Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
New approaches in media and communication geography: Quantitative methods for analyzing geographical mobility (QUANTMEDCOMMGEO)

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-2013-IEF, 2013)
Start date: 2015-08-01
End date: 2017-07-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 207928.8
EU funding (EUR): 207928.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

This study uses as a starting point the current call for a fundamental restructuring of research paradigms in geography and media & communication (Adams 2010, Adams and Jansson 2012). I aim to contribute to this restructuring mainly methodologically – to find the link between the disciplines through the analysis of geographical mobility and using quantitative methods. I originate from the current studies in the field of mobility (Giddens 1990, Castells 2001, Urry 2012) and from the critics (Castles 2010) to mobility studies as being unable to embrace the complex nature of mobility. The social transformation approach has been offered theoretically as a solution (Castles 2012), but there are still no methodologies for empirical analysis of mobility through the prism of social changes. The methodology in the social sciences has also been often criticised (Taagepera 2008), often being too descriptive and not enabling ‘theoretical generalisations and finding the “social laws”. The present project mainly uses the interpretative quantitative approach as a tool, the quantitative approach being rather innovative in the media and communication studies, and the interpretative approach (see, e.g. Glaser 2008) being rather innovative in the field of geography. This project aims to implement the quantitative methods for analysing mobility, within the following three subfields: (1) geographical mobility and ICT (analysis of individual mobility, based on national census (2011) and mobile positioning data (2012), and using interpretative structural methods); (2) communication geography (analysis of mobility practices and wishes, based on survey data collected in 2002-2014 in Estonia and using modelling methods for enabling micro- and macro-level analysis); (3) media geography (analysis of geographical character of spatial mobility and media usage habits using spatial analysis methods and based on European Social Survey data collected in 2014).

Keywords: geographical mobility,migration practices,transition societies,quantitative research methods,media & communication geography.
Refined screening for novel targets in the tumor vasculature (RESTART)

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-2013-IEF, 2013)
Start date: 2015-03-01
End date: 2017-02-28
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 183469.8
EU funding (EUR): 183469.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Angiostatic compounds have made their way into the daily clinical management of cancer, but their impact on patient survival is rather limited. This is likely due to the fact that most current drugs are antagonists of tumor produced growth factors, a strategy expected to induce drug resistance. A better strategy would be to target the tumor vasculature directly. Several markers of tumor endothelial cells have been described but most of them lack sufficient specificity. The applicant proposes to use Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) to identify the population of genes specifically expressed in primary prostate carcinoma and its metastases. Subsequently, this population of genes is screened for genes that are re-used during angiogenesis, and consequently overexpressed in the tumor endothelium. Prioritization of targets will be done by (i) level of (over)expression, (ii) membrane expression or secretion and (iii) existence of human ortho/homologs. After initial validation by qPCR in the source transcriptomes used for NGS, further validation of the targets will be done through loss- and gain-of-function assays. For 2-3 targets monoclonal antibodies will be generated. These antibodies will be tested in in vitro angiogenesis bioassays, and applicability will be preliminary tested in a preclinical mouse tumor model. Finally, the human ortho/homologs of the gene will be identified and validated for overexpression in human tumors. The novelty of the proposed work is the NGS approach for selection of tumor endothelial markers, through screening for high expression in the full tumor transcriptome and absence in healthy full body RNA. The prior experience of the applicant and the host laboratory will help the current project to succeed in reaching its goals. In our view, it is feasible to develop a new vascular targeting strategy, ready for translation to clinical testing. The proposed work will strongly reinforce the collaboration between two European institutes.

Keywords: functional genomics,cancer,metastasis,target,deep sequencing
Multi-focal scanning plasmonic nanoscope for super resolution imaging of living cells (MULTISPLASH)

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: Israel
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IEF, 2013)
Start date: 2014-05-01
End date: 2016-04-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 184558.8
EU funding (EUR): 184558.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

This project aims to design the first ever prototype of a plasmonic microscope for in vivo bio imaging. The principle behind the prototype consists in deep sub-wavelength focusing and raster scanning of multiple points to achieve imaging. On the one hand, using surface plasmons excitation for microscopy instead of light offers the advantage of ultra short plasmonic wavelengths (down to 100 nm) for visible light frequencies, enabling a plasmonic diffraction limit of 50 nm which sets the resolution of the microscopy. On the other hand, in this ultra short wavelength regime surface plasmons suffer losses, limiting the propagation length of plasmon waves. Losses limit the image size (field of view) to no more than 10 by 10 resolution points, a size which is completely insufficient for biological samples. The main scientific challenge of this proposal is to surpass the plasmonic losses which constitute a limitation for microscopy and most plasmonic applications. While previous attempts were based on reducing the losses (succeeded up by a factor of two), we propose a scheme that is not sensitive to these losses. The scheme consists in a "network" of periodic plasmonic repeaters that regenerate the lossy signals, similarly to the standard method used for distributing cellular phones and TV/radio signals over long distances. In particular, we will use a Spatial Light Modulator (SLM) to create and scan multiple plasmonic foci in parallel. The image is acquired via raster scanning of all the plasmonic foci in parallel, yielding an image size limited only by the extension of the network, namely the number of pixels in the SLM. Moreover, this scheme also reduces the scanning time by up to two orders of magnitudes, making it suitable for in-vivo measurements. In conclusion, we propose a technological advancement for microscopy based on a novel scheme that can harvest the short plasmonic wavelengths for microscopy without compromising any other relevant parameters.

Keywords: nanoscopy,wavefront shaping,time reversal,super-resolution,plasmonics,microscopy,multiplexing,imaging,in-vivo imaging,biomedical equipment.
The role of ubiquitin and ubiquitin-like modifiers in replication stress (UBIREPS)

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: Denmark
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IEF, 2013)
Start date: 2014-04-01
End date: 2016-03-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 221154.6
EU funding (EUR): 221154.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Accurate DNA replication is an essential prerequisite of genome stability, and nature has evolved numerous mechanisms to ensure precise and complete genome duplication. Subversion of these protective mechanism results in genome instability, the hallmark of cancer and many human developmental syndromes. Paradoxically, recent evidence suggests that pharmacological interference with these mechanisms represents a promising therapeutic strategy, because cancer cells show a pronounced dependency on these pathways for their survival. One of the most important requirements for faithful DNA replication is the maintenance of replication fork stability under conditions of stress. A number of proteins involved in this process have been identified to date; however, our understanding about their post-translational regulation is rather vague. In particular, although their indispensable role in DNA damage signaling is firmly established, the role of ubiquitin and ubiquitin-like modifiers responding to DNA replication stress has so far not been addressed. We propose to combine high-content microscopy with reverse genetics to identify ubitiqutin-related factors and pathways in the response to DNA replication stress. To this end, we will set up a dual labeling protocol for the quantitative detection of DNA synthesis – an approach never exploited for high content studies. To realize the full potential of this approach, comprehensive expertise in high-content microscopy and RNAi based screens are essential – both of which are among the core competencies of the host institution. We will characterize novel regulators by a combination of basic and highly specialized, biochemical, molecular and cellular biology and physicochemical techniques. We are confident that the results of this study will reveal novel aspects of DNA replication and genome surveillance and their role in human disease, and provide new opportunities for cancer therapy.

Keywords: dna replication replication stress and cancer dna damage signalling ubiquitin large-scale genomic screens high-content microscopy genome stability
Quark-gluon tagged jet quenching studies in PbPb collisions with the CMS detector at LHC (QGTAGCMSHI)

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: 2015-01-01
End date: 2016-12-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 194046.6
EU funding (EUR): 194046.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The studies of high energy nuclear (heavy-ion) collisions have been exploring the properties of QCD under extreme conditions. It is predicted that the matter in these conditions forms a new phase which is called the quark-gluon plasma (QGP). Many features of this matter is already observed in RHIC and LHC experiments, one of them being the jet-quenching phenomenon. The color-charged highly-energetic projectiles (quarks and gluons) lose some of their energy while traversing this medium, and form jets that are less energetic compared to those produced in proton-proton collisions. This is reflected in the observed hadron and jet spectra, as well as correlations between jets. The analyses so far, however, have not distinguished whether an observed jet originates from a quark or a gluon. This is a rather important aspect, since the color factor difference causes quarks and gluons to suffer the energy-loss differently. While setting constraints on the parameters of the energy-loss, the quark-gluon identification will also help characterization of collisions and make it possible to investigate the patterns of the quenched energy in more detail. The distinct fragmentation features of quark jets and gluon jets make them possible to distinguish, which is a technique already practiced in pp collisions. Performing a similar method in heavy-ion collisions can shed light onto the quenching mechanism in the hot and dense QCD medium. However, more advanced methods have to be developed in order to cope for the large underlying event in the nuclear collisions. The CMS detector at the LHC experiment at CERN has excellent capabilities for charged hadron tracking and calorimetric energy measurement, which constitute the essential elements of jet studies. In addition, with its triggering capabilities, CMS has collected large datasets of dijet and photon+jet events. These different channels, having different parton content, can be used for controlling the quark-gluon tagging performance.

Keywords: quark gluon plasma,relativistic heavy ion collisions,lhc,cms
TRANSNATIONAL YOUTH IN CIVIC ACTION: YOUNG RUSSIAN-SPEAKERS AS AGENTS OF DOMESTICATION IN FINNISH AND ESTONIAN CIVIL SOCIETIES (TRANSDOM)

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: Finland
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IEF, 2013)
Start date: 2015-02-01
End date: 2017-01-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 276865.2
EU funding (EUR): 276865.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

It can be said that the history of mankind is largely the history of migration. However, the social, political and technological developments have changed its nature. In today’s increasingly diverse and mobile world, growing numbers of people come into contact with more than one culture and their creation of social categories, identity construction processes, and political and cultural practices are going on in a more complex context than in the past. The migrants´ continuous involvement in cultural and political trans-national activities leaves the door open for multi-directional effects, and this has become a topic of growing attention in social and political sciences, as well as, in politics and public discourses of sending and receiving societies. The aim of this project is to study the impact of the participation in trans-national online space on young people with migrant backgrounds in terms of their attitudes and behaviour in the host countries’ civil societies, and whether/how the youth transmit their perceptions of political culture and social activity based on their experiences in the host countries in this trans-national space. More specifically, the project will examine comparatively young Russians in two EU countries (Finland and Estonia) with different political cultures and analyse their activities in a particular transnational space: the Russian-language Internet-based blogosphere, the “Runet”. The theoretical part of the study draws on three thematic approaches: migration studies, civil society studies, and transnationalism. Additionally, the project seeks to extend methodological insights for the studies of transnationalism and its effects on political culture (at the level of attitudes, behaviour patterns, and forms of organisation), developing and implementing a combined approach of a) background mapping, b) qualitative interviews, and c) analysis methods of web-based social networks.

Keywords: civil society,participation,migration,transnationalism,domestication,online space,young russians in two eu countries,attitudes,behaviour patterns,forms of organisation
Molecular basis of IGF2BPs-mediated lncRNAs degradation (LNCRNATURNOVER)

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: 2014-09-01
End date: 2016-09-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 221606.4
EU funding (EUR): 221606.4
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

Insulin-like growth factor 2 mRNA-binding proteins (IGF2BPs) constitute a conserved family of oncofetal RNA binding proteins (RBPs) important in embryonic development, and whose expression in tumours is strongly correlated to cancer dissemination. There are three isoforms in mammals, IGF2BP1-3, which regulate mRNA transport, translation, and RNA stability, in a RNA target-dependent manner. Recently, it has been reported that IGF2BP1 interacts with HULC long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) in hepatocellular carcinoma cells and mediates its degradation through recruitment of CCR4-NOT deadenylation complex. Interaction of IGF2BPs with lncRNAs has been described in the past, however, this is the first time that IGF2BPs has been implicated it its turnover. The objective of this proposal is to study how IGF2BPs promote the turnover of lncRNAs. We will use iCLIP assays in a novel and comparative fashion to define the ensembles of IGF2BP1-RNA targets directed to degradation through recruitment of CCR4-NOT complex. We will take advantage of the host group understanding of protein-RNA interactions in the IGF2BPs system and of the experience of the researcher with the CCR4-NOT deadenylation machinery, as well as of an ensemble of techniques from cell to structural biology, to explore the novel IGF2BP1-CNOT1 interaction and rationalize RNA recruitment and degradation. LncRNAturnover will provide a first important example of how RBPs regulate the turnover of lncRNAs, an area of RNA biology which is very poorly understood but important for the regulation of the expression of genes crucial in cellular proliferation and differentiation. Our research will also explain the molecular mechanism and selectivity of IGF2BP1-mediated RNA degradation. We expect our research will help design new strategies to regulate the function of both IGF2BPs and lncRNAs, two important players in tumorigenesis and cancer dissemination.

Keywords: cnot1,rna degradation,lncrna,protein-rna interaction,hulc,igf2bp1,iclip,biolayer interferometry.
Integrated Bio-Electrochemical Production of Ethylene through CO2 sequestration (BIO-ELECTRO-ETHYLENE)

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: Belgium
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IEF, 2013)
Start date: 2014-05-01
End date: 2016-04-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 177000.0
EU funding (EUR): 177000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Globally, accumulation of carbon dioxide (CO2) in atmosphere from various anthropogenic and natural sources is increasing causing threat of global warming. At the same time, industrial production of various commodity chemicals demanding carbon based raw materials through exploitation of different natural resources of the earth is causing an imbalance in the earth’s ecosystem. Recent research on microbial electrosynthesis has shown the conversion of CO2 into useful organic chemicals. Electrochemically active microbes live on cathode of bioelectrochemical system (BES) under specific electrical potential and are involved in reductive catalysis of CO2 to produce various organic products. The present proposal is focused on the production of ethylene from CO2 which is industrially very important commodity chemical. Two functionally different electroactive cathodic biocatalysts will be developed from the environmental sources. The selective enrichment of the electroactive biofilm forming bacteria with desired biochemical pathway is a challenging task. It can be performed with consolidation of biochemical and electrochemical techniques. First biocathode, which is homoacetogenic (BCHAB) will reduce CO2 to acetate in one BES system and the second biocathode which is ethylene forming bacteria (BCEFB) will reduce acetate to ethylene. The blueprint of the proposal focuses on the novel design of a compact BES system with two cathode chambers connected to a common anode to evaluate the integration of two electrochemical reduction functions simultaneously. The proposed work suggest the possibility of CO2 sequestration to generate ethylene warranting pollution control and global warming in a sustainable approach. The output will be a significant step for ethylene production without generating any secondary pollutants or competing with other raw materials required for the synthesis. Moreover it is stabilizing/reducing CO2 from air establishing an eco-friendly sustainable process.

Keywords: bioelectrosynthesis,biocathode,bioelectrochemical systems,integrated approach,co2 sequestration
Improvement of the clinical applicability of tissue-engineered vascular grafts, as new regenerative therapy for children with congenital cardiovascular malformations (LIVAGRAFT)

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-2013-IEF, 2013)
Start date: 2014-03-01
End date: 2016-02-29
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 199317.6
EU funding (EUR): 199317.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Currently available artificial graft prostheses for congenital disorders lack the capacity of growth and often require complex and reconstructive surgical interventions. As a consequence, repetitive and high-risk surgical interventions during childhood are inescapable, associated with increased morbidity and mortality. This not only raises enormous costs for the society, but compromises the quality of life of the young patients. Therefore, manufacturing Living Vascular Grafts is the ultimate goal for both cardiovascular researchers and clinicians. Tissue engineering is an opportunity to create prostheses that are vital, growing, adaptive, and autologous and show optimal functionality. Such in-vitro tissue-engineered vascular grafts have demonstrated functionality and growth as pulmonary replacement in lambs. However, classical tissue engineering using autologous cells, necessitates invasive cell harvesting from the patient, time consuming cell expansion and production of the patient-specific graft. As the living cellular component of the grafts inherently limits clinical applicability, an accelular equivalent with corresponding strength, growth, and regenerative capacity, would provide an attractive alternative for the living tissue-engineered vascular grafts. Therefore, my goal is to improve the clinical applicability of the tissue-engineered pulmonary grafts by decellularizing them, therewith creating novel off-the-shelf constructs for children with congenital cardiovascular malformations. The in-vivo recellularization capacity of these accelular tissue-engineered pulmonary grafts will be evaluated in a pre-clinical animal model to demonstrate their potential to grow with the recipient. These innovative alterations to create unlimited off-the-shelf grafts will speed up the clinical translation of this novel concept. It will inherently favor the wellbeing of patients by reducing waiting time and avoiding reoperations, in addition to a reduction in health costs.

Keywords: tissue engineering,tissue engineered vascular graft,tissue engineered blood vessel,regenerative medicine,cardiovascular disease,congenital heart disease