Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Reproductive pathways in birds (RPINBIRDS)

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: Belgium
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IIF, 2010)
Start date: 2011-06-15
End date: 2012-06-14
Duration (months): 12.0
Total project cost (EUR): 114600.0
EU funding (EUR): 114600.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

In order for the brain to control reproductive behaviour, there must be nerve pathways that link higher brain centres with spinal motor neurons that innervate the muscles producing the behaviour. Knowledge of these pathways in the brainstem and spinal cord is presently either controversial or lacking in birds. In this proposal these pathways will be defined precisely in both songbirds and non-songbirds by charting the essential neuroanatomical links between the hypothalamus and other centres in the forebrain, the brainstem, and motor neurons in the spinal cord that innervate muscles involved in reproductive behaviour. Because the external stimuli eliciting reproductive behaviour differ in different avian species, the pathways will be defined in a songbird - in which reproductive behaviour is elicited by the auditory stimulus of the male’s song - and in a non-songbird – in which reproductive behaviour is elicited by visual and possibly olfactory stimuli. Investigation of the pathways will use state of the art tract tracing techniques, which the applicant has used previously to define several neurobehavioural systems in the avian brain. Collaboration with the host - who is a world expert on the hormonal control of avian reproductive behaviour – will ensure the discovery of new and exciting knowledge regarding the neural and hormonal control of reproduction behaviour in birds.

Keywords: birds,reproductive behaviour,motor control,nerve tract tracing,hormones
Towards an enantioselective synthesis of Plakortide P and its application to the development of drugs for the treatment of Chagas disease (PLAKORTIDE)

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: Ireland
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IIF, 2010)
Start date: 2011-09-05
End date: 2013-09-04
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 204587.2
EU funding (EUR): 204587.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

African sleeping sickness, leishmaniasis and Chagas disease are all examples of orphan diseases, so named for the overall lack of attention given to them by major pharmaceutical companies. The infectious agent of the disease is Trypanosoma cruzi. Between 8 to 11 million people in Mexico, Central America, and South America are estimated to have Chagas disease, most of whom do not know they are infected. If untreated, infection is lifelong and can be life threatening. Recently, the Plakortis species have proven to be a rich source of bioactive cycloperoxides - broadly classified as ‘Plakortides’ - which are reportedly highly selective against T. cruzi. This research proposal aims to answer the following questions: 1) Can the enantioselective peroxidation of unsaturated aldehydes be developed and applied to a synthesis of the Plakortides? 2) Can high potency analogues be synthesised through modification of the olefinic side chain? 3) Will stabilisation of radical metabolites lead to novel analogues with superior activity as potential therapies? In this project, the fellow will lead a ‘state of the art’, multidisciplinary research programme in a world class European research environment and host. The fellow will develop novel methods in organocatalysis for preparing chiral cycloperoxides, which will be applied to the complex natural products. In turn, this methodology will facilitate the production of aromatic analogues of Plakortide and potentially effective treatments for Chagas disease. Included in the fellowhip is an extensive training programme incorporating many career-enhancing modules and elements. A joint collaboration will run between Irish and UK universites with the fellow visiting both laboratories where he can broaden his skills from chemistry into biology and biochemistry. The project, therefore, represents an excellent opportunity for a talented fellow with ‘transfer of knowledge’ placed at its core.

Keywords: organic chemistry,tropical medicine,pharmaceutical chemistry,homogeneous catalysis
A Novel Heat Pump Assisted Solar Façade Loop Heat Pipe Water Heating System (HP-LP-SOLAR-FACADE)

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,United Kingdom
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IIF, 2010)
Start date: 2012-03-01
End date: 2014-02-28
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 210092.8
EU funding (EUR): 210092.8
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

The proposed research aims to develop a novel solar façade water heating system involving several technical initiatives, i.e., unique loop heat pipe structure, integrated façade and heat pipe configuration, and heat pump assisted low temperature heat pipe operation. These initiatives will have potential overcoming the difficulties associated with existing solar water heating systems, i.e., unpleasant architectural view due to use of the roof space, hazard of piping freezing due to indoor-to-outdoor water transporting, separate layout of the heat absorbing pipes and façade, and low solar efficiency. This will generate a façade integrated, highly efficient and aesthetically appealing solar water heating system. Specific objectives of the project are: 1. Designing a conceptual module of the proposed solar façade water heating system 2. Developing a computer model to optimise the configuration of the system and predict its thermal performance. 3. Constructing and testing a prototype solar façade system in laboratory. 4. Carrying out economic, environmental and regional acceptance analyses. The programme will integrate Dr Wei He, the selected incoming fellow from China, into Institute of Energy and Sustainable Development at De Montfort University. The process will result in knowledge transfer from the incoming researcher to European host which will further extend to whole Europe, in terms of advanced solar system design, computer modelling, experiment and economic and environmental analyses. It will benefit to Europe host in terms of new technology development, enhanced research capacity, and strengthen international/industrial cooperation. Results of the research will contribute to establish European excellence and competitiveness in solar heating technology, and thus help achieve EU’s goals to promotes use of renewable energy, reduce fossil fuel consumption and cut carbon emission. Deployment of the technology will help enhance EU’s economy and industrial competit

Keywords: heat pipe,loop,facade,heat pump,solar,water,heating,efficiency,cop
Fabrication of Large Loading Capacity, Stimuli-Responsive and Release-Controlled Drug Delivery Nanodevices (CAMLC10)

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-2010-IEF, 2010)
Start date: 2011-07-01
End date: 2013-06-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 209092.8
EU funding (EUR): 209092.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The target of the present project is to fabricate large loading capacity, stimuli-responsive drug delivery nanodevices (DDNDs) with potential application in anticancer therapy. The proposed theme is central to People Programme for Career Development framed under FP7 within a research area which is truly at the cutting-edge and which is strongly interdisciplinary (materials, chemistry and nanoengineering). The proposed work falls directly under “The European Strategy for Nanotechnology and the Nanotechnology plan”. In particular, there are two themes under this Action Plan addressed by this proposal, e.g. Health and NMP (Nanosciences, nanotechnologies, materials and new production technologies). The proposal involves both materials preparation and drug loading/releasing processes. The DDNDs will be made in three steps. Firstly, magnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles (NPs) are prepared. Then a decomposable FeOOH shell will be coated on the NPs. Finally, the above core-shell structures will again be coated by a layer of mesoporous silica forming core-double shell structure. The DDNDs with increased hollow volume will be obtained by the decomposition of the FeOOH inner shell. Thereafter, the drug loading and releasing will be done in two separated steps where the release can be triggered by a stimulus input, e.g. sharp pH change. All structures/devices obtained from these steps will be thoroughly characterised. The evaluation on the delivery efficiency and improvement on the fabrication process parameters will be made according to the characterisation results. In particular, the ‘zero-release’ before the stimuli input, the load maximization per DDND and the sustainability of the release once triggered will be the main aims to be achieved in the project. As fulfilled, all pre-set training objectives will be realised by the knowledge and competencies gained in the project and will definitely benefit to the candidate career development and mobility among the European Research Area.

Keywords: nanodevices,drug delivery,nanoparticles,mesoporous,nanoengineering,magnetic,release-controllable,stimuli-responsive,materials,anticancer therapy,chemistry,chemical engineering,polymers
Regulation of inward K+ channel activity in Arabidopsis by the Shaker subunit AtKC1: molecular mechanisms and role in control of stomatal opening and plant adaptation to water stress (KINPLANTS)

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-2010-IEF, 2010)
Start date: 2012-01-02
End date: 2014-01-01
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 185748.0
EU funding (EUR): 185748.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Plant Shaker channels form the major K+ conductance of the plasma membrane, thereby mediating large K+ fluxes required for plant growth and development. Also, owing to the role of K+ ion in control of the cell osmotic potential, they are involved in the modulation of stomatal movements, which is necessary for allowing CO2 uptake while limiting transpirational water loss. Thus, they contribute to plant adaptation to changes in water availability and air humidity. Shaker channels are homo- or heterotetramers associating 4 Shaker subunits. In the model plant Arabidopsis, the Shaker subunit AtKC1 is not able to form a functional homotetrameric channel at the plasma membrane. Instead, it is retained in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). However, when co-expressed with other Shaker subunits, it forms heteromeric channels targeted to the plasma membrane and endowed with new functional properties. Thus, AtKC1 behaves as a silent regulatory subunit. The atkc1 mutant displays a remarkable and pleiotropic phenotype, including reduced growth and impaired stomatal control leading to increased transpirational water loss. The project proposes an integrated approach associating molecular, biochemical and biophysical approaches, along with cell biology and whole plant physiology, in order to unravel the role that AtKC1 plays in stomatal regulation and adaptation to water stress. Different aspects will be investigated: the molecular determinants of AtKC1 activity (for instance, regulatory partner proteins), and physiological impacts of AtKC1 activity on whole plant and guard cell physiology under different environmental and hormonal conditions. Physiological aspects will be studied in wild type and atkc1 KO mutant plants, using the Phenopsis phenotyping platform for whole plant transpiration measurements and electrophysiology techniques for measuring K+ channel activity and membrane potential changes in epidermal and guard cells.

Keywords: drought stress,plant transpiration,stomatal aperture,guard cells,potassium channels,arabidopsis
Leibniz’s Enlightenment. Debates on Faith and Reason in Early modern Europe, 1668-1710 (LEIBENLIG)

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-2010-IEF, 2010)
Start date: 2011-09-01
End date: 2013-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 254775.0
EU funding (EUR): 254775.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The project is a historical reconstruction of the philosophical debates concerning faith and reason in the Early Modern Republic of Letters as seen through the eyes of the German polymath G.W. Leibniz (1646-1716). It will be conducted at the Centre d’Etudes en Rhétorique, Philosophie et Histoire des Idees (CERPHI UMR 5037), a research unit based at the École Normale Supérieure in Lyon. It will be supervised by the director of CERPHI, Professor Pierre-François Moreau. The project contains three parts. First, it reconstructs the conceptual framework, which governs Leibniz’s analysis, evaluation and strategic approach to other thinkers, positions and doctrines in the early modern Republic of Letters, with special emphasis on the controversies concerning faith and reason. This provides a historically immanent methodological framework for the study of those debates. It also provides an original account of Leibniz’s position as a philosopher in the Early Modern Republic of Letters, a powerful proponent of what is today referred to as the “moderate Enlightenment.” In Part II, I study in detail Leibniz’s engagement with a series of other, contemporary theoretical positions on the relations between faith and reason. These positions include Padouan Averroism, Mechanism, Naturalism and Materialism, Catholic Fideism, Erudite Libertinism, Theological and Philosophical Enthusiasm, Rational theology, and Calvinist Scepticism. The seven case studies currently planned form the bulk of the project. Finally, in Part III, the project includes a set of appendices containing translations into English of a series of generally unknown French and Latin texts by Leibniz. The project is a strongly interdisciplinary and draws on research from both philosophy, history, theology, comparative literature, and the history of science.

Keywords: humanities,leibniz,enlightenment,faith and reason,history of philosophy,intellectual history,seventeenth century,early modern philosophy,history of religion,history of science
The role of Glutamine synthetase in Liver Failure: Molecular, Functional and Therapeutic modulation (HE&GS)

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-2010-IEF, 2010)
Start date: 2011-05-01
End date: 2013-06-30
Duration (months): 26.0
Total project cost (EUR): 271636.8
EU funding (EUR): 271636.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The treatment of HE is an unmet need. Ammonia is the central target of therapy but there are no interventions that have been shown to reduce ammonia predictably in liver failure. The main reason for this lack of a proven therapy is because of a lack of understanding of the regulatory pathways involved. Our proposal provides an innovative and original approach to try and understand one of the key regulatory pathways of ammonia metabolism, glutamine synthetase (GS). My proposal will bring together several investigators who have state-of-the-art knowledge and expertise. The aim of the current proposal is to define the role of GS in liver failure and its potential as a therapeutic target for HE and other associated complications of liver disease including infection. Current therapies for HE fail to address the underlying problem of hyperammonaemia and a recent Cochrane review has suggested that well-established management strategies for HE including lactulose may not improve survival. The novel approaches to the problem we will use are: study of multiple organ enzyme function using a systems approach in disease; use of proteomic aproach to understand GS post-translational modifications; use of GS KO mice to understand the role of muscle GS; use of gene therapy approaches to reconstitute GS; if we prove during this study that gene therapy to increase muscle GS has potential to decrease hyperammonaemia and slow the progression of liver disease, we will have a potential therapy for HE which can enter therapeutic trials in the clinics.

Keywords: health sciences,hepatic encephalopathy,glutamine synthetase,gene therapy
Chronology, Culture & Archaeology - Tree-ring analysis and fine resolution sequencing (CCA)

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: Ireland
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IEF, 2010)
Start date: 2011-06-06
End date: 2013-06-05
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 272595.0
EU funding (EUR): 272595.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Some of the richest archaeological resources are found in estuarine zones around Ireland, and these rival in quality any comparable environment in Europe. In this project, the candidate will exploit the unique archaeological potential found in estuarine zones around Ireland, specifically the Fergus Estuary, where there are now known to survive some of the most spectacularly well-preserved prehistoric and medieval fisheries in Europe, but which are likely to be destroyed within the next 10 years. She will employ a holistic approach to attain high-precision chronology from tree-ring sequences locked in surviving wooden structures in these environments. This analysis will enable a comprehensive understanding of changes over time and of people’s decisions in terms of form, structure and life-spans of wooden fishing structures and their repair and abandonment year by year – all at a chronological resolution normally impossible to discern in conventional archaeology. The candidate will develop techniques in non-destructive analysis of the material, thus maintaining and enhancing the candidate’s position at the forefront of advances in this field. A team in UCD School of Archaeology are currently investigating these estuarine remains. The project objectives will be achieved through integrating tree-ring analysis into the stratigraphical, environmental, tree-species and morphological analyses of the structures. The methodologies and data sets produced by the candidate will have a value at a global archaeological level (these sites are amongst the best surviving examples known from Europe, North America and Asia) as they will demonstrate how we can investigate past people’s decisions and actions relating to rapidly changing environmental circumstances at a very fine-grained, close chronological scale. This project will provide one of the key tools through which past human-environment interactions can be modelled at varying chronological scale of seasons, years and decades.

Keywords: archaeology,dating techniques,high-resolution chronology,non-destructive analysis,dendrochronology,resource studies,palaeoenvironment,environmental history
Solar dynamic phenomena as an astrophysical laboratory: Jets and Coronal Mass Ejections (JET-CME)

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: Greece
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IEF, 2010)
Start date: 2012-03-09
End date: 2014-03-08
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 211750.0
EU funding (EUR): 211750.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Magnetic fields are produced in differentially rotating and convecting environments, such as in the interior of the sun, other convective stars and also in accretion disks. The produced magnetic fields emerge in the outer atmospheric layers because of magnetic buoyancy producing a plethora of explosive events. This Emergence of Magnetic Flux (EMF) is a fundamental astrophysical phenomenon and the possible driver of the observed, ubiquitous activity in astrophysical plasmas. In the case of the Sun, the Rosette Stone of Astrophysics, EMF is a key process, ultimately linked to the formation of active regions (ARs) at the solar surface (photosphere). Moreover, it is thought that flux emergence contributes considerably to the driving of spectacular phenomena as solar and astrophysical jets, and the Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs). Therefore, the main aim of this proposal is to understand the coupling between EMF and fundamental aspects of solar/astrophysical dynamic events. Among the related outstanding questions are the nature of jets and the basic physics behind the onset of dynamic eruptions (e.g. CMEs) in regions of EMF. More precisely, in this work we propose to investigate in a self-consistent manner (i) the acceleration mechanism of jets associated with EMF, (ii) their impact on heating the solar corona and driving the solar wind, (iii) the onset of CME-like eruptions, especially when they originate from within sigmoidal regions and (iv) the relation between CMEs, jets and EMF. While the existing observational evidence of the formation of jets and CMEs is phenomenologically consistent with theoretical models, more quantitative agreement is missing and deeper understanding of the processes at work is still elusive. The proposed research will be carried out using state-of-the-art 3D MHD simulations and high-resolution observations with the aim to provide essentially a first-principle investigation of the relevant physics of the phenomena under study.

Keywords: physical sciences,astrophysics