Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
LAboratory and Modelling studies to UNderstand Isoprene Oxidation (LAMUNIO)

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-2012-IEF, 2012)
Start date: 2013-07-08
End date: 2015-07-07
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 309235.2
EU funding (EUR): 309235.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Recent field and laboratory evidence points towards a significant failure in our understanding of the atmospheric chemistry of isoprene in low NOx conditions and notably its impact on OH, significantly inhibiting our understanding of the atmosphere-biosphere-climate system. The multidisciplinary LAMUNIO proposal, including technique development, laboratory and chamber studies and modelling evaluation, will be a major step forward to innovatively investigate isoprene chemistry. LAMUNIO contains three workpackages looking at interferences in the FAGE technique for OH observation, particularly in environments dominated by biogenic emissions; studies of isoprene oxidation focusing particularly on OH and carbonyl measurement to validate proposed mechanisms; new techniques to study HO2 reactions relevant for low NOx chemistry. This proposal is timely and will provide underpinning laboratory studies to validate both measurement techniques and the proposed mechanisms that seek to explain the unexpected observations of high OH concentrations in environments dominated by the oxidation of isoprene in low NOx conditions. OH concentrations control the oxidative capacity of the atmosphere influencing important local (air quality) and global (methane concentrations and hence radiative forcing) issues. LAMUNIO will provide world class research and training opportunities and the proposed work is facilitated by the unique breadth of knowledge and infrastructure available at the University of Leeds.

Keywords: atmospheric chemistry - air pollution,v201,isoprene chemistry,fage technique,hox recycling
Testing a novel target for anti-angiogenesis therapy in the eye (ANGIOBLOCK)

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-2012-IEF, 2012)
Start date: 2013-10-28
End date: 2014-10-27
Duration (months): 12.0
Total project cost (EUR): 149779.2
EU funding (EUR): 149779.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a retinal disease characterized by central vision loss produced mainly by new vessels formed from choroidal capillaries (choroidal neovascularization, CNV). Current therapies are directed to inhibit angiogenesis by blocking vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF); however patients need to be retreated given that CNV tends to recur. Furthermore, not all patients respond equally well to the treatment. Moreover, sustained blocking of VEGF may have harmful side effects. It is therefore important to explore alternative molecular targets for the prevention of CNV in AMD. In this project, termed ANGIOBLOCK, we aim to test whether targeting Neuropilin 1 (Nrp1) can prevent CNV in a mouse model. Nrp-1 acts as a co-receptor for several different angiogenic ligands and is therefore an attractive target to block CNV. Nrp1 will be deleted by inducible Cre-lox technology in endothelial cells based on tools developed in the host laboratory. Laser induced CNV lesions will then be assessed in longitudinal in vivo studies, using optical coherence tomography and laser scanning ophthalmoscopy, quantifying lesion size and vascular permeability. In addition, post-mortem analysis will use immunohistochemistry, in situ hybridization and gene expression analysis to assess inflammation and angiogenesis. We expect to observe reduced growth of vascular lesions in mice lacking Nrp1, which would validate this molecule as a drug target to reduce CNV in AMD.

Keywords: aging,angiogenesis,neuropilin,anti-angiogenic treatments
Memory-enhanced photonic quantum information processing (MEQUIP)

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-2012-IEF, 2012)
Start date: 2013-05-01
End date: 2015-04-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 221606.4
EU funding (EUR): 221606.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The current complexity of optical quantum information processors is critically restricted by the scalability of quantum photonics. We will lessen this constraint by demonstrating a scalable platform based on an available quantum memory that achieves high time-bandwidth product and low noise. Quantum memories enable temporal multiplexing to create ideally deterministic routines from inherently probabilistic processes, such as those based on quantum measurements. We will employ this strategy to construct a unique source of quantum light from four synchronised heralded single-photon sources. We will develop an integrated memory-based quantum photonics platform with sufficient performance to achieve complex quantum information processing tasks with more than twenty photons distributed over as many modes. A second role for quantum memories uses light-matter quantum interference to effect processing of stored information. This potential unlocks novel and efficient QIP protocols and a compelling alternate architecture to chip-based processors. We will demonstrate a memory-based programmable three-port linear quantum optical network that operates on time-bins. The outcome of this project is a new memory-enhanced quantum photonics platform that will enable access to a new complexity regime for quantum information processing to explore the physics of complex quantum systems.

Keywords: p108 optics and quantum optics,p107 atomic - molecular physics
Introducing stacking and halogen bonding effects into ligand-target interaction energy calculations (IMPSCORE)

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-2012-IEF, 2012)
Start date: 2013-05-15
End date: 2015-11-14
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 183469.8
EU funding (EUR): 183469.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The subject of the present proposal is computational chemistry with specific aim to incorporate certain interactions into docking calculations. The docking technique helps the design and synthesis of efficient pharmaceuticals that act via ligand–receptor interactions. In the frame of the project, new scoring function (SF) term(s) will be introduced for selected interactions (π – π stacking and halogen bonds) using experimental enthalpic data and combined quantum-mechanical/molecular-mechanical calculations. Scoring functions play a central role in the quality and the speed of docking calculation In popular scoring functions (e.g. in the Autodock) enthalpic (ΔH) and entropic terms can be distinguished and the sum of these terms are correlated to experimental binding free energy (ΔG) values. Previous SF developments are principally based on this correlation, however, isothermal titration calorimetric (ITC) measurements afford the possibility of developing separately the two principal components. Introducing new terms for the description of the chosen special interactions, enthalpic part of the chosen SF (from the Autodock or Autodock-Vina program) will be improved with the help of fragment based ligand set augmented with experimental ΔH data. In addition to introducing new SF terms, the application of fragment based test library in SF development is also an important novelty. It has several advantages as, for instance, screening with a fragment trained SF function on the fragment universe one can capture a more diverse hit space than with the usual high throughput screening on the chemical universe. Furthermore, in case of a fragment-size ligand the investigated special interactions can be more obviously separated from other effects in the binding analysis. Finally, larger QM environment can be taken into account for a fragment-size ligand than for peptide substrates providing more accurate theoretical results.

Keywords: c115 theoretical and computational chemistry,p312 method development in chemistry
Bio-LCA: Introducing biodiversity in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) (BIO-LCA)

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-2012-IEF, 2012)
Start date: 2013-04-01
End date: 2015-03-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 169800.0
EU funding (EUR): 169800.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Finding ways to implement biodiversity metrics in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is an increasingly important topic that has not yet been satisfactorily addressed. Product LCA is on the rise, as shown by recent initiatives such as the labeling experiment promoted by the French government. However, limitations in the LCA methodology have thus far restricted the calculation of LCA indicators mostly to a subset of non-biological indicators. Biodiversity and ecosystem services are either left outside the scope of most LCA studies or questionably calculated. The present project Bio-LCA: Introducing biodiversity in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) intends to majorly contribute to solving the issue of making LCA and biodiversity compatible. The project will consist on the inclusion of important drivers of biodiversity change, such as resource overexploitation and introduction of invasive species, as indicators in the LCA framework. These indicators will be introduced at the midpoint level (as direct results of processes or emissions), and their aggregation in a single endpoint biodiversity indicator will be determined. A standardized impact assessment methodology for biodiversity using LCA will be configured and made accessible to researchers and for environmental metrics tools to use. This methodology will take into consideration the need to introduce accurate measures of biodiversity, but will also strive for simplicity so that the use of the new metrics can be put in place by a wide range of users, in line with the European Union’s Integrated Product Policy and the undergoing work on a European LCA product-level standard. This two-year project combines the experience in LCA of the researcher with the expertise in biodiversity studies by the host in a multidisciplinary, multi-sectorial effort.

Keywords: life cycle assessment,biodiversity,industrial ecology,invasive species,overexploitation
Historical and current pHytoplankton interactions with viruses: Emiliania huxleyi case study. (HI PH-IVE)

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-2012-IEF, 2012)
Start date: 2013-05-01
End date: 2015-04-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 221606.4
EU funding (EUR): 221606.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The major problem of the global ecology is the abrupt increase of carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration in Earth's atmosphere. As one of the most critical effects of burning fossil carbon by human action is the rapid acidification of the oceans. Indeed the CO2 diffuses into the surface layers of the global ocean, including causing a significant decrease in pH and carbonate ion (CO3-). These acidic conditions make biomineralization of calcareous shell increasingly difficult, threatening biodiversity with extinction of calcifying plankton ecosystems, with all the brutal feedback effects on regional and global climate. In particular, coccolithophores, haptophytes microalgae covered with small calcareous scales occur today ~30% of pelagic carbonates, a central process of the carbon cycle between the different compartments of the biosphere. How will coccolithophores react to abrupt climate changes? More our understanding of how biodiversity will respond to abrupt climate changes is limited by a fundamental lack of understanding of eukaryotic ocean biodiversity, and rates of biodiversity change. This project aims to understand the complexity and rate of adaptation in Emiliania huxleyi, a dominant coccolithophore in modern oceans, through the study of its ecological distribution and genetic diversity in space and time. The study takes into account viruses that are fundamentally associated with E. huxleyi life history, regulating population dynamics, representing a significant biotic stress factor with dramatic effects on phytoplankton biodiversity. Metabarcoding methods will be applied in contrasting environments in the North Atlantic Ocean through series of historical samples dating from 1960. The overall goal of this study is to understand genetic adaptabilities in a key functional assemblage of the pelagic ecosystem; abilities that could enable organisms to adapt and survive in multi-stress environments, virus infection and increasing acidification of oceanic water masses.

Keywords: v308 population biology,v309 systems evolution,v201 climatology and climate change,v201 biogeochemistry,v306 environmental and marine biology,l210 bioinformatics,l212 biostatistics,v302 biodiversity
Acquiring extremely high resolution maps of water use efficiency of Australian forests to assess the effects of drought, species composition and stand structure. (EXTREWAFOR)

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: Belgium
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IOF, 2012)
Start date: 2013-10-01
End date: 2016-09-30
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 264711.0
EU funding (EUR): 264711.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Instantaneous ecosystem water use efficiency (WUE), the ratio of gross primary production (GPP) to evapotranspiration (ET), is an important integral trait of plant and ecosystem productivity and a key variable for modelling and understanding the impact of climate change on terrestrial ecosystems. Unfortunately, the influence of climate change on ecosystem WUE is difficult to predict, because the underlying mechanisms that cause variation in ecosystem WUE are largely unknown. A major limitation so far in the research on ecosystem WUE is the current impossibility to measure WUE at sub-ecosystem (ie single tree or plant) level. The aim of this research proposal is to generate ET, GPP and WUE maps of extremely high resolution of three Australian forest biomes. The remote sensing imagery needed for this will be acquired by applying an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), equipped with thermal, visual and near infrared cameras. These maps will allow us to investigate how the ET, GPP and WUE of single plants and of entire ecosystems is affected by drought, and how species composition and vegetation structure affect this relation. Two innovative new algorithms to estimate ET and GPP will be developed. These algorithms benefit from two key advantages that UAV-remote sensing offers, namely the unprecedented spatial resolution and the possibility to construct highly precise 3D maps of the canopy, thanks to the large image overlap. Measurements will be performed in three representative Australian forests, which will be monitored regularly during an entire year. Spatial and temporal analyses will be performed to assess the influence of stand structure and species contribution on GPP, ET and WUE and how these factors evolve in time, particularly during drought periods.

Keywords: drought,gross primary production,evapotranspiration,unmanned aerial vehicle,v201 earth observations from space - remote sensing,v201 climatology and climate change,v406 forestry - biomass productio
Functional DNA nanomaterials (NANO-DNA)

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-2012-IEF, 2012)
Start date: 2013-10-01
End date: 2015-09-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 231283.2
EU funding (EUR): 231283.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Solid phase DNA synthesis is certainly one of the most influential developments of the last century. Together with the understanding of DNA structure and function, not only biology and molecular genetics have advanced significantly, but also new emerging fields such as bio-nanotechnology would not have evolved. The term 'DNA architectonics' is probably most descriptive for the current directions the field of DNA synthesis is taking, where DNA becomes more and more a construction material and intelligent glue while not downgrading its importance in the life sciences. The research proposed here will evaluate novel functional DNA nanomaterials and will significantly advance the field by combining DNA nano-technology with chemically modified nucleosides, incorporating designer molecules to add specific programmed function and apply these systems to make ground breaking advances in electronics, photovoltaics and medicine.

Keywords: c128 nanomaterials,c140 supramolecular chemistry,c134 biological chemistry,g302 chemical engineering - technical chemistry,molecular aspects of new materials,macromolecules,c102 nanochemistry
Understanding the role of nuclear envelope proteins in the regulation of entiviral infectivity in non-dividing cells. (LENTIVIRAL ENTRY)

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-2012-IEF, 2012)
Start date: 2013-09-01
End date: 2015-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 269743.8
EU funding (EUR): 269743.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

One of the most striking characteristics of lentiviruses and one that distinguishes them from onco-retroviruses is their ability to infect nondividing cells. As a result, primate lentiviruses such as HIV-1 can establish a productive infection in terminally differentiated cells such as macrophages and microglia in the brain or in memory T-cells that are not cycling. The prevailing view is that those viruses are indifferent to the cell cycle status of the target cells and can infect dividing and non-dividing cells indiscriminately. We have identified proteins of the inner nuclear envelope that are required for a step in the viral life cycle subsequent to nuclear entry but prior to integration of viral cDNA into host cell chromatin. Upon silencing these nuclear lamina proteins, the majority of viral cDNAs in the nucleus are converted to inactive circular forms. These results suggest a model in which nuclear envelope proteins counteract the action of enzymes in the nucleus that otherwise circularize and inactivate linear viral cDNAs. Because these inner nuclear envelope proteins are spatially disordered upon nuclear envelope breakdown at mitosis, our findings suggest that lentiviruses have evolved a specific route of entry into non-dividing cells. We have recently established that at least one of those nuclear lamina proteins is phosphorylated upon infection. Blocking phosphorylation resulted in the same effect as silencing the protein thus pointing at a complex regulation allowing nuclear entry. We propose to characterize the viral and cellular determinants that regulate this nuclear step in the viral replication cycle and further define how the inner envelope proteins regulate lentiviruses in the nucleus. We will extend our analysis to identify the cellular proteins and their possible post-translational modification that regulate the transit of viral cDNA through the nuclear envelope for lentivivuses and compare it to ncoretroviruses.

Keywords: l608 virology,lentiviruses,nucleus,non-dividing cells,nucleoplasmic trafficking,inner nuclear lamina proteins,nuclear pores,viral cdna,viral rna,nuclear lamina
Identification of novel immunomodulators in the human poxvirus molluscum contagiosum virus (MCV IMMUNOREGULATION)

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: Ireland
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IEF, 2012)
Start date: 2013-03-01
End date: 2015-02-28
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 246782.6
EU funding (EUR): 246782.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Infectious diseases kill 16 million people world-wide each year. Understanding how the immune system functions to sense and fight pathogens is essential for the development of novel therapeutics. Poxviruses have evolved a wide-spectrum of open-reading frames (ORFs) encoding immunoregulators which bind host proteins and disrupt the antiviral immune response. These ORFs are acquired from the host and are incorporated into the terminal regions of the viral genome. The acquisition of this extensive ‘toolbox’ of immunoregulatory sequences over long periods of host-virus co-evolution make them highly incisive tools for revealing novel facets of host immune system under the continual selective pressure of pathogens. Most research on poxviral immunoregulation has been conducted using the genome of Vaccinia virus (VV), a virus that is not adapted to human infection. Molluscum Contagiosum virus (MCV), is the only known human–adapted poxvirus and causes a long-term infection with a relatively weak immune response from the host. It has a highly diverse genome with largely unique terminal ORFs only 10% of which currently have a known function. In this proposal, the Fellow will adopt biochemical and cell biology approaches to analyse the unique ORFs of MCV and identify sequences that modulate human anti-viral immunity. These viral immunoregulators will be characterised and used as a basis for the development of immunotherapeutics. This proposal is designed to utilize the strengths of both the Fellow and the Host lab to facilitate mutual transfer of knowledge and expertise for both parties. The host lab has a strong interest in studying poxviral immunoregulation, and the Fellow will provide the expertise and tools to allow these studies to yield novel findings. In turn, the Fellow will obtain knowledge and technical expertise in a world-class innate immunity lab, which will help him expand his research network, attain an independent position and advance his career.

Keywords: innate immunity,virology,signal transduction,immune evasion,type i interferons,inflammatory signalling