Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Regulation of normal and leukaemic stem cells by the microenvironment: role of nestin+ mesenchymal stem cells and humoral signals (LSCMICROENV)

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-2011-CIG, 2011)
Start date: 2012-02-01
End date: 2016-01-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The presence of self-renewing “cancer stem cells” responsible for tumour initiation and maintenance has been well defined in multiple types of solid and haematologic tumours; however, our knowledge of their biology is very limited. While it is believed that leukaemia stem cells (LSC) – like normal haematopoietic stem cells (HSC) – depend on the interaction with a specialized microenvironment or ‘niche’ for their self-renewal and maintenance, the identity and function of this leukaemic niche are essentially unknown. A better understanding of these processes is critical to the development of better therapies, because complete erradication of the tumour requires elimination of LSC. MLL-induced leukaemias represent a group of malignancies with poor clinical outcome, underscoring the need for more effective therapies. In these leukaemias, the presence of self-renewing LSC has been well documented. Here I propose to investigate the contribution of the haematopoietic microenvironment to the development of MLL-induced leukaemias and its role in LSC maintenance and, at the same time, to expand our understanding of the normal HSC microenvironment. We will specifically characterize the role and requirement of nestin+ mesenchymal stem cells (MSC), previously shown to be essential for normal haematopoiesis, as a niche component for LSC. The role of specific extracellular signals (in particular the chemokine SDF), potentially mediating the interaction of MSC with normal and leukaemic HSC, will be investigated. Finally, I propose to study the effects of oestrogens and oestrogen receptor modulation on the proliferation, survival and self-renewal of HSC and their leukaemic counterparts, and their potential role in modifying leukaemic cell chemosensitivity. This project will ultimately attempt to establish the feasibility of targeting the haematopoietic microenvironment as a novel therapeutic approach, and to assess its efficacy in experimental models of MLL-induced leukaemias.

Keywords: leukaemic stem cells,haematopoietic stem cells,mesenchymal stem cells,haematopoietic microenvironment,mll,oestrogens,cxcl12/sdf
Bio-inspired optical corrections of presbyopia (PRESBYOPIA)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Diagnostic tools, therapies and public health
Countries involved: Spain
Call:  (ERC-2011-ADG_20110310, 2011)
Start date: 2012-05-01
End date: 2018-04-30
Duration (months): 72.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2399548.0
EU funding (EUR): 2399548.0
Participants: 3
Project status: CLOSED

The human crystalline lens has the capability to dynamically change its shape to focus near and far objects. By age 55, the accommodation capability is lost and optical aids are needed for near vision. Many questions remain open that are critical to understand accommodation, the failure in presbyopia, and the prospects for its correction. Multifocal presbyopic corrections are increasingly used. However, the ideal multifocal pattern, and the optical factors affecting depth-of-focus and adaptation to simultaneous vision remain to be elucidated. The most satisfactory treatment of presbyopia should rely on the restoration of the dynamic and continuous focusing ability of the eye, and this could be achieved in the form of accommodative intraocular lenses (IOLs). Current approaches, relying on potential IOL axial shifts, have proved little effective accommodative amplitude. The project will seek in nature innovative solutions to treat presbyopia. Deeper understanding of the crystalline lens changes with dynamic accommodation and aging will be gained. Novel imaging techniques will be developed and used to assess the dynamic changes of crystalline lens structure, gradient index distribution and microscopic structure of the lens fibers and capsule. In addition, the treatment of presbyopia by multifocal corrections will be explored. Wavefront sensing and optical coherence tomography will be used to understand the bases for the multifocality found in some animal species (as possible inspiration for multifocal patterns), and adaptive optics and visual simulation to understand the reasons for the limited performance of current multifocal treatments, to investigate neural adaptation to the blur in simultaneous vision and to test the proposed new multifocal patterns. Finally, the understanding of the crystalline lens properties and the biomechanics of the implanted IOLs gained in the project will allow to develop a first prototype of crystalline-lens mimicking accommodative IOL.

Keywords: vision,visual optics,biophotonics,human eye,crystalline lens,presbyopia,optical design,intraocular lens,cataract surgery,visual correction,neural adaptation
The Nogo-A receptor complex after CNS injury and its role in the developing and adult nervous system (NOGORISE)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Neurosciences and neural disorders
Countries involved: Switzerland
Call:  (ERC-2011-ADG_20110310, 2011)
Start date: 2012-06-01
End date: 2017-05-31
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2500000.0
EU funding (EUR): 2500000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Repulsive guidance cues for growing axons and factors inhibiting neurite growth are increasingly recognized as key players for nerve fiber growth and plasticity in the developing and adult nervous system. The first neurite growth inhibitory factor discovered in the context of axonal regeneration in the adult central nervous system (CNS) was the membrane protein Nogo-A. Inactivation of Nogo-A, e.g. by neutralizing antibodies, after spinal cord injury, brain injury or stroke leads to improved functional recovery in parallel with long distance regeneration of injured fibers and enhanced compensatory sprouting. The molecular mechanisms of action of Nogo-A is only partially known; a key element, the Nogo-A-specific receptor has remained undefined. We have recently found a membrane protein that binds to Nogo-A with high affinity; blockers of this new receptor neutralize many of the typical Nogo-A effects in vitro. The present proposal addresses new aspects of the mechanism of action and the in vivo roles of this novel Nogo-A receptor and its interactions with the known Nogo receptor components. The new results will contribute to the molecular and physiological understanding of Nogo-A and related growth inhibitors in the nervous system. Together with the currently ongoing clinical trial to enhance recovery after spinal cord injury in patients by anti-Nogo-A antibodies, the results of the present project will form an important basis for further treatments in brain injury and stroke.

Keywords: nogo-a receptor,s1pr2,cns regeneration,cns plasticity,stroke,traumatic brain injury
Simulating Brains: Cognition Grounded in the Simulation of Sensorimotor Processes in the Human Neocortex (COGNITSIMS)

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-2011-CIG, 2011)
Start date: 2012-09-01
End date: 2016-08-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Grounded (embodied) cognition theory proposes that cognition is grounded in processing of sensorimotor information. The main proposal for how this information grounds cognition is mental simulation. This process has been suggested to depend primarily on hierarchically-organized, convergence-divergence zones in association cortex. However, no direct neural tests of mental simulation or this mechanism have been done. This project will test crucial timing predictions. By this account, processing proceeds sequentially from unimodal areas in one modality through multimodal association areas and then out to other unimodal areas. To test this, the project aims to determine how and when processing sensorimotor features in the human brain affects the cortical dynamics as they unfold over time for visual object cognition. The researcher’s multi-state interactive account of the cortical dynamics for visual object cognition predicts the timing and location of effects. Such precise predictions allow the most powerful conclusions from neuroscience data. High-density, event-related potentials have the time precision needed. Functional magnetic resonance imaging, which has higher spatial precision, helps localize effects. Transcranial magnetic stimulation disrupts perceptual or motor processing briefly to test the causal role. To integrate human and non-linguistic animal data in future computational models, studies focus on objects (i.e., not words) in the visual modality that dominates in humans. This project will for the first time reveal how, when, and how much processing modal features (color, motion, shape, size, orientation, and actions) affects the temporal dynamics of cortical processes supporting visual object cognition and the causal role of such sensorimotor processing. Such findings will test key timing predictions of the proposed cortical mechanism of how mental simulation grounds cognition in sensorimotor processing and determine how, when, and how much cognition is grounded.

Keywords: human biology,behavioural biology,neuropsychology,neurophysiology,cognitive science,psychonomics,social sciences,experimental psychology,neurosciences,neurology,neurobiology,human computer interaction
Integrating Flexible Discrete Choice and Revenue Management Models (FLEXREV)

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-2011-CIG, 2011)
Start date: 2011-12-01
End date: 2014-11-30
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 75000.0
EU funding (EUR): 75000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Numerous industries use revenue management (RM) to forecast demand for products and to determine product prices and availability. Airline and hotel companies, who spearheaded RM developments in the 1990’s, have reported impressive annual revenue gains: American Airlines realized $500 million and Marriott realized $100 million. Today, however, the $218 billion airline and hotel sectors struggle to maintain proﬁtability in a marketplace dominated by online purchases. Traditional RM systems have struggled to adapt to these new market conditions, leading to calls for fundamentally new “choice-based” RM systems that use discrete choice models to forecast demand in a way that better reﬂects today’s purchasing environment. Choice based revenue management has the potential to revolutionize the way that companies determine their pricing and revenue strategies. This approach incorporates consumer behavior into classical revenue management models. Customer behavior can be captured by utilizing the discrete-choice models. However, selecting the right choice model is a very challenging problem. Significant portion of the research topic of this proposal is dedicated to selecting the right choice model and efficiently estimating the choice model parameters. Second portion of this research is on integrating estimated consumer behavior into revenue management algorithms. Using the approaches described in this proposal, the effective product and consumer matching will yield the right set of products to be offered to right set of customers, at the right time and at the right price. These are timely research topics due to both their promise for significant advances in a variety of applications, as well as our recent initial progress on these problems. We have played a significant role in that initial progress, hence we are in a very good position to lead the solution of the problems posed in this project.

Keywords: choice based revenue management,discrete choice modeling,unconstraining,capacity control
VIRTUAL HEART MODELS: MULTI-PHYSICS APPROACHES TO COMPUTATIONAL CARDIOLOGY (VHEART)

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-2011-CIG, 2011)
Start date: 2011-09-01
End date: 2015-08-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Heart disease is the number one cause of death in industrialized nations. Despite the broad class of treatment techniques such as medication, surgery and tissue-engineered therapies, heart disease remains to be one of the most frequent, disabling, and life-threatening diseases. In Europe it accounts for almost half of overall annual mortality rate. In the European Union (EU) alone, cardiovascular disease causes over 2 million deaths per year. The cost of cardiovascular disease to the EU economy is €192 billion per year. As opposed to the traditional trial-and-error based therapies, a systematic, personalized simulation-aided approach offers a great potential for understanding, diagnosing, and treating heart failure through the sound understanding of functional and structural changes in the infarcted tissue and the computational tools of multi-scale solid mechanics. The proposed research aims: (1) to develop multi-scale models of computational cardiac electrophysiology, (2) to model the fully coupled electromechanics of the heart through a novel micro-structurally based kinematic approach, (3) to couple the electromechanical computational tool with the ionic models of cardiac electrophysiology, (4) to employ the new multi-scale tools of computational cardiology to explore the underlying complex mechanisms of heart diseases and thereby guide personalized cardiac therapies. The anticipated outcomes are: (A) a multi-scale computational electrophysiological tool that incorporates multi-physics ionic models in the implicit bidomain framework, (B) a better understanding of underlying physiological reasons for electrophysiological cardiac disease such as arrhythmia, left and right bundle blocks, (C) a novel, micro-structurally based, computationally efficient, modular electromechanical computational tool, (D) a virtual test environment for the patient-specific optimization of cardiac therapies and surgical procedures.

Keywords: biomechanics,computational biology,physiological biophysics,electromechanical engineering,computational models,simulation engineering
LAY AND SOCIAL SCIENCE DISCOURSES ON IDENTITY, CITIZENSHIP AND MIGRATION (LSSDMIC)

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: Greece
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-CIG, 2011)
Start date: 2012-03-01
End date: 2016-02-29
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The proposed project aims to examine the ways in which the principles used in the social sciences to explain the social world might interact with the interpretative resources that are used by lay social actors to make sense of this world. The project aims to examine this by focusing on the underlying processes of interaction between social scientific and everyday lay discourses: the different ways in which social-scientific discourses are synthesised, how these discourses are filtered back to lay discourses, and how these discourses are taken up by lay social actors. The topics selected to probe these issues are identity, citizenship and migration. There have been global developments in these areas since the 1990s and there has been a proliferation of both social scientific and lay discussions concerning them. The interaction between social scientific and lay discourses will be studied by conducting a systematic review of social science texts on identity, citizenship and migration and by interviewing immigrants and locals in Central Macedonia, Greece. Both sets of discourses will be analysed for correspondence of themes and arguments. The role of policy will also be examined by considering the ways in which policy is manifested in those discourses. The project draws on Critical Discursive Psychology (CDP) and Social Network Analysis (SNA). The project will be of interest to academic users in the sociology of science and knowledge, and in discourse, identity and migration studies; and to non-academic users such as policymakers, local government and non-governmental agencies and local communities and interest groups.

Keywords: social psychology,sociology,identity,migration,citizenship,discourse,critical discursive psychology,social network analysis,greece
Virtual control methods for coupling heterogeneous problems (HEVICO)

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-2011-CIG, 2011)
Start date: 2011-09-01
End date: 2015-08-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

In this project we aim at addressing mathematical and numerical methods based on virtual controls for the coupling of heterogeneous problems described by partial differential equations. These problems arise in many practical applications. For example, whenever different phenomena have to be taken into account in two or more subregions of the computational domain, or when, for the description and simulation of complex physical phenomena, combinations of hierarchical mathematical models are set up with the aim of reducing the computational complexity. In both cases, we have to study a multiphysics problem, i.e. a system of heterogeneous problems, where different kind of differential problems are defined in different subregions (either disjoint or overlapping) of the original computational domain. Virtual control is a powerful technique based on the optimal control theory that has been introduced in domain decomposition method with overlapping subdomains to treat homogeneous problems, either elliptic and parabolic. The basic idea of this approach consists in introducing suitable functions called ``virtual'' controls which play the role of unknown boundary data on the interfaces of the decomposition and in minimizing in a suitable norm the difference between the solutions of the subproblems on the overlap. In this project we aim at extending the virtual control method for a class of heterogeneous problems considering both analytical and computational aspects. In particular, we will characterize suitable functionals to be minimized on the overlapping regions in order to ensure both the well-posedness of the problem and a correct description of the physical phenomena of interest. Moreover, we will focus on the development of effective numerical methods and preconditioning techniques for the solution of the optimality systems arising from this approach. Finally, we will consider several problems of practical interest to validate the methodology that we propose.

Keywords: optimal control,domain decomposition methods,coupling of heterogeneous models,partial differential equations,finite elements method,preconditioning
Mechanisms of skeletal muscle adaptation to exercise and their implications in health and disease. (MUSC ADAP XRCS)

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-2011-CIG, 2011)
Start date: 2012-10-01
End date: 2016-09-30
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Sedentary lifestyles have led to the increase of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and sarcopenia (decreased muscle mass) of the elderly. Skeletal muscle plays a key role in these conditions, and it is clear that exercise can be as effective as medication in treating some of these ailments. The adaptation of muscle to exercise involves the coordinated regulation of gene networks, whose products adapt muscle function to new challenges (e.g. increased contractility or oxidative capacity). We have identified several novel members of the PGC-1 family of transcriptional coactivators, which is activated by exercise and has the ability to regulate important gene programs in muscle. By studying the function of these new coactivators, we hope to further elucidate the mechanisms by which muscle responds to exercise. Differences in conservation of certain functional protein domains indicate that specific PGC-1 forms might simultaneously regulate gene transcription and splicing. We propose that changes in alternative isoform expression may be part of the switch from sedentary to exercised muscle. We will characterize these processes by using RNA-sequencing since this technique provides information about transcript abundance and sequence. This analysis of muscle adaptation to exercise will allow us to understand how, in response to work, muscle can positively affect so many aspects of human health. This knowledge will help us design new therapeutic strategies to fight metabolic diseases.

Keywords: skeletal muscle,exercise,transcription,coregulators,alternative splicing,diabetes,obesity,sarcopenia.