Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Polydisperse granular avalanche impact on civil engineering structures (GRAINPACT)

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-2013-IOF, 2013)
Start date: 2014-03-01
End date: 2016-02-29
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 163088.45
EU funding (EUR): 163088.45
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Avalanches of granular geomaterials (rock, soil, snow, ice, etc.) are frequent and pose varying degrees of risk to land use, infrastructure, and personal safety in mountainous areas of the world. One of the main goals of avalanche research is to forecast the flow-obstacle interaction in order to (i) design civil engineering structures able to withstand the impact forces and (ii) assess the physical vulnerability of existing structures in avalanche prone-areas. The granular nature of sliding geomaterials is considered the crux of flow-obstacle interaction. At present, the granular mechanisms involved in the flow-obstacle interaction and the resulting forces remain poorly understood. In order to provide efficient tools to calculate impact forces stemming from full-scale granular avalanches and to contribute to hazard mapping and risk management, we propose to investigate the mechanical behavior of granular flows around obstacles, accounting for grain-size dynamics. Key objectives of the study are: (1) to improve our fundamental understanding of the dynamics of avalanche-flows around obstacles and the induced forces with attention paid to the role of grain-size dynamics with the help of innovative discrete numerical simulations, laboratory tests and field-based observations coupled with continuum mechanics theory, (2) to develop universally recognized reliable methods for the design of efficient protection structures built to brake, divert and stop the avalanche-flow in run-out zones, and of safe civil engineering structures, (3) to introduce overall final project deliverables to wider European and international communities (researchers, practitioners, decision makers, general public) through publications, presentations and outreach activities. The proposed methodology is likely to be further developed to explore other important questions such as the effect of inter-particle cohesion (aggregation and breakage) and of particle shape on flow-obstacle interaction.

Keywords: grains,avalanche,structures,granular physics,fluid mechanics,geomechanics,impact engineering,structural mechanics,modelling tools,snow,natural hazards,mitigation measures,risk assessment
Optical charge transfer processes in early stages of photosynthesis from first-principle computational techniques (OPTCHATRA)

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-2013-IEF, 2013)
Start date: 2014-10-01
End date: 2016-09-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 166336.2
EU funding (EUR): 166336.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Optically exited charge-transfer states play a crucial role in the early stages of photosynthesis but are notoriously difficult to describe efficiently with first-principles computational techniques. This difficulty not only limits the current understanding of the detailed atomistic processes in photosynthesis but is also an obstacle in simulating novel designs of photovoltaic materials that are based on organic absorbers. Current first-principles techniques for electronic excitations suffer either from failure to describe charge-transfer excitations or from poor scalability. This project aims to overcome the limitation in describing such optical excitations by implementing an efficient scheme to solve the Bethe-Salpeter equation, which is the state-of-art method for optical properties of solids and has been shown to correctly describe charge-transfer also in molecules. This method is based on a local-orbital basis for the electronic structure and uses a self-consistent Sternheimer equation to obtain the electronic response aiming to solve the Bethe-Salpeter equation for systems containing several hundreds of atoms and thus considerably broadens the range of what can currently be done with available software. It will be used to study the components of natural light-harvesting complexes that participate in the absorption and charge separation process. The application of this computational method is, however, not limited to these systems. On the contrary, this method, being a first-principles approach, has a wide range of applicability, including technological developments such as the design of photovoltaic devices. The implementation developed in this project will therefore be made available to several widely used electronic structure simulation packages through an interface, so that a wide community of users can profit from this development.

Keywords: first principles computational techniques,electronic excitations,electronic structure,optical properties,theoretical spectroscopy,bethe-salpeter equation,photosynthesis,optical charge transfer
The Algorithmic and Neuronal Basis of Active Sensing in the Case of Odor-Trail Tracking (ACTIVE SNIFFING)

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: Germany
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IOF, 2013)
Start date: 2014-08-01
End date: 2017-11-30
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 252290.4
EU funding (EUR): 252290.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

In its natural environment, any behaving animal is constantly bombarded with sensory information that must be parsed quickly by the animal to act appropriately. Yet, the nervous system is limited in the amount of information it can handle. Thus, to avoid sensory overload, specific aspects of these information streams have to be actively attended to by the animal. Such focusing is called active sensing and is a fundamental operational mode of many sensory systems. One ethologically important model for active sensing that has received increasing attention is odor-guided navigation in rodents. During odor-trail tracking, sniffing rates rise up to four times above the normal respiration frequency and each sniff selectively determines which part of the external world is sampled. Yet, an algorithmic understanding of their search strategy as well as its neuronal basis is lacking. My aims are to understand the neural representation of odors during this natural behavior and to reveal the neuronal basis of odor tracking behavior by following a multidisciplinary research program. I will develop an experimental setup that can flexibly deliver tightly controlled odor trails on a custom-build treadmill. By generating specifically tailored odor stimuli, I will be able to probe odor-guided navigation in real time and thus uncover the tracking algorithm. Moreover, I will record neuronal population activity from the early olfactory areas in mice that are following the trail. Such population activity in behaving animals can now be measured because of recent developments in miniature microscopes and genetically encoded calcium probes. I will show which aspects of the stimulus and behavioral variables are encoded by applying feature selection methods. Furthermore, by linking the behavioral decisions an animal takes during tracking to the recorded population response I will reveal which aspects of neuronal activity contribute to the tracking behavior in a mechanistic way.

Keywords: active sensing,olfaction,odor-guided navigation,natural odor coding,olfactory bulb,optimal stimulus design,closed-loop printing odors
TELESTES. Musics, cults and rites of a Greek city in the West (TELESTES)

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: Italy
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IOF, 2013)
Start date: 2014-03-01
End date: 2017-02-28
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 272285.4
EU funding (EUR): 272285.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

This project is dedicated to the musical culture of Selinus, one of the most important Western Greek cities, noted for its investment in cult and religious practice. The project is part of a broader research, concerning the appreciation of the Ancient Greek musical heritage in its historical context, identified here with the musical history of a Greek city in the West from the Archaic down to the Hellenistic period. The study combines the methods of archeology and musicology towards the analysis of the ancient remains and depictions of musical instruments and performances, considering their findspot and context of use, in order to place musical activities in a well-defined space and occasion and to interpret the cultural, religious and social meaning of Ancient Greek musical performances. It will analyze the historical context of music and its performance at Selinus, in relation to political and social changes. It will review the archaeological documentation in order to understand the role of Selinus in the field of the art of music in the Ancient Greek world. The study aims to analyze the musical performances in the sanctuaries of this Greek city and their relationship with ritual and cult. It will also include a virtual reconstruction of the musical instruments and an interactive map of the musical performances in the various sacred areas of Selinus. The project will be carried out in an institution that is world leading in both fields of Art History and Conservation (New York University). It will involve active training of the main researcher on multidisciplinary research tools, including Ancient Greek Art and Archaeology, and 3D Modeling applied to the reconstruction of musical instruments. The project will improve the excellence of the return host (Beni culturali - University of Bologna) in the field of Archaeomusicology. The project will raise the prospects of the main researcher to reach a prominent academic position in her field of research and teaching.

Keywords: archaeomusicology,music and rite,musicarchaeology
Elucidating the role of DNA methylation in enhancer priming in vivo (ENHANCEME)

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: Germany
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IEF, 2013)
Start date: 2014-04-01
End date: 2016-03-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 161968.8
EU funding (EUR): 161968.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

In recent years significant steps have been made in enhancer-biology. Studies investigating enhancers have revealed two classes of enhancers: active or primed. Despite this recent advance it is still largely unknown how epigenetic marks functionally interact and in which order events take place during enhancer priming in the early embryo. In order to address these questions I will study enhancers during early zebrafish development, allowing easy access to large numbers of early stage embryos. I set myself three goals: 1) identify active enhancers at different time points during zebrafish development, 2) determine the order of events during enhancer priming and 3) determine the factors involved in enhancer priming. Importantly, all in the context of a developing embryo and as such free of potential cell-culture artifacts. To achieve this, DNA methylation profiling and ChIP-Seq of multiple epigenetic marks will be performed on zebrafish embryos at various early stages of development. From this data primed enhancers will be identified and will be further characterized using enhancer bulk assays such as 4C-Seq and CRISPR-mediated enhancer knock-outs, but importantly I will also aim for single-cell based methods using super high-resolution microscopy. Finally, factor(s) involved in priming/poising enhancers will be identified by motif search analysis and mass spectrometry-based experiments, followed by validation using reverse genetics techniques. During the course of this fellowship there will be a strong mix of guidance and the space to freely develop my own thoughts and experiments. In the hosting lab (Rene Ketting) postdocs really get the possibility to pursue their own ideas and this proposal is an excellent example of this. In summary, this project, in combination with the scientific environment available in the hosting laboratory, will be an excellent stepping-stone to reach full independence and start my own research group at a renowned institute.

Keywords: enhancers,priming,zebrafish,embryo,development,chip-seq,bs-seq,genomics
Development of Fluorescent Polypeptide Biosensors for Detection of Protein Kinase Cancer Biomarkers and Drug Discovery Programs (JAGV2013MMG)

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-2013-IEF, 2013)
Start date: 2015-01-15
End date: 2017-01-14
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 261384.6
EU funding (EUR): 261384.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

This proposal is intended to develop biosensors, named CDKACT and CDKCONF, as smart tools to detect and study key cancer biomarkers, such as CDK4 and CDK5 kinases, which may be of potential value for cancer diagnostic and theragnostic purposes, as well as to propose new selective compounds for cancer therapeutics by screening for non-ATP-competitive inhibitors of these targets. This is a multidisciplinary project at the interface between chemistry, biochemistry, biology, and cell and animal imaging technologies. A wide variety of state-of-the-art technologies will be applied, including: (i) innovative chemical approaches for the design, synthesis and engineering of peptide and protein biosensors, (ii) biochemical, biophysical, and fluorescence-based approaches for characterization of the sensitivity, specificity and physicochemical features of the biosensors, (iii) cell biology and fluorescence imaging approaches for characterization and validation of these biosensors in cellulo and in vivo, (iv) application of fluorescent biosensors for development of diagnostic assays, and (v) application of fluorescent biosensors for development of high throughput screening assays and identification of selective non-ATP competitive inhibitors for cancer therapeutics. This program will have a large scientific, technological and economic impact, by providing new diagnostic tools and molecules with selective inhibition profiles with application to life sciences and biomedicine. Expected results will contribute to improve early detection of alterations associated with cancer cell proliferation, and will provide novel kinase inhibitors for cancer therapy.

Keywords: cancer,biomarkers,kinase,biosensor,diagnostic,theragnostic,fluorescence,imaging,chemical biology,organic chemistry,drug discovery,biochemistry,biophysics,nanotechnology,cell biology
WNT3A IN NEUROIMMUNE INTERACTIONS IN STROKE BRAIN (WNT_IMMUNE)

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-2013-IEF, 2013)
Start date: 2015-01-12
End date: 2017-01-11
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 221606.4
EU funding (EUR): 221606.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

A stroke, or cerebrovascular accident, is the rapid loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. Ischemic stroke is currently the leading cause of adult chronic disability, the second most common cause of cognitive impairment and the third most frequent cause of mortality in industrialised countries. Consequently, it is presently of outmost importance to study, to understand and to characterize the etiopathological mechanisms underlying stroke. Neuroinflammation is undoubtedly linked to stroke and many other neurological disorders, since immune response impacts on the diseased nervous system modulating the progression of them. Neuroimmune interactions constitute an important part of this immune response and they seem to control several regenerative processes in the brain, including neurogenesis. This crosstalk is mediated by different molecules and among them, Wnt proteins have emerged as interesting modulators. We here propose to analyze the putative neuroprotective role of a specific immune-secreted Wnt subtype, Wnt3a, in stroke, as well as the effects of this ligand on adult neurogenesis processes. The project will include two different approaches: a first in vitro part to isolate, characterize and modify with lentiviral constructions Bone-Marrow (BM) derived cells in order to overexpress or to abolish Wnt3a expression. A second in vivo part to generate chimeric mice by transplantation into the brain of the previously modified BM derived cells. This fellowship will give important information on the role of Wnt3a in stroke as well as providing a powerful in vivo tool and will open direct leads for therapeutics. I will acquire a more complete and diversified scientific knowledge and technical preparation through a multi-disciplinary approach, and will be trained to become an expert researcher towards an independent research career in the field of neuroscience

Keywords: neurosciences,neurobiology,neurological disorders,stroke,neuroimmune interactions,wnt3a,bone marrow derived cells,lentivirus,chimeras,neuroprotection,hippocampal adult neurogenesis
Multiscale analysis and hybrid simulations of neuronal microdomains: from molecular dynamics to function (ADVANCEDMODNEURO)

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-2013-IEF, 2013)
Start date: 2015-05-08
End date: 2017-05-07
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 309235.2
EU funding (EUR): 309235.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Critical biological processes, such as cellular physiology or neuronal transmission have very different spatial scales are due to small binding sites inside or on the cell boundary, or narrow passages between large compartments. The great disparity in spatial scales can be resolved by singular perturbation analysis of their mathematical models. Deriving the function of neuronal synapses from their molecular organization falls precisely in the class of problems associated with diffusion and it constitutes the inherent daunting hurdle of multiple scales. We propose here to construct mathematical models of neuronal microdomains, starting from the molecular to the cellular level and to develop stochastic modeling and singular perturbation methods for asymptotic analysis of the model equations, to use the analytical and numerical approximate solutions to extract properties from newly available molecular data and from Brownian dynamics simulations. A major application of the proposed molecular level modeling is the resolution of the spatiotemporal dynamics regulating neuronal microdomains and synapses. The results of this research will be methods in mathematical modeling, data analysis, asymptotic analysis, and in the designing of stochastic simulations of subcellular processes.

Keywords: multiscale modeling and simulation,stochastic processes,modeling cellular microdomains,stochastic motion of shaped object,boundary conditions,pde,cusp singularity,narrow escape problem.
Photonic Resonators Offering minimally invasive Biomedical Examinations (PROBE)

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: Germany
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IIF, 2013)
Start date: 2015-02-16
End date: 2017-02-15
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 168794.4
EU funding (EUR): 168794.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

This project aims to reinforce the research excellence of the German Institute of Photonic Technology through knowledge sharing with incoming top-class Australian researcher Dr Stephen Warren-Smith to work in Europe on research in the vibrant field of proteomic sensing. Proteomics, the study of proteins and their function, is a powerful technique that can be used as a diagnostic tool for various human diseases. Currently, samples must either be extracted from easily accessible fluids such as blood or from invasive biopsy samples. There is an urgent need for techniques that can perform measurements on samples that are difficult to access, such as uterine fluid, without invasive surgery. We propose to develop highly sensitive micro-interferometers and micro-resonators integrated in optical fibres as miniaturized sensing elements for protein detection in medical applications. This will be achieved by combining sensitive resonance effects, such as a Fabry-Perot interferometer, in conjunction with specific antibodies. Such sensors have already proven successful in physical sensing, such as temperature and strain, and are now in prime position to be extended to the application of biomedical diagnostics. This project will advance these sensors by theoretically and experimentally investigating multi-channel sensors for the purpose of multiplexing biomarkers. This is a critical step for biosensing as it is rare that measuring a single biomarker, without controls, can provide a definitive diagnosis. To demonstrate a specific application the detection of proteomic endometrial biomarkers in difficult to access uterine fluid will be targeted. This project aims to reach a level of maturity where the biomarkers can be tested in a clinical trial in a subsequent project. This will provide an opportunity for continued engagement between Australia and Germany to address this significant challenge.

Keywords: micro-resonators,micro-interferometers,fabry-perot resonators,optical fibre sensing,focused-ion beam milling,nanostructured probes,in-vivo measurements,micro-sampling,biomarkers,proteomics