understands the origin and elaboration of multicellular bodies and insect societies in a joint framework of inclusive fitness theory. This approach (A.F.G. Bourke, The Principles of Social Evolution, OUP, 2011) both emphasizes the power of cooperation to achieve higher levels of organization, and the corrupting tendencies emanating from lower-levels of selection that maintain selfish traits. Genomic imprinting is the most fundamental mechanism that maintains selfish tendencies at the genome level, potentially affecting all forms of social life. While genomic imprinting is increasingly well understood in mammals, its frequency and operation in insect societies is unknown. The present proposal aims to resolve this problem by combining Chinese genome sequencing excellence (BGI Shenzhen) with a cutting-edge research program in evolutionary biology (the Copenhagen Centre for Social Evolution) while focusing on one of the best studied social insect models, the fungus-growing ants. The ambitious work proposed is feasible because it is supported by significant additional funding from the combined host institutions. It implies a genome re-sequencing program with multiple components to obtain uniquely detailed insights into the fundamentals of recombination, the epigenetic mechanisms that maintain and regulate genome-level tendencies towards (social) corruption, and the validity of genomic imprinting theory as a general conceptual framework for social evolution at the molecular level.

Keywords: behavioural biology,genomics,molecular evolution,genetic mapping,evolutionary biology,molecular biology,molecular genetics,entomology
ADvanced Mid-InfraRed broadband laser sources for Application in Telecommunications, bIo-photonics, metrOlogy and few-cycle pulse generatioN (ADMIRATION)

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: 2012-03-01
End date: 2014-02-28
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 200371.8
EU funding (EUR): 200371.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The project aims to advance the emerging field of mid-infrared (mid-IR) photonics towards widespread interdisciplinary application in life sciences, chemistry and physics. Despite the importance of mid-IR radiation for various research areas, most current mid-IR laser sources are not well matched to application demands and have yet to achieve the level of flexibility, compactness, reliability and ease of use of their near-IR and visible counterparts. ADMIRATION proposes to overcome these shortcomings by developing novel high brightness, broadband coherent and spectrally uniform ultrashort pulse laser sources based on supercontinuum generation (SCG) in specialty optical fibers. In particular, we target the design, fabrication and experimental implementation of optimized mid-IR SCG sources for 4 key applications areas: - high spectral density broadband transmission sources for next-generation telecommunication networks - non-invasive early detection of diseases by molecular fingerprinting in breath analysis - highly stable and efficient frequency comb generation for metrology - high performance few-cycle pulse amplification and high harmonic generation for ultrafast imaging of the carbon structure of bio-molecules The project will address technological challenges in soft glass microstructured fiber design and fabrication to adapt fiber-based mid-IR SCG sources to the challenging application demands, following similar such demonstrations by the applicant during his PhD work in silica fibers for near-infrared and visible spectral ranges. ADMIRATION is therefore fully aligned with FP7 research objectives by developing “photonics technologies, components and (sub-) systems driven by key applications and social needs” and directly addresses target outcomes of the 2011/12 Work Program, including “bio-photonics for early, fast and reliable diagnosis of diseases” as well as "future-proof telecommunications networks and systems" development.

Keywords: photonics,nonlinear optics,fiber optics,microstructured fiber,mid-infrared,supercontinuum,telecommunications,biophotonics,metrology,chirped pulse amplification,high harmonic generation
MEiobenthos in Shallow-water Marine ECosystems: A Monitoring, Experimental and Modelling Study to Understand Shallow-Water Meiobenthic Function in Marine Ecosystems and Assess its Economic Value (MESMEC)

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: 2013-01-01
End date: 2014-12-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 209033.4
EU funding (EUR): 209033.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The project MESMEC aims at assessing, understanding and predicting structure, diversity, function and importance of meiobenthos (small invertebrate sediment dwelling organisms) in shallow-water ecosystems in order to understand and predict better marine ecosystem dynamics and function in general. To achieve this we will perform 1) long-term monitoring analysis to understand natural spatial and temporal meiobenthic patterns and variability, 2) laboratory mesocosm experiments to assess impacts of environmental change (temperature, CO2, food) on meiofauna diversity and function, 3) the integration of these results into coupled ecosystem models to develop, consolidate and validate the meiobenthic component and assess current and predict future meiobenthic contribution to ecosystem function, 4) the quantification of the meiobenthic contribution to ecosystem goods and services and socio-economic value of coastal marine ecosystems, and 5) efficient engagement with scientific, policy and general end-users. The research training project, involving interdisciplinary experts, will provide a highly competent research fellow with the international experience and diversification and expansion of research and complementary skills needed to attain professional maturity and excellence in Marine Science in Europe. The project will deliver innovative marine ecosystem research and provide significant contributions to European Marine Management in light of the objectives of the European Union Marine Strategy Framework Directive.

Keywords: marine biodiversity,benthic ecosystem function,meiobenthos,climate change,long-term monitoring,laboratory experiments,coupled ecosystem modelling,environmental economics,stakeholder engagement
Microelectromechanical Systems from Nanocrystalline Diamond (DIAMEMS)

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: 2012-04-01
End date: 2014-03-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 270145.8
EU funding (EUR): 270145.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

This project aims to develop high frequency, high quality factor micro and nano – electromechanical systems (MEMS) from nanocrystalline diamond (NCD). NCD offers superior performance to silicon for MEMS due to its extreme Young’s modulus, but it is also compatible with silicon CMOS technologies, offering a key advantage over other potential MEMS materials. High performance NCD growth and planarization will be optimised for MEMS applications. The realisation of continuous, smooth (<1nm rms over 1µm), pin hole free NCD over large areas exhibiting bulk diamond properties will enable a multitude of applications at drastically reduced cost to currently available bulk diamond technologies. The resulting material will have applications outside the MEMS field such as in tribology, optical coatings, electrochemical electrodes (when doped with boron), heat spreading etc. The development of clean room processing technologies of NCD will allow the fabrication of new devices and result in new ideas exploiting this novel material.

Keywords: physical sciences
Dynamic Libraries for the Synthesis of New Multifunctional Silica Striped Nanoparticles (TRANSFORMERSURFACES)

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: 2012-07-01
End date: 2014-06-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 184709.4
EU funding (EUR): 184709.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The last decades have been characterized by a great interest on nanotechnology applied to biology and medicine. Nanoparticles play a leading role thanks to their novel properties relative to their bulk material counterparts. Within TransformerSurfaces the training-through-research is targeted at synthesizing silica nanoparticles, coated with a molecular monolayer that can in turn be reversibly functionalized with different ligands following the principles of the Dynamic Combinatorial Chemistry (DCC). The goal is to obtain a new surface suitable for a larger range of possible functionalization. In particular, taking inspiration from the striped gold nanoparticles that have been recently discovered in the group, this project is targeted to functionalize the outermost coating of the silica nanoparticles with higher order patterns, especially stripes. In fact, these ‘striped’ nanoparticles are capable of penetrating cell membranes without porating (creating transient holes associated with leakage and cytotoxicity) as viruses do. Additionally by combining the biocompatibility of silica with the low toxic effect given by the optimization of the ligands arrangement on the surface, we aim to erase the toxicity of nanoparticles.

Keywords: combinatorial chemistry,surface chemistry,surface physics,interactive surfaces,materials engineering,biomedical materials,nanotechnology
multi-Reconfigurable Antenna SoluTions based on REflectarray technOlogy (RASTREO)

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: 2012-07-01
End date: 2014-06-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 184709.4
EU funding (EUR): 184709.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Today it has become clear that the ever increasing demand for more flexible and efficient services in telecommunications and sensing applications will only be met by the dynamic-reconfiguration of electromagnetic radiating systems. In this context, significant research effort has been made in the last years, leading to the development of e.g. frequency-reconfigurable antennas for handheld devices, or beam-scanning directive antennas for flexible earth coverage. However, despite its huge potential ‘multi-reconfigurability’ –namely, the possibility of dynamic control in the spatial, frequential, and polarization domains– of large directive antennas has not been studied yet. This capability would be very useful in numerous applications such as, satellite communication and cognitive radio, to name a few, while making a more efficient use of spectrum and energy resources. Therefore, this project proposes to study, for the first time, an efficient solution to large directive antennas able to simultaneously achieve spatial, frequential, and polarization dynamic-reconfiguration. The reflectarray concept will be employed to that purpose, since –in addition to other known benefits– its ‘space feeding’ allows much simpler solutions for obtaining the desired novel frequency and polarization dynamic control. Microfabrication technologies for RF reconfiguration will be employed to implement the proposed concepts, in order to achieve higher frequency operation, enhanced performance, integration, and low power consumption.

Keywords: high frequency technology,satellite-based mobile technology,terrestrial mobile technology,wireless systems