Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Study of proteins involved in oligodendrocyte process extension that regulate axon-glia interactions (OLIGPROCESSEXTENSION)

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: Portugal
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IEF, 2010)
Start date: 2011-04-01
End date: 2013-08-28
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 159649.6
EU funding (EUR): 159649.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Oligodendrocytes are the myelinating cells of the central nervous system (CNS). The importance of myelination is illustrated by the neurological consequences caused by demyelination, the process or state resulting from the loss or destruction of myelin such as in multiple sclerosis (MS), the most frequent CNS chronic demyelinating disease. Failure of remyelination is thought to be the major cause of MS disease progression and may be caused by the incapacity of oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPC) to differentiate into myelin-competent oligodendrocytes. Rho GTPases regulate signaling pathways involved in actin cytoskeleton, microtubule dynamics, cell polarity, membrane trafficking and gene transcription. They are expressed by oligodendrocytes and are likely to be involved in some of the events leading to myelination, but their role in this process is still poorly investigated. Additionally, in the context of MS and remyelination, the modulation and/or activity of such molecules in oligodendrocytes has still not been addressed. Therefore, we intend to characterize the network of molecules associated with Rho GTPase signaling responsible for regulating oligodendrocyte cell spreading, process extension, and formation of the highly ramified processes typical of differentiating oligodendrocytes using proteomics and interference RNA-based functional assays in primary cultures and in axon-oligodendrocytes co-cultures. Additionally, we want to evaluate if and how the expression and activities of such molecules are affected by the inflammatory milieu, in vitro and in vivo using experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) animal models. This knowledge will allow us to gain valuable insight into the mechanisms that regulate the establishment and stabilization of oligodendrocyte-axon cell–cell interactions and how their impairment compromise remyelination in demyelinating diseases such as MS. Hopefully, this knowledge will help us to design better therapeutic strategies.

Keywords: health sciences,neurosciences,neurobiology,rho gtpases,myelination,oligodendrocytes,multiple sclerosis,experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis
Vegetation and urban air quality: CFD evaluation of vegetation effects on pollutant dispersion (VEG-AIR)

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-2010-IEF, 2010)
Start date: 2012-03-31
End date: 2014-03-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 176685.6
EU funding (EUR): 176685.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Air quality in the urban environment is gaining increasing attention by city authorities and residents due to rising urbanization and growing individual traffic. One important aspect in today's urban design and planning is to make cities favorable for the natural ventilation enabling a fast dispersal and removal of air pollutants emitted by traffic and buildings. Green spaces play an important role in these considerations as they may enhance, e.g. by wide open parks, or inhibit, e.g. by avenue-like tree plantings in urban street canyons, the natural ventilation. The influence of vegetation on pollutant dispersion and concentrations in the urban environment will be investigated by Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) employing Reynolds-averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) turbulence models and Large Eddy Simulations (LES). A central point in this research project is to develop new parameterizations (vegetation modules) accounting for the effects of vegetation on flow and turbulence characteristics. The CFD simulations will be evaluated against available wind tunnel data, e.g. the CODASC database (Concentration Data of Street Canyons, www.codasc.de), wind tunnel studies to perform at collaborating institutions and full scale experiments in the Dutch cities of Arnhem and Nijmegen (leader of these street case studies: Dr. ir. Bert Blocken, TU Eindhoven, period 2011/12). The project's outcomes will strongly contribute to an improved air quality modelling in the urban environment by taking the important implications of vegetation on flow and turbulence characteristics into account. CFD simulations are becoming gradually more important in urban air quality modelling with increasing computer performance in the next years. Therefore, validated CFD models with vegetation modules will become an indispensable tool for considerably improved predictions and assessments of urban air quality, to achieve an overall better, healthier and more comfortable living environment.

Keywords: air pollutants,air quality,cfd evaluation,computational fluid dynamics,flow and dispersion,neighbourhood scale,traffic emissions,turbulence modelling,vegetation,urban environment
Controlling conscious visual perception with light. (A LIGHT ON VISION)

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-2010-IEF, 2010)
Start date: 2011-08-01
End date: 2013-07-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 184040.8
EU funding (EUR): 184040.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Imposing structure and interpretation on the multitude of sensory input we collect constantly through our senses is a primordial aspect of brain functioning. When scanning our surroundings we automatically segregate the visual scene into objects versus background. Although seemingly happening without any effort, the underlying computations performed by the brain are massive. Perceiving ambiguous figures exemplifies this complexity clearly. In case of the famous Rubin Face-Vase illusion we can perceive either faces or vases as figures against a background. Moreover we are able to consciously switch between percepts. Previous studies in the non-human primate have shown that already at the very early stages of visual processing neurons respond differently when stimulated by part of the visual scene belonging to an object than to the background. It is proposed that feedback connections from higher visual areas drive this figure-background modulation, but currently no technologies exist to examine this hypothesis adequately in the primate brain. Recently, Heimel (NIN) discovered the same figure-background effect in the visual cortex of the mouse. The possibility to easily manipulate neuronal activity in mice by illuminating the cortex will enable me to examine the function of feedback connections during figure-background modulation, a process also important for conscious vision. After thorough mapping of single and laminar response properties of V1 neurons in a figure-ground modulation paradigm, I will chart its network, i.e. characterize the information flow from V1 to higher areas, in real-time and with single cell resolution by means of two-photon calcium imaging. Both protocols are available and ready-to-use at the NIN. Finally, while recording single/laminar neural activity in V1, I will turn to transgenic mouse lines expressing channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2) and individual viral injections of archaerhodopsin-3 (Arch), to modulate/prevent feedback activity into V1.

Keywords: vision,perception,optogenetics,feedback hypothesis,figure-ground modulation,mouse primary visual cortex
Advanced characterisation of ELEctronic properties of GAllium Nitride based devices (ELEGAN)

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-2010-IEF, 2010)
Start date: 2011-07-11
End date: 2013-07-10
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 186248.0
EU funding (EUR): 186248.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The project is focused on the characterisation and modelling of a new generation of wide band gap (WBG) GaN technology and devices for which strong impacts in terms of performance, reliability and robustness are expected. GaN material, despite its extraordinary properties and the strong demand of some markets (see following paragraphs) is still at R&D stage, mainly for reasons linked to a poor understanding of electrical effects in the material. One of the main identified bottleneck relates to the dispersive phenomena observed which limits substantially the device performances. ELEGAN will address directly the study and understanding of the trapping effects in field effect GaN-based transistors. Those effects are detrimental to device operation for they are not only inducing lag effects (dispersive phenomena) between the gate command and the resulting output current-voltage I-V characteristics, but also have a strong impact on device breakdown voltage. The objective of ELEGAN is to understand the trapping effects in field effect GaN-based transistors. The achievement of such objective will result in contributing to several strong socio-economic impacts: - strengthen the EU competitiveness in various sectors: telecom, space, electrical conversion (car industry, consumer electronics etc.); - lower the power consumption of Electronic products; - set up future standards in microwave or electrical conversion. To reach this objective, the fellow will undertake different type of research activities: in particular, he will carry out electrical characterisation (DC IV measurement, pulse IV, C-V) and he will use state of the art physical transport simulator to determine the origin and location of the deep level electronic traps. These research activities are detailed in the following paragraphs.

Keywords: microelectronics
pi-Electronic Gel Hybrids: Towards Smart Photoactive Nanomaterials (GELBRID)

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: Italy
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IIF, 2010)
Start date: 2011-10-15
End date: 2013-10-14
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 189112.0
EU funding (EUR): 189112.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

GELBRID is a 3-year project aiming at the preparation and extensive characterization of advanced gel hybrid materials. Three basic strategies will be addressed: (i) peptide-substituted linear pi-conjugated molecules to be gelated and (ii) used as scaffolds for the hybridization with inorganic nanoparticles and for (iii) noncovalent functionalization of graphene through self-assembly. The final target is (iv) a new gel hybrid system that, combining the above 3 strategies, incorporates their outstanding structural and electronic properties. The intrinsic features of the materials fabricated will make them attractive in applicative areas such as advanced nanomaterials, light harvesting, and solar energy conversion. The applicant has a seven-year research experience acquired in world class laboratories in India and Japan and will bring to Europe his expertise in the fields of design, synthesis, self-assembly and gelation of organic molecules as well as in the preparation of hybrid nanomaterials. The host institution (CNR, Italy) will offer him an internationally recognized expertise in the area of advanced physical characterization, supramolecular chemistry, and photosciences. The mutual transfer of knowledge will allow to gather the intellectual and infrastructural critical mass needed to reach the ambitious goal of preparing fully characterized unprecedented organic-inorganic hybrid gel nanomaterials fabricated through self-assembly. The original concepts elaborated in GELBRID are expected to have a noticeable impact in materials science, also thanks to their potential in solar conversion technologies that are currently growing at an impressive pace. The one-year return phase to India is intended to be an instrument to reinforce the scientific cooperation between India and Europe, also taking advantage of an already existing network of collaboration between the host institution and a number of big companies, SME and academic institutions all across the continent.

Keywords: supramolcular chemistry,nanomaterials,hybrid materials,gels,photochemistry,electron transfer,graphene,organic conjugated systems
Structural and functional biodiversity of humic matter degrading freshwater microbial communities (HUMADE)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: International Re-integration Grants
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Germany
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-RG, 2010)
Start date: 2011-05-01
End date: 2013-10-31
Duration (months): 30.0
Total project cost (EUR): 62500.0
EU funding (EUR): 62500.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Humic substances (HS) are complex and heterogeneous mixtures of polymers formed in soils, sediments and natural waters during the decay of plant biomass. HS represent an important carbon source in aquatic environments accounting for up to 80% of the total dissolved organic carbon (DOC). Historically, HS were considered to be biologically inert but discovery of the “microbial loop” changed this view in which DOC enters planktonic food webs through incorporation into bacterial biomass and protozoan grazing upon bacteria. Despite extensive research it is still not clear how exactly HS are converted and degraded by microorganisms in nature. We particularly lack a detailed understanding of the metabolic diversity present in a community that is used to attack the complex structure of these heterogeneous polymers. Based on current structural concepts it is assumed that HS cannot be degraded by simple enzymatic reactions but rather by a combination of different enzymes including peroxidases, phenol oxidases and many carbohydrate active enzymes. The proposed project aims to resolve the genomic and metabolic diversity of freshwater microbial communities involved in HS cycling using state of the art sequencing-based approaches. Metagenomic and metatranscriptomic approaches will be used to perform in-depth genomic analysis of freshwater microbial communities and to study their physiological response to HS based on gene-expression analysis. Different habitats and ecological niches will be sampled and analyzed to enable detailed comparative analysis (e.g. aerobic vs. anaerobic habitats). Considering the environmental and economic importance of HS it is very important to understand mechanisms involved in HS cycling in nature. The proposed project will provide the scientific community with a detailed description of microbial diversity and activity involved in freshwater HS cycling and the data will be a valuable foundation for future research in this field.

Keywords: humic substances,freshwater,microorganisms,carbon cycle,metabolic diversity,metagenomics
Micro and Macro Determinants of Well-Being (EWEBE)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: European Re-integration Grants
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Italy,United Kingdom
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-RG, 2010)
Start date: 2012-05-29
End date: 2015-05-28
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 45000.0
EU funding (EUR): 45000.0
Participants: 2
Project status: CLOSED

The analysis of the determinants of well-being has typically been carried out either at the micro-level to quantify the relationship between income and well-being of individuals within countries, or at the macro-level looking at the aggregate relationship between happiness and GDP between countries. In this project we consider a multilevel structure where characteristics both at the individual and aggregated levels jointly determine life-satisfaction. Our focus is the economic and non-economic determinants of well-being across Europe and we ask what level of geographical aggregation (e.g. individual, regional or national) matters for individual well-being and whether the drivers of well-being differ across these multiple levels, i.e. within and between countries. In particular, we wish to understand how the degree of interaction by individuals within a group, at broadening levels of society, can affect their well-being. We therefore allow individuals to be related to others in their immediate `vicinity' or neighborhood, and then explore how these smaller groups themselves are related to larger clusters of individuals at the neighborhood and regional level. The availability and use of the 2006 and 2008 European Social Survey data means that we can gauge well-being across both Western Europe, the original EU member states and the new accession countries.

Keywords: socio-economic research,regional geography,human geography
Molecular imaging analysis of the function of the cytoskeletal regulator DOCK2 during physiological T cell activation (2PM T CELL IMAGING)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: European Re-integration Grants
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Switzerland
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-RG, 2010)
Start date: 2011-03-01
End date: 2014-02-28
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 45000.0
EU funding (EUR): 45000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Recent experiments using twophoton microscopy (2PM) of lymphocytes interacting with dendritic cells (DCs) loaded with cognate peptide – major histocompability complexes (pMHC) have uncovered their dynamic interactions inside lymphoid tissue of small rodents. Depending on the amount of pMHC on the DC surface, motile T cells may either slowly integrate T cell receptor-mediated signals or immediately undergo long-term interactions with DCs. Thus, motility and T cell activation inside lymphoid tissue are closely intertwined. A key motility-inducing factor is the Rac guanine exchange factor DOCK2. Using 2PM of lymphoid tissue, we previously demonstrated that lymphocytes lacking DOCK2 showed reduced motility. However, it is unclear which intracellular binding partners regulate DOCK2 function in lymphoid cells. Furthermore, the role of DOCK2 expression during interactions between T cells and DCs displaying varying densities of cognate pMHC complexes in vivo has not been explored to date. Here, we propose to carry out an analysis of potential binding partners of DOCK2 recently identified in a yeast-two-hybrid screen. Furthermore, we will perform a 2PM analysis comparing the interaction dynamics of control and DOCK2-deficient T cells with DCs loaded with increasing amounts of cognate pMHC complexes. Our project thus aims to clarify the physiological function of DOCK2 for T cell biology.

Keywords: natural sciences,immunology,cell biology
Helminth-induced regulatory mechanisms that prevent the onset of diabetes (HELMINTH & DIABETES)

Framework: FP7 — People
Programme: Marie-Curie Actions
Theme: Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Destination: International Re-integration Grants
Action type: Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie)
Countries involved: Germany
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-RG, 2010)
Start date: 2011-04-01
End date: 2015-03-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

In Europe >33 million people suffer from diabetes, a chronic disease associated with long-term pathology representing one of the biggest cost factors for the health care system. The ultimate goal of this proposal is to develop a novel immunomodulatory diabetes therapy by identifying parasitic worm (helminth) regulatory mechanisms which protect against autoimmune diseases. The applicants’ previous work has shown that infection with the filarial helminth Litomosoides sigmodontis prevents Type I diabetes onset in the nonobese diabetic (NOD) mouse model and induces regulatory mechanisms. In the first objective, depletion and transfer experiments will show which L. sigmodontis-induced regulatory mechanisms prevent diabetes onset in NOD mice. Identification of helminth-induced regulatory mechanisms that prevent diabetes onset will enable the establishment of an in vitro screening assay to test worm antigen fractions for their protection. In the second objective the contribution of endosymbiontic Wolbachia bacteria, present in most human filarial helminths and L. sigmodontis, to the helminth-mediated protective effect will be studied to determine whether Wolbachia antigens should be included in the screening process. While it is well accepted that helminth infections prevent the onset of autoimmune diseases, it is not known whether helminth infections ameliorate or prevent the onset of metabolic diseases like Type 2 diabetes (e.g. by reducing the associated pro-inflammatory immune response). Thus, the final objective examines whether L. sigmodontis infection prevents the onset of diet-induced insulin resistance in mice. Identification of helminth-induced regulatory mechanisms that prevent the onset of diabetes, followed by the identification of worm derived products that induce these regulatory immune responses may lead to new treatment regimens for Type I diabetes and prevent the development of Type 2 diabetes without increasing the risk for opportunistic infections.

Keywords: helminth,filaria,type i diabetes,immunomodulation,hygiene hypothesis,insulin resistance,type 2 diabetes,diabetology,chronic diseases,infections,immunology