Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Structural and functional characterization of molecular nanomachines: principles of transition metal selectivity and transport in heavy metal P1B-type ATPases (P1BPUMPS)

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: Denmark
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2009-IOF, 2009)
Start date: 2011-03-01
End date: 2014-02-28
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 278903.1
EU funding (EUR): 278903.1
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Cellular concentrations of transition metals are tightly regulated to a necessary balance to satisfy essential requirements for the activity of fundamental biochemical processes and avoid toxic levels which would impair cell survival. P1B-type ATPases are a family of membrane ion pumps which utilize the energy generated by ATP hydrolysis to drive the selective heavy metal translocation across the cellular membrane against the electrochemical gradient. Although playing a pivotal role in regulating the concentrations of essential physiological metal elements (e.g: Cu, Zn) and toxic transition metals (e.g.: Cd, Pb), the mechanism by which these molecular machines perform their function are not understood in detail. The proposed project aims to reveal at a molecular level the principles and determinants for heavy metal selectivity, metal binding geometry, metal translocation pathway, and energy transduction processes in energy-driven metal transport in P1B-type ATPases. A complementary X-ray crystallographic and biochemical approach will be developed in order to obtain a molecular understanding of the three-dimensional structure and the function of prokaryotic P1B-type ATPases. The final goal is to reveal how these molecular machines convert the energy stored in ATP into conformational changes which result into directional transport of heavy metal across the lipid bilayer. Elucidating the mechanism of transition metal transport across biological membranes accomplished by P1B-type ATPases will shed light on an essential biochemical process conserved in all the kingdoms of life and will provide the bases for the future rational design of modulators of P1B-type ATPase activity.

Keywords: health sciences,structural biology,x-ray crystallography,spectroscopy,p-type atpase,ion pumps,heavy metals,copper,zinc,membrane proteins,3d structure
Determination of Heat Transfer Coefficients by Inverse Methods (HTC)

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
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2009-IIF, 2009)
Start date: 2011-07-10
End date: 2013-07-09
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 233089.6
EU funding (EUR): 233089.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

In this proposal, we consider the reconstruction of (multi-dimensional) heat transfer coefficients from both steady and transient surface temperature measurement input, and investigate a regularized boundary element method to this inverse problem in a framework that can ultimately be incorporated within industrial computational fluid dynamics codes. The research will be performed by the internationally incoming fellow (visitor, Professor Dinh Nho Hao, Hanoi Institute of Mathematics, Vietnam) in colaboration with the scientisty in charge (host, Professor D. Lesnic, Department of Applied Mathemnatics, University of Leeds, UK). The project combines the efforts of applied mathematicians in collaboration with engineers and industry to impact on solving fundamental inverse problems with practical applications in the reconstruction of heat transfer coefficients. The area of research that this project proposes is fascinating and challenging, with wide applications in the heat transfer and polymer industries, e.g. in cooling of hot steel or glass in fluids or gases, but previously with relatively little theoretical input and numerical computations, especially in higher dimensions. The current state of the art is still very much based on practical experience and technical know-how, despite recent advances in technology. The focus of the present study will be therefore to make progress on such inverse identifications of heat transfer coefficients, which can be time, space or temperature dependent, from all theoretical, numerical, experimental validation and design recommendation aspects. The techniques to be developed will be used to predict the efficiency of industrial devices, based on the inversion of real-life experimental data provided by several laboratories performing heat transfer experiments. This in turn will offer new and revolutionary suggestions for the design of such devices in order to optimize their performance.

Keywords: inverse problems,boundary element method,regularisation,heat transfer coefficients
Impact of IL-7 and IFNa on nTreg development (3ITD)

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-2009-IEF, 2009)
Start date: 2011-02-01
End date: 2013-01-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 230747.2
EU funding (EUR): 230747.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

In developed countries, most HIV-infected patients are under highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). However, despite controlled viral replication, the immune reconstitution often remains incomplete, probably due to a poor reconstitution of thymic production. Apart its role in educating a diverse repertoire of conventional T-cells, the thymus also produces natural regulatory T-cells (nTreg), which contributes to the regulation of immune responses. Various cytokines are presently proposed as immunotherapy susceptible to help reconstituting circulating T-cell pool. Among these, Interleukin-7 is certainly the more promising as it directly affects thymic function, allowing T-cell neo-production and thus the enlargement of circulating T-cell repertoire diversity. The 3ITD project aims to a) analyze the physiology of nTreg production by the thymus; b) precisely evaluate the impact of acute SIV infection on nTreg production and identify the cytokines involved in early thymic defects; c) realize a pre-clinical study using recombinant IL-7 as a potential therapeutic to reconstitute nTreg subset in chronically HIV-infected patients and in HIV/HCV co-infected patients presenting with IFNα therapy-induced lymphopenia. The 3ITD project will be developed in 3 stages: a) definition of the phenotype of nTregs recently emigrated from the thymus; b) estimation of the impact of acute SIV infection and IFNα therapy; c) evaluation of the relevance of IL-7 treatment. The 3ITD project will provide a better understanding of the physiology of nTregs maturation by the thymus and of the modifications induced by HIV infection. Moreover, the 3ITD project will provide pre-clinical rationale for the use of IL-7 as a therapeutic compound in the treatment of virally- or pharmaceutically-induced nTreg deficiencies. It will impact the researcher’s growth and contribute to European excellence and knowledge transfer. Thus it is relevant to People specific, Capacity and Cooperation EC Program.

Keywords: health sciences,infections,immunology
How do low frequency acoustic cues improve speech recognition and music appreciation for cochlear implant users? (LFAA)

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: Ireland
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2009-IOF, 2009)
Start date: 2010-12-01
End date: 2013-11-30
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 265798.5
EU funding (EUR): 265798.5
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

A cochlear implant (CI) is a device which restores hearing in deaf people by electrically stimulating the auditory nerve. It is the most successful neural prosthesis ever developed. Routine cochlear implantation began in the 1970s and since then CIs have helped restore hearing in over 120,000 deaf people world wide. When CIs were first commercialized the advantages of having a CI were limited and speech recognition after implantation was often poor. As a result only the profoundly deaf were implanted. Advances in speech processing strategies and implant design now mean that most CI users can effectively converse over the telephone but speech recognition in noise, understanding multi-talker speech and music appreciation remain problematic. As a result these advances people with some residual hearing, who would previously not have been considered for implantation, are now being implanted on a routine basis. Recent studies have shown that these CI users with residual low frequency hearing have both better speech recognition in noise and melody recognition. This phenomenon, referred to as low frequency acoustic advantage (LFAA) in such CI users, is poorly understood. The objective of this project is to determine the acoustic cues that produce the LFAA and to understand the neural mechanisms that underlie it. Speech recognition modeling will be used to reveal the important acoustic cues that mediate the LFAA and auditory evoked potential measurements will be used to gain a better understanding of the neural mechanism behind the LFAA. An improved understanding of the LFAA will allow us to develop CI processor designs and hearing aids which more fully exploit this advantage. These advances will directly benefit the hearing impaired community in Europe and increase European competitiveness within the biomedical technology sector.

Keywords: cochlear implants,neural prosthesis,biomedical engineering,neurosciences,audiology,brain research,eeg
Controlled exfoliation of one-dimensional nanostructures; understanding the surface chemistry (1DSOLVE)

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-2009-IEF, 2009)
Start date: 2010-07-01
End date: 2012-06-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 171740.8
EU funding (EUR): 171740.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The aim of the proposed work here is to produce and characterise high quality dispersions of one-dimensional nano materials, unlocking their remarkable properties – properties that would be severely limited in their aggregated form, thus allowing researchers to realise their full potential. Single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) and bacteria cellulose (BC) are examples of such materials and will be the focus of this work; they form aggregates that display dramatically inferior properties when compared to their isolated, debundled states and are both known to be insoluble in most common solvents. Thus, in order to exploit their superlative properties, this work aims to produce stable, high quality dispersions – where understanding the surface chemistry involved in such dispersions is seen as central. This project proposes to investigate the surface chemistry of SWNTs in the presence of gas phase dispersants using Inverse Gas Chromatography (ICG) (a technique highly sensitive to small changes in surface make-up). Interactions between dispersant and SWNT, seen as crucial to SWNT bundle exfoliation, will be identified. This study will allow for a much greater understanding of the criteria needed in SWNT dispersants. Knowledge of such criteria will be extended and adapted to charged SWNT solutions. Finally, we propose to investigate the solubilisation of Bacteria Cellulose Nano-Fibrils (BC). The exfoliation of these one-dimensional intractable solids will call on skills and knowledge gained from dispersing SWNTs. Exfoliation of the BC nanofibrils will be characterised in a range of suitable solvents leading to dispersions rich in debundled BC nanofibrils – dispersions that should lead to superior composites and applications.

Keywords: surface chemistry,nanotube,bacterial cellulose,dispersion,analytical methods,nanotechnology,processing and application
Controlling terahertz radiation using layered superconductors (THZ RADIATION)

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-2009-IEF, 2009)
Start date: 2011-11-20
End date: 2015-02-07
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 179603.2
EU funding (EUR): 179603.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Terahertz (THz) science and technology have received growing interest in recent years due to its many important applications in physics, chemistry, biology, and medicine, including THz imaging and spectroscopy, medical diagnostics, environmental control, as well as chemical and biological identification. Therefore, the main objective of the project is devoted to theoretical investigations of the emission and propagation of THz radiation in layered superconductors. Although several optical and semiconducting THz devices were proposed, the THz gap is still hardly reachable by either electronic or optical devices. The main problem for the application of these devices in miniaturized electrons is their rather large and complex assembly and difficult tenability. Superconducting devices employing Josephson effect is considered as the unique opportunity for a single chip multifunctional THz devices, which can be conveniently manipulated by varying an in-plane magnetic field and/or an out-of plane electric current. Recently, the first high-temperature superconducting emitter has been experimentally implemented (Science. 318, 1291 (2007)) and output THz power was relatively strong. In this project we intend to focus on basic and advanced mechanisms that are potentially useful for controlling THz radiation in either artificial superconducting/non-superconducting multi-layers or high-temperature layered superconductors (natural multilayers). This project within the Work Program will give a great opportunity for the young scientists to collaborate and bring significant input to THz science and technology in EU.

Keywords: thz radiation,layered superconductors,josephson junctions
Computing the structure and dynamics of protein assemblies in living cells by coupling sub-diffraction fluorescence microscopy with single-particle reconstruction: application to viral capsids (CVM-EM-PALM)

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-2009-IEF, 2009)
Start date: 2010-05-03
End date: 2011-12-02
Duration (months): 19.0
Total project cost (EUR): 165645.6
EU funding (EUR): 165645.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Electron microscopy (EM) is an invaluable tool for investigating the nanometer-scale organization of molecular assemblies such as viruses, but is restricted to dead cells, does not readily label targeted proteins, and is prone to fixation artefacts. Recently developed methods to break the diffraction limit in optical microscopy have the potential to resolve protein arrangements in living cells. However, their resolution is currently restricted to ~20-30 nm, still an order of magnitude removed from EM, and dynamic super-resolution imaging remains challenging. Here, we aim to reconstruct the protein arrangements of molecular structures at resolutions better than 20 nm by harnessing the power of statistics, i.e. by aggregating images from hundreds or thousands of copies of nearly-identical structures and when possible by exploiting their symmetry. To do this, we will adapt computational methods of single particle reconstruction from electron microscopy to super-resolution optical microscopy. After validation on synthetic data, we will test and apply these methods to nuclear pores and adenovirus capsids. These examples have been chosen because of their geometric features that work well with our approaches. Particularly, we are interested in obtaining novel insight into the dynamic structural changes occurring at the nuclear pore complex during active transport. Furthermore, we aim to decipher the sequence of events during viral capsid formation. This work has the potential to further push the resolution of optical microscopy towards that of electron microscopy for the analysis of ordered molecular assemblies. If successful, our project will open the door to structural investigations in living cells, including the assembly process of viral particles, or the plasticity of the nuclear pores and its role in nucleo-cytoplasmic transport.

Keywords: physical sciences,modelling tools,nanobiotechnology,microscopy,statistics,applied optics
Towards long-lived hyperpolarized spin-state (PHIPSPIN)

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-2009-IEF, 2009)
Start date: 2011-05-01
End date: 2012-04-30
Duration (months): 12.0
Total project cost (EUR): 81830.5
EU funding (EUR): 81830.5
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Currently the relatively low sensitivity of magnetic resonance is a main obstacle, which prevents the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) detection of molecules with low physiological concentration, as for example molecules related to neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer or Parkinson. Due to this there are currently worldwide attempts to increase the sensitivity by hyper-polarization techniques. One of these attempts is the usage of the Para Hydrogen Induced Polarization (PHIP) technique, which can cause four orders of magnitude of increase in the sensitivity of MRI. Although the basic feasibility of this approach has been demonstrated the relatively fast decay of the increased signal prevents until now the in-vivo application. In our project we want to solve this problem and develop novel concepts for slowing down the relaxation processes of the created hyperpolarized spin-state. If this problem is solved, hyperpolarized contrast agents with long signal persistence may open new pathways for scientific or commercial application of the PHIP technique in human MRI. My project concentrates on how the molecular structure and the physical state of the sample affect the life-time of the hyperpolarized state. In particular the question is raised to what extend the isotopical composition of the molecule affects the relaxation time of the hyperpolarized spin-state in solids and liquids by studying PHIP-hyperpolarization of fully or partly deuterated molecular models and whether it is possible to conserve the hyperpolarization by freezing the reactant solution. To answers these questions a detailed investigation of the relevant relaxation mechanisms operating in liquid and solid hyperpolarized samples are planned. The knowledge of these mechanisms can be employed as a guideline for designing long life-time target molecules for the hydrogenation which are applicable as magnetic markers in MRI.

Keywords: solid-state nmr,nmr,para-hydrogen,hyperpolarization,spin-dynamics,para-hydrogen-induced polarization,phip,relaxation,phip-mri,phip-nmr,dynamic nuclear polarization
Elongase 6 and thermogenesis (ELOVL6 THERMOGENESIS)

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-2009-IEF, 2009)
Start date: 2010-04-01
End date: 2011-03-31
Duration (months): 12.0
Total project cost (EUR): 90801.6
EU funding (EUR): 90801.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Obesity is the result of a mismatch between energy intake and energy expenditure. Excess calories will end up as fatty acids which can be stored, exported to other tissues, oxidized or transformed to lipid metabolites. Little is known of how these lipids are targeted to these various fates. Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is an organ with high rates of lipid oxidation and large cellular lipid stores, making it an ideal organ to investigate lipid targeting. The elongase Elovl6 can elongate mono and poly unsaturated fatty acids of C12 or above. The expression of elongases is highly regulated in BAT, particularly by the cold. In a recent publication on the metabolic characterization of Elovl6 KO mice it was noted that, for unknown reasons, these mice had lower body weights despite normal food intake. We suggest that the extremely high expression levels of Elovl6 in BAT indicate a potential involvement of Elovl6 in the regulation of thermogenesis and thus in the regulation of body weight. The aim of this fellowship is to investigate the role of fatty acid chain length on control of fatty acid oxidation, focussing specifically on the fatty acid elongase Elovl6. To that end we will use both cellular techniques and genetically modified animal models with a loss of function of Elovl6. First we will determine the role of Elovl6 in BAT differentiation, lipogenesis and function in vitro. Primary cultures of brown pre-adipocytes obtained from Elovl6 KO and WT mice will be used to study brown adipocyte differentiation and lipogenesis, oxygen consumption and fatty acid oxidation. Secondly, we will determine the role of Elovl6 on energy balance. Elovl6 KO and WT mice will be placed into metabolic chambers for extensive metabolic phenotyping (simultaneous measurements of oxygen consumption, food intake, water consumption and activity). In addition we will characterise Elovl6 KO mice ex vivo in terms of peripheral energy expenditure (gene expression and histological analysis of BAT).

Keywords: health sciences,obesity,fatty acids,metabolism,metabolic phenotyping,thermogenesis,elovl6,brown adipose tissue,lipid targeting,lipid oxidation,adipocytes,lipogenesis,energy balance