Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Transport, retention, and release of synthesized DNAs through microplastics affected-soils: mimicking bacteria behavior with regards to climate change and global warming (TRAMPAS)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Individual Fellowships (IF)-Standard European Fellowships
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Environment and Geosciences
Countries involved: United Kingdom
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2020, 2020)
Start date: 2021-10-01
End date: 2023-09-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 224933.76
EU funding (EUR): 224933.76
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Microplastic pollution has received considerable attention for the marine environment, but hidden out of sight are microplastics in soil. In Europe alone, there are likely more microplastics in soil than in all the world’s oceans. Microplastics can adversely affect soils, but the underlying mechanisms and wider impacts are poorly understood. A significant impact could be increased hydrophobicity of the soil pore surface, which can increase the movement of potentially pathogenic microorganisms. I found that the concentration of microplastics and soil temperature increase the soil-water contact angle, a measure of hydrophobicity. This project will explore how microplastics influence soil through the development of hydrophobicity and the impacts to bacteria and virus transport and retention. It builds on my recent research that was the first to link the development of soil hydrophobicity with increased leaching of bacteria. Two challenges of societal importance are addressed: (1) microplastic pollution and (2) pathogen fate in the environment. I will bring together a range of approaches, starting first with quantifying how climatic stresses and soil properties interact with microplastics to induce hydrophobicity. This will be followed by leaching experiments, where microbial retention and leaching will be tracked with a novel approach using synthesised DNA. Soil pore scale processes will be measured using microfluidics, where the spread and retention of microbes and water can be visualised directly under highly controlled conditions. Finally, I will study microplastic contaminated soil, exploring the formation of microbial colonised microplastics – the ‘plastisphere’. Working with a strong multidisciplinary team I will gain excellent training in state-of-the-art analysis approaches. By using highly visual approaches in my research, such as microfluidics, I will be able to demonstrate its impact to a range of audiences, from the public, through policy, to scientists.

Keywords: microplastic pollution,bacterial contamination,synthesized dnas,microfluidics,pathogen fate,environmental pollution
Tough Interface Tailored Nanostructured Metals (TOUGHIT)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Consolidator grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Products and processes engineering
Panel description: Product and process design, chemical, civil, environmental, mechanical, vehicle engineering, energy processes and relevant computational methods
Countries involved: Austria
Call: ERC Consolidator Grant (ERC-2017-COG, 2017)
Start date: 2018-05-01
End date: 2024-04-30
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1960985.0
EU funding (EUR): 1960985.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

The ideal structural material should excel in strength and toughness. Strength describes the capability of a defect free component to carry load during operation, while toughness defines the load-bearing capability and ductility in the presence of a crack. For an energy-efficient and safe design, both quantities should be simultaneously high. Unfortunately, they are mutually exclusive, rendering their combination a Holy Grail in materials science. The reason for this incompatibility is rooted in the inverse strength-ductility paradigm. Focussing on metals, the strength is enhanced via microstructure refinement to the nanometer scale, but ductility and damage tolerance simultaneously drop dramatically. Safety-related or highly stressed components are thus made from rather soft metals, indicating tremendous economic impact conceivable. The objective of this project is to design new bulk materials that uniquely combine high strength and toughness. Severe plastic deformation will be employed to create novel nanostructured bulk metals and nanocomposites, utilizing atomistically informed alloy and interface design to promote plastic deformation. The largely unknown nanoscale processes that limit fracture toughness of nanostructured materials will for the first time be directly identified by quantitative nanomechanical fracture experiments performed in-situ in high resolution electron microscopes. Correlation of these unique insights with ab-initio calculations and energy-based elastic-plastic fracture mechanics computations will guide paths for further improvement of the fracture resistance. By combining a versatile synthesis technique with highly advanced in-situ nanomechanical testing permitting unique atomistic-level insights into nanoscale fracture processes and a scale-bridging modelling approach, new mechanism-based strategies to tailor innovative nanostructured metals and composites with unprecedented strength and toughness will be established.
Redesigning brain circuits in development (BrainRedesign)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Neuroscience and Disorders of the Nervous System
Panel description: Nervous system development, homeostasis and ageing, nervous system function and dysfunction, systems neuroscience and modelling, biological basis of cognitive processes and of behaviour, neurological and mental disorders
Countries involved: Germany
Call: ERC Advanced Grant (ERC-2019-ADG, 2019)
Start date: 2020-10-01
End date: 2026-09-30
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2493750.0
EU funding (EUR): 2493750.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

In the pre-optogenetics era, molecular genetics defined the concepts of neural circuit development providing mechanistic insights into axon guidance and synapse assembly. However, this approach often revealed limited insights into the function of the circuits studied. Since 2005, optogenetics has revolutionized our approach to functionally dissect brain circuits and has tremendously increased our understanding of how they contribute to specific behaviours. However, how these circuits assemble during development remains mostly unknown. Here, I propose to combine these two approaches: to genetically redesign specific circuits during mouse development in a predictable fashion, and to test the consequences for innate and learned behaviour. This novel line of research follows concepts of synthetic biology, which aims at reconstructing cellular systems, with the intention of redesigning brain circuits to reroute information processing for new behavioural purposes. We aim to demonstrate that targeted mis-expression of connectivity signals can alter specific neural circuits and communications between circuit components along measurable hypotheses. Activation of such an artificial circuit, by either natural stimuli or optogenetics, is likely to produce a set of behavioural outcomes that will reveal general connectivity rules, the capacity for behavioural plasticity, and possible functional redundancies between circuits. Anatomical and physiological dissection of the redesigned circuit will reveal to what extent the incoming afferents instruct the target cells to produce their output responses. Our focus will be on the amygdala, a forebrain structure necessary for processing aversive and rewarding stimuli and orchestrating behavioural responses, and a brain circuit characterized by a high degree of cellular heterogeneity and interconnectivity. Overall, this work will provide important insights into the principles of developmental circuit wiring in the mammalian brain.

Keywords: amygdala,optogenetics,axon guidance,semaphorins,circuit assembly,single cell rna sequencing,appetitive behaviour,defensive behaviour,pavlovian conditioning
Dissecting the mechanism of DNA repair in human mitochondria (MitoRepairosome)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Molecules of Life: Biological Mechanisms, Structures and Functions
Panel description: Molecular biology, biochemistry, structural biology, molecular biophysics, synthetic and chemical biology, drug design, innovative methods and modelling
Countries involved: Poland
Call: ERC Starting Grant (ERC-2019-STG, 2019)
Start date: 2020-02-01
End date: 2025-01-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1500000.0
EU funding (EUR): 1500000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

In mammalian cells genetic information is stored in two compartments: in the nucleus and in the mitochondria. DNA in mitochondria (mtDNA), just like in theIn mammalian cells genetic information is stored in two locations: in the nucleus and in mitochondria. DNA in mitochondria, just like in the nucleus, must be faithfully copied and mistakes (i.e. mutations due to exogenous and endogenous DNA damaging agents) lead to formation of DNA lesions. Persistence of these DNA lesions leads to genomic instability and human diseases like cardiovascular, skeletal muscular and neurological disorders, cancer as well as normal aging process. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is anchored to the inner mitochondrial membrane thus is in a close proximity to the electron transport chain and is subjected to a constant attack by reactive oxygen species (ROS), generated as byproducts of oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS). As a result mitochondria must have a robust DNA repair mechanism which becomes particularly important in non-dividing cells. It is accepted that DNA base excision repair (BER) pathway is a major defense mechanism against oxidative damage in human mitochondria. Aptly localized on mitochondrial inner membrane, mitochondrial BER enzymes: catalytic subunit of DNA polymerase γ (PolγA) along with its accessory subunit, DNA polymerase γ (PolγB), inner-membrane 5'-exo/endonuclease (EXOG), Apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease 1 (APE1) and Ligase 3 (Lig3) form a membrane-bound, high molecular weight, complexes called “mitochondrial repairosome”, capable of carrying out complete DNA repair. Although BER can be readily detected in mitochondria and major components have been identified, the spatial-temporal organization of mitochondrial repairosome and molecular mechanism by which mtDNA is repaired is not well understood. The goal of this research project is to provide fundamental mechanistic insights into the assembly, composition, activities and structures of human mitochondrial repairosome.

Keywords: dna replication and repair,mitochondrial dna,structural biology,mechanism,motor proteins
compound Climate Extremes in North America and Europe: from dynamics to predictability (CENAE)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Starting grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: Earth system science
Panel description: Physical geography, geology, geophysics, atmospheric sciences, oceanography, climatology, cryology, ecology, global environmental change, biogeochemical cycles, natural resources management
Countries involved: Sweden
Call: ERC STARTING GRANTS (ERC-2020-STG, 2020)
Start date: 2021-03-01
End date: 2026-02-28
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 1492660.0
EU funding (EUR): 1492660.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Different climate extremes, such as heavy rains and strong winds, can interact and result in compound extremes with a larger socio-economic impact than the sum of their individual components. Elucidating the nature of these compound extremes is both a key step in furthering our scientific understanding of the climate system and a societally relevant goal. However, it is not easily realised, as the multivariate nature and inherent rarity of the compound extremes poses a formidable challenge to current analysis techniques. In CENÆ I aim to provide a step-change in our understanding of the drivers and predictability of compound climate extremes, and illuminate how climate change may affect these two aspects. I will specifically focus on two high-impact compound extremes which have occurred with an ostensibly high frequency in recent years: (i) wintertime wet and windy extremes in Europe; and (ii) same as (i) but with the additional occurrence of (near-)simultaneous cold spells in North America. CENÆ builds upon my ongoing contribution to developing dynamical systems analysis tools for climate extremes. It further leverages the work of my research group on the atmospheric circulation and machine learning for the study of atmospheric predictability. I will use this interdisciplinary knowledge base to elucidate the atmospheric precursors to compound extremes, provide a nuanced understanding of their predictability and point to new predictability pathways. The analysis framework I will develop in CENÆ will be highly flexible and applicable to multivariate extremes beyond climate science. This effort is timely: the World Climate Research Programme has highlighted understanding current and future climate extremes as a grand challenge of climate science. Moreover, my unconventional research in dynamical systems and machine learning has opened up previously unforeseen opportunities for the study of compound climate extremes which should be rapidly and systematically exploited.

Keywords: climate extremes,dynamical systems theory,machine learning,climate change
Characterising anthropogenic particulate properties in the ultraviolet by chamber and coordinated in situ observations (CAPPUCCINO)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Individual Fellowships (IF)-Standard European Fellowships
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Environment and Geosciences
Countries involved: Ireland
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2017, 2017)
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 175866.0
EU funding (EUR): 175866.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Understanding the sources, chemistry, and optical properties of atmospheric aerosol is key for policy decisions to mitigate the dangerous effects of climate change and improve air quality for human health. The anthropogenic sources and role of brown carbon, a type of secondary organic aerosol that exhibits increasing absorption at short UV wavelengths and therefore impacts secondary pollutants like ozone, remains an open question. In particular, residential home heating emissions, which contribute to poor wintertime air quality in northern European urban centres, are an understudied source of brown carbon. This study fills an important gap in our understanding of brown carbon by characterising UV (300 – 400 nm) absorption using the extinction-minus-scattering method based on two new instruments: a UV incoherent broadband cavity-enhanced absorption spectrometer (IBBCEAS) measures optical extinction, and an innovative broadband nephelometer (BBNeph) measures scattering. Both instruments utilise state-of-the-art UV light sources. Measurements of the UV absorption of organic aerosol produced under controlled conditions in the Irish Atmospheric Simulation Chamber (IASC) identify oxidation pathways that produce brown carbon. Subsequent field studies in an urban centre improve our understanding of the local chemistry and fuel types responsible for brown carbon formation in the real atmosphere. This project combines the Fellow’s expertise in the field of aerosol scattering technology and the capabilities of the host institution, including the new IASC and cutting-edge IBBCEAS technology. The Fellow will significantly enhance her scientific skills and gain training across a wide range of complementary and transferrable skills. The implementation of the research is highly structured, with a clear timeline for successful completion of the project goals. The programme both fully prepares the Fellow for an academic career, and strengthens the research at the host institution.

Keywords: aerosol optical properties,secondary organic aerosol,ultraviolet absorption,spectroscopy,cavity based techniques,atmospheric oxidation processes
The Gödel Enigma: Unveiling a Hidden Logical Heritage (GODELIANA)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: European Research Council (ERC)
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: ERC actions
Panel: The Human Mind and Its Complexity
Panel description: Cognitive science, psychology, linguistics, theoretical philosophy
Countries involved: Finland
Call: ERC Advanced Grant (ERC-2017-ADG, 2017)
Start date: 2018-09-01
End date: 2024-08-31
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2132993.0
EU funding (EUR): 2132993.0
Participants: 1
Project status: SIGNED

Research in logic and foundations of mathematics received an enormous impact through the incompleteness theorems that Kurt Gödel published in 1931. They are among the most iconic scientific achievements of the 20th century. These results led to the development of true formal systems and to the notions of formal languages and algorithmic computability that are connected to such names as Alonzo Church and Alan Turing. The said notions are the direct basis on which the first programming languages and computers were built two decades later. Thus, the present information society owes a - well hidden - debt to the theoretically oriented foundational research that sprung off from Gödel's results. Strangely enough, there are several thousand pages of notes by this foremost figure of logic that have remained almost completely untouched. Such a situation would be unthinkable in many other fields. Say, with modern physics, every effort would have been made if Einstein - even Gödel's colleague and friend at the Princeton Institute - had left behind such a patrimony! With Gödel, the difficulty lies in part in the fact that the work is written down in an obsolete, forgotten old German stenographic script called Gabelsberger, a true enigma for those interested in the contents. A second difficulty is the intrinsic logical complexity of the work. The central aim of the project is to make this work available to future generations of logicians and philosophers. The principal investigator is in a unique position of being able to read the Gabelsberger notes and to interpret their logical content: What they mean in a historical-foundational context, what their significance is for today's research problems in logic, and how they change the view of Gödel as one of the most original thinkers of a century.
PERovkite Stability and Optoelectronic Properties Assessment at the Steady State (PERSOPASS)

Framework: Horizon 2020 — Excellent Science
Programme: Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: Individual Fellowships (IF)-Standard European Fellowships
Action type: Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions
Panel: Physics
Countries involved: France
Call: Individual Fellowships (H2020-MSCA-IF-2019, 2019)
Start date: 2020-09-10
End date: 2022-09-09
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 184707.84
EU funding (EUR): 184707.84
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Halide perovskites solar cells are asserting themselves as possible alternative to the currently dominating Silicon based ones. Their low-cost, ease of production and the high power-conversion efficiency make them promising candidates for the next generation of solar cells. In the project PERSOPASS I will address the issue that most critically impede the advent of halide perovskite solar cells in the market: stability. Results on this subject are sparse and the reproducibility between groups is scarce. This is due to the significant influence of composition variations on perovskite properties and, also, to the lack of control of the precise (ppm) composition. I will use a straightforward microfluidic based strategy in which the composition of halide perovskite crystals is set by the contact with continuously flowing precursor or dopant solutions. Reaching a steady state, any dependence on the fabrication process will be removed. The specific configuration of this project will allow me to assess a large number of precisely controlled compositions in parallel. Together with the ability to characterize the optoelectronic properties on a microscopic scale, this experimental platform enables the drawing of a correlation between variation of composition and stability as well as doping. The hosting laboratory IPVF is a global leader in the development of advanced characterization methods with an outstanding expertise on hyperspectral luminescence and time-resolved fluorescence imaging, which will be extensively used during the action. I will contribute my expertise in microfluidics and on the self-healing chemical properties of halide perovskites. Beyond purely scientific objectives, this project also aims to provide industrially relevant strategies for damage mitigation which is essential for the widespread use of perovskite solar panels.

Keywords: self healing halide perovskites chemical potential microfluidics stability intrinsic extrinsic doping steady state damage mitigation hyperspectral imaging time and space resolved measurements