Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
X-ray Crystallographic, Structural, and Biochemical Studies of Three Wax Ester Synthase Variants for Future Biotechnological Applications (WSDGATFORBIODIESEL)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Life-long training and career development
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Türkiye
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-CIG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-04-01
End date: 2018-03-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The recently discovered wax ester synthases (WS/DGATs) have demonstrated potential to catalyze production of biodiesel (microdiesel) by microbial systems. However, one inherent feature of WS/DGATs, their preference of long chain fatty alcohols as co-substrate, prevents efficient use of WS/DGATs for production of biodiesel. Future structure-guided protein engineering studies to increase the selectivity of WS/DGATs towards ethanol should facilitate de novo biodiesel production by more effective use of WS/DGATs in microbial systems such as bacteria, yeast or algae. However, structures and structure-function relationships of WS/DGATs or their close homologues are not known. Here, the researcher proposes for the first time, the X-ray crystallographic, structural, and biochemical studies of three WS/DGAT variants to be performed in order to obtain their high-resolution atomic structures and to determine their structure-function relationships. The crystal structures of WS/DGATs and subsequent biochemical studies will complete years of prior research by providing structural explanation for WS/DGATs’ relative disfavor of ethanol as co-substrate. Structures will pave the way for future studies to facilitate more efficient biodiesel production and also have potential applications in biosynthesis of tailor-made wax esters and other chemicals derived from petrochemicals. The proposed study, which is tied to the career integration of the researcher at the host institution as a faculty member, has great potential to produce significant scientific contribution and commercial benefits to European Research Area. Moreover, career integration of the researcher will be a catalyst for the introduction of education and research in macromolecular X-ray crystallography and structural biology to the target country. Therefore, the researcher seeks funding within the 7th Framework People Work Programme Marie Curie Actions Career Integration Grants to pay for some of the costs of the study.

Keywords: biotechnology,biosynthesis,acyltransferase,wax ester synthase,renewable energy,biofuels,biodiesel,microdiesel,x-ray crystallography,enzymology,structural biology,protein engineering
SUPREME (SUPREME)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Life-long training and career development
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-CIG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-07-01
End date: 2018-06-30
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

This project is about observing the amount of fungal spores in the atmosphere from harvesting. This will be done by further developing an unmanned airborne vehicle (drone) to sample airborne spores and use this in field studies. These data will be combined with existing data to explain fungal spore emissions from harvesting by developing a mechanistic mathematical model. Afterwards the mechanistic model will be implemented in an existing atmospheric transport model in order to explain the atmospheric transport of these fungal spores in the landscape as well as beyond the landscape.

Keywords: spores,allergens,agriculture,drones,atmosphere,biology,meteorology
Structure-Function Studies of the TRIM Family of Ubiquitin E3 Ligases (TRIM)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Life-long training and career development
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Israel
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-CIG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-06-01
End date: 2018-05-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Ubiquitin E3 enzymes participate in the last step of a three-enzyme cascade, where they transfer ubiquitin from E2 enzymes to substrates, therefore are responsible to bring the right substrate to the right E2 enzyme. The tripartite motif (TRIM) family of ubiquitin E3 ligases includes 70 members that are involved in cellular processes such as immune signaling, transcriptional regulation and apoptosis. Defects in TRIM E3 ligase activity have been linked to cancer and developmental and genetic diseases. Despite TRIM vital roles, important aspects of their mechanism as E3 ligases remain unknown mainly due to their multi-domain architecture, their ability to self-associate into dimers and higher order complexes, and their ability to serve as E3 ligases not only for ubiquitin but also for ubiquitin-like proteins. We will pursue our interest in the molecular mechanism of TRIM E3 activity by working on TRIM25 that possesses dual E3 activity for ubiquitin and ubiquitin-like protein ISG15. We will determine the molecular mechanism of TRIM25 E3 activity using molecular biology, cell biology, crystallography and biochemistry. Specifically, we will map the contribution of TRIM25 different domains and the oligomineric state to its E3 activity. Then, together with crystal structures of TRIM25 with its cognate E2, UBCH8, charged with ubiquitin or ISG15, we will provide structural insight on how TRIM25 works in concert with UBCH8 and possesses dual E3 activity. In addition, we will determine how TRIM25 interacts with its substrate, 14-3-3σ, and whether the oligomeric state is important for substrate binding. Since 14-3-3σ undergoes ubiquitination and ISGylation by TRIM25 we will investigate the potential crosstalk between modifications. Specifically, we will test for the formation of mixed ubiquitin-ISG15 chains. Our work will provide mechanistic details on TRIM E3 ligase activity as well as critical data for future research on TRIM proteins as targets for therapeutic drug design.

Keywords: ubiquitin,isg15,ring,trim,ligase,tripartite motif,trim25,efp,enzyme mechanism,structure-function study
Cooperation in Service Systems and Service Supply Chains (COOPSS)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Life-long training and career development
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Türkiye
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-CIG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-06-01
End date: 2016-05-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 50000.0
EU funding (EUR): 50000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The recent European economic crisis showed that effective use of resources is more important than ever for sustainability of companies. Inter-organizational cooperation is foreseen as a good opportunity to achieve further efficiency in operations that companies require to stay competitive in a global economy. However, up to now, very little quantitative insights and tools have been developed for managers that can actually help them in establishing such collaboration. In this proposed research, we focus on the difficulties in collaboration of service systems from an economic point of view using the techniques developed in the domain of Game Theory and Operations Research. Our ultimate aim is to create managerial insights that will help the practitioners to form sustainable collaboration by devising tools and rules for stable and fair allocation of benefits. As a fundamental step, the proposed research will investigate cooperative games of service systems and service supply chains in which cooperation by sharing resources improve the systems performance (reduce cost or increase profit). There are only a limited number of studies and little theoretical results in the literature that will help researcher to study these cooperative systems in more detail. This proposal will fill this gap by developing a mathematical framework and theoretical background that will help to characterise the cores of these games as much as possible and hopefully boost further research in the area. This research proposal plays an important role for the reintegration of a researcher with an excellent research record and industry experience to Europe, and will contribute to the European excellence in game theory research and operations management. The project will be executed in cooperation with European and US based researchers and the grant will facilitate the mobility required for intense research collaboration both helping spread of knowledge in EU and bringing outside expertise to EU.

Keywords: operations research,cooperative game theory,the core,operations management,stochastic service systems,spare-parts management,queueing theory
Learning and Testing Structured Probability Distributions (LTSPD)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Life-long training and career development
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-CIG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-03-01
End date: 2018-02-28
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: TERMINATED

The research topic of the current proposal lies within the area of Algorithms and Complexity. The goal of this proposal is to advance a research program of developing computationally efficient algorithms for learning and testing a wide range of natural and important classes of probability distributions. We live in an era of “big data,” where the amount of data that can be brought to bear on questions of biology, climate, economics, etc, is vast and expanding rapidly. Much of this raw data frequently consists of example points without corresponding labels. The challenge of how to make sense of this unlabeled data has immediate relevance and has rapidly become a bottleneck in scientific understanding across many disciplines. An important class of big data is most naturally modeled as samples from a probability distribution over a very large domain. This prompts the basic question: Given samples from some unknown distribution, what can we infer? While this question has been studied for several decades by various different communities of researchers, both the number of samples and running time required for such estimation tasks are not yet well understood, even for some surprisingly simple types of discrete distributions. In this project we will develop computationally efficient algorithms for learning and testing various classes of discrete distributions over very large domains. Specific problems we will address include: (1) Developing efficient algorithms to learn and test probability distributions that satisfy various natural types of "shape restrictions" on the underlying probability density function. (2) Developing efficient algorithms for learning and testing complex distributions that result from the aggregation of many independent simple sources of randomness. We believe that highly efficient algorithms for these estimation tasks may play an important role for the next generation of large-scale machine learning applications.

Keywords: algorithms and complexity,computational learning theory,property testing,randomized algorithms,probability distributions
The importance of the epigenome in tumour development and recurrence (EPIBRAIN)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Life-long training and career development
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Sweden
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-CIG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-05-01
End date: 2018-04-30
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

I aim to develop methods to reverse epigenetic anomalies in cancer stem cells (CSCs) to switch off the unlimited cell division and cancer growth and to understand the involvement of epigenetics in tumour development and recurrence. Epigenetic alterations are observed at the earliest stages of neoplasia within stem cells. Importantly, the alterations are reversible and can potentially be “treated”. In children, brain tumours are the leading cause of cancer-related mortality and morbidity. There are severe side-effects from treatment and survivors often experience substantial long-term problems. In vitro cultures of CSCs are indispensable tools for functional analyses and development of new therapies. However, up to now, paediatric CSC cultures have not been available. My unique cultures now enable us to study this disease closer. Induce differentiation of the CSCs will turn them less proliferative and less tumourigenic. Hence, I will screen for drugs that induce differentiation and determine the role epigenetics has on the stability of the specific differentiation stages. In addition, I will explore the relevance of the epigenome in tumour development by removing epigenetic marks through reprogramming the cells into induced pluripotent stem cells. These analyses will highlight target genes and pathways that are involved in the differentiation process. Furthermore, biomarkers will be implemented and I will study radiation-induced long-term effects to increase survival, quality of life and reduce adverse side-effects from treatment.

Keywords: stem cells,brain tumour,epigenetics,differentiation,paediatric,radiation,cancer stem cells,medulloblastoma,astrocytoma,dna methylation,histone,reprogramming,induced pluripotent stem cells
Time and experience dependent evolution of hippocampal memory codes (MEMORYCODES)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Life-long training and career development
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Israel
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-CIG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-06-01
End date: 2018-05-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Following initial learning, information stored in memory undergoes a time- and experience-dependent evolution. Currently, the nature of this evolution at the neuronal ensemble level remains largely unknown. To obtain insight into this dynamic process there is a need to follow memory-associated neuronal representations in large populations of single cells over long periods of time. However, until recently it has been nearly technically impossible to obtain the requisite data. In my postdoctoral work I have developed an experimental system that enables such investigation by longitudinally imaging neuronal activity in more than 1,000 neurons simultaneously in the hippocampus of freely behaving rodents over the course of months. To enable high-speed imaging at cellular resolution in deep brain structures, my system combines four recent technical advances: (i) miniaturized head-mounted fluorescence microscopes for use in freely behaving mice; (ii) microendoscope probes, for high-resolution imaging of cells in deep brain structures pertinent to long-term memory; (iii) a chronic mouse preparation that permits longitudinal imaging over months of individual neurons lying deep in the brain; (iv) genetically encoded Ca2+ indicators to report neuronal activity. To investigate the principles of neural coding of long-term memory and their underlying biological mechanisms, my lab will combine this imaging methodology with genetic tools for manipulating neuronal activity in specific hippocampal cell types, and novel computational methods for analyzing data from large-scale neuronal populations. This proposal aims to determine how hippocampal place coding evolves as a function of learning and passage of time, and how adult neurogenesis shapes hippocampal information processing. Our results may have profound implications to our understanding of long-term memory and to the study of brain disorders, such as Alzheimer disease and age-related memory loss.

Keywords: long-term memory,learning,place cells,hippocampus,two-photon microscopy,adult neurogenesis,stem cells,calcium imaging,ca1,dentate gyrus,alzheimer disease,population-coding,micro-endoscope
Coherent heat and energy transport in quantum systems (COHEAT)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Life-long training and career development
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Italy
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-CIG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-03-01
End date: 2018-02-28
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

We are nowadays capable of controlling and manipulating quantum systems as never before. Quantum technology is close to bringing IT devices to mass scale production. The improvement in the accuracy of fabrication and control of quantum systems starts to pay some results also in different fields of research and application, such as biology. Despite the successes already achieved, it is surprising that the problem of how quantum systems exchange energy is, from many points of view, still open. How to define work and heat at quantum level? Is it possible to design quantum devices that manage heat and energy transfer in an efficient way? Here we focus on a particularly promising way in which quantum systems can exchange energy and heat. Our experimental partners have shown that the heat transferred between two superconductors connected by a Josephson junction has a contribution that depends on the phase difference between the superconductors. As the phase difference can be controlled by a magnetic flux, this open a completely new way to manipulate and transfer heat at the quantum scale. We will study how to exploit this coherent heat transport. The objective of COHEAT is to develop techniques and design circuits aimed at controlling, measuring, distributing, storing and converting heat. COHEAT will lay the theoretical basis for what can be called “coherent caloritronics”. Similar analysis can be extended to other quantum systems as the Bose-Einstein condensates, which represent a test bench for more exotic cases, in which the systems are driven out of equilibrium. COHEAT will have a strong and interdisciplinary scientific and technological impact. The possibility to transfer heat at mesocopic scale, and to manipulate it fast, easily and locally, has countless applications: quantum computation, biology, nanoengineering to mention the most relevant ones.

Keywords: theoretical physics,quantum physics,quantum transport,fluctuation theorems,superconductors
Novel somatic mutations in ABCA1 in chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia (NOVAMOLE)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Life-long training and career development
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: France
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-CIG, 2013)
Start date: 2014-06-01
End date: 2018-05-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Background: Altered high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol homeostasis has been observed in hematologic malignancies but genetic evidences proving causality have been lacking. The ability of HDL to promote cholesterol efflux depends on two ATP-binding cassette transporters ABCA1 and ABCG1, which exhibit anti-myeloproliferative activity in preclinical mouse models. Hypothesis: Somatic mutations in ABCA1 and ABCG1 may be observed in myeloproliferative disorders and could be functionally inactive disabling both cholesterol efflux and anti-tumor activity. Preliminary data: Five new somatic mutations in ABCA1 were identified out of 26 tumor samples from patients with chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia (CMML) with an unexpected frequency of 19% and conferred a proliferative advantage when transfected into HEK293 cells. Aims: The aim of this study is to 1) test the functional relevance of newly identified ABCA1 mutants on myeloproliferative diseases and 2) apprehend the molecular mechanisms that could provide a proliferative advantage to these mutants. Methods: We will take advantage of the generation of these mutants to test their relevance (Aim. 1) and mechanisms of action (Aim. 2) both in vitro in relevant myeloblast cell lines and in vivo by performing a transplantation of bone marrow cells transduced with these mutants. Keywords: Leukaemia, HDL cholesterol, ATP-binding cassette transporters, human somatic mutations

Keywords: leukemia,hdl cholesterol,atp-binding cassette transporters,human somatic mutations
Mesoscopic Plasmonics: Bridging Classical and Quantum Nano-Optics (MESOPLAS)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Life-long training and career development
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Spain
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-CIG, 2013)
Start date: 2015-02-01
End date: 2019-01-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The boost experienced by nanophotonics research during the past decade has been driven by the ability of surface plasmons to collect and concentrate light into deeply sub-wavelength volumes. The hybrid nature of surface plasmons (which emerge from the coupling of photons to the collective oscillations of conduction electrons in metals) has allowed an unprecedented control of light at the nanoscale, a regime inaccessible to standard photonic technology. This scientific success has been possible due to two factors: the high precision of modern nanofabrication and characterization techniques, and the extraordinary predictive value of classical electrodynamics. However, the miniaturization trend in experimental nano-optics is currently approaching dimensions comparable to the typical Coulomb screening length in noble metals (of the order of a few angstroms). A theoretical challenge arises in this spatial range for two reasons. On the one hand, at this sub-nanometre regime, macroscopic electromagnetism breaks down due to the emergence of quantum effects such as spatial non-locality. On the other hand, the enormous complexity of the full quantum numerical schemes available to describe the electron-ion dynamics in metals restricts their applicability to systems involving only a few hundreds of electrons. The objective of this proposal is to fill the gap between Maxwell’s equations and first principle condensed matter theory methods. It aims to devise a mesoscopic platform able to treat accurately and efficiently the interaction between light and matter in nanodevices which, presenting angstrom-sized geometric features, contain millions of electrons. This is a prominent fundamental problem with significant technological implications. The further development of nanophotonic technology requires a complete and unified picture of the physical mechanisms behind its performance. The ultimate goal of this proposal is providing the theoretical framework for this purpose.

Keywords: nano-optics,light-matter interactions,surface plasmons,nanodevices,mesoscopic physics,quantum effects,spatial nonlocality