Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Identification of the genetic and/or epigenetic events that lead to mesenchymal transformation in glioblastoma (GAMNG)

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: 2010-10-01
End date: 2014-07-06
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 75000.0
EU funding (EUR): 75000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most malignant type of brain tumor in adults with a median survival of one year. The hallmarks of GBM are invasion and neo-angiogenesis. Recently, gene expression studies have established that overexpression of a “mesenchymal” gene signature co-segregate with the poor-prognosis group of glioma patients. We have revealed that two transcription factors, Stat3 and C/EBPβ behave as master regulators of the mesenchymal gene signature. Overexpression of these two transcription factors reprograms neural stem cells along the aberrant mesenchymal lineage, whereas gene silencing in glioma cancer initiating cells (CSC) reduce tumor growth and aggressiveness. Recently, the Cancer Genome Atlas Network has provided information on genomic abnormalities that have allowed the expansion of previous glioblastoma classification studies by associating known subtypes with specific genomic alterations. In particular, EGFR amplification and NF1 and PTEN loss have been linked with the mesenchymal tumor subtype. In this proposal, we would like to identify the genetic events that cause the aberrant expression of Stat3 and C/EBPβ and mesenchymal transformation of gliomas. We have hypothesized that this might occurs by (1) gene copy number variation, (2) mutation in the gene promoter, (3) gene mutation of an upstream transcriptional regulator or, alternatively (4) aberrant DNA methylation of the gene promoter. Will analyze Stat3 and C/EBPβ gene promoter as well as the gene status in GBM samples by performing copy number variation studies and promoter sequencing. The status of CpG methylation at the promoter will be evaluated by pyrosequencing. Finally, we will test the effect of EGFR amplification, as well as of NF1 and PTEN deletion. We will mimic gene deletion or amplification by silencing or overexpressing these genes in glioma CSC and evaluating the effects on cell invasion and tumor formation, both in vitro and in vivo.

Keywords: health sciences,brain research,oncology
Systems Chemical Biology - Chemical Biological Perturbation and Dissection of Dynamic Biological Systems (SYSCHEMBIOL)

Framework: FP7 — Ideas
Programme: European Research Council
Theme: European research council
Destination: Advanced grants
Action type: Support for frontier research (ERC)
Panel: Genetics, Genomics, Bioinformatics and Systems Biology
Countries involved: Germany
Call:  (ERC-2010-AdG_20100317, 2010)
Start date: 2011-03-01
End date: 2016-02-29
Duration (months): 60.0
Total project cost (EUR): 2476400.0
EU funding (EUR): 2476400.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

In Systems Chemical Biology research small drug-like molecules are employed to analyze the construction, wiring and spatiotemporal regulation of protein networks in dynamic biological systems. They act fast, reversibly, conditional, do not alter network architecture and need to be biologically relevant, a property particularly given for the scaffolds of natural product classes chosen in evolution to interact with proteins and to modulate dynamic biological systems. In the research project novel cheminformatic methods will be developed to analyse all known natural products and additional biologically relevant compound classes and to identify natural product fragments in order to guide the synthesis of natural product-inspired compound collections each of ca. 500-1000 members with high scaffold diversity (in particular indoles, spirooxidoles, tetrahydropyrans, iridoids, lactones, hybrid natural products). The synthesis will include the development of novel organic synthesis methodology with a special emphasis on enantioselective catalysis and multi-step Domino sequences. The compound collection will be screened in unbiased phenotypic assays monitoring mitosis and dynamic signal transduction pathways. The patterns of cellular targets of hit compounds will be identified and validated by means of chemical proteomics, biochemistry, biophysics and cell biology investigations, and novel chemical probes for the study of dynamic biological processes and systems will be devised. Systems Chemical Biology research will have a major impact on basic science by opening up unprecedented opportunities for the study of dynamic biological systems enabling breakthrough discoveries, and it will create a novel systematic means to identify drug candidates that target multiple proteins.

Keywords: chemical biology,biology oriented synthesis,systems chemical biology
Colloidal aspects of lipid digestion: the physics behind healthier food (COLLODI)

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: Spain
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-RG, 2010)
Start date: 2010-09-01
End date: 2013-12-21
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 45000.0
EU funding (EUR): 45000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

An emerging application of colloidal science, due to the growing social and economic consequences of the obesity crisis in the developed world, is the design of healthier foods to control fat uptake in the diet. Consequently molecular mechanisms of digestion and metabolism of lipids are generating renewed scientific interest. Lipase-colipase complexes adsorb onto the surface of lipid droplets to access and hydrolyse fats into a form absorbed by the body (lipolysis). Studies I made on the recent Marie-Curie action (LIPOGEST) suggest that processed food emulsions could be designed to slow rates of lipolysis, inducing satiety, and lowering fat intake in the diet. Use of nanoscience methods to visualise bile salt adsorption under in vitro duodenum conditions suggest that interfacial structures of protein-stabilised emulsions could be designed rationally to control bile salt adsorption, reducing lipase-colipase adsorption and rates of lipolysis. An important aspect of such design is ensuring that modified interfaces survive digestion conditions in the stomach. LIPOGEST enabled me to investigate the effect of stomach conditions on interfacial structures for the first time, identifying new facets of these processes, such as an unexpected synergism between surfactants and proteolytic enzymes in the proteolysis of interfacial layers. Such knowledge offers routes to control proteolysis enabling successful design of emulsions to control fat intake. In the present proposal I intend to consolidate and expand these findings into how the process of digestion affects the structure and stability of model emulsions and interfacial layers. This information will be obtained by using state-of-the-art colloidal characterisation techniques and theoretical models. Through this approach I aim to understand the role of food structure on lipid digestion and metabolism. The improved understanding of this process could enable the design of food emulsions with specific lipid digestion profiles.

Keywords: biophysics,soft matter and polymer physics,biotechnology,nanobiotechnology,food biotechnology,thermodynamics
Patterns of phenotypic variation and their effect on the extent of range overlap and magnitude of character displacement (CD AND CE)

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: Cyprus
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-RG, 2010)
Start date: 2010-09-01
End date: 2016-05-05
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Much work on species distributions and phenotypic variation has focused on biogeographical and environmental explanations, but interactions between species may also play an important role. When related species come together in secondary contact they may diverge in traits that facilitates their coexistence, or they may competitively exclude each other from their ranges. I propose to examine patterns of phenotypic variation in Pogoniulus tinkerbirds across the sub-Saharan African landscape. Previous work found evidence for character displacement in song and morphology in two related Pogoniulus species in Central Africa. I will compare those patterns with morphological, song, and plumage variation over a wider geographic scale to determine the extent to which variation in plumage, song and body size between species at contact zones relate to each other. I will thus address the question of whether phenotypic traits are displaced in the same direction when related species coexist or whether greater similarity in one trait may be offset by greater divergence in another. Finally, I will determine the relationship between phenotypic and genetic similarity and range overlap, while taking into account the role of environmental gradients in determining species’ ranges.

Keywords: natural sciences: character displacement,species interactions,phenotypic evolution,phylogeography,avian competition
Free-Space Optical Systems for Next Generation Communication Networks (FOCUS)

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: Türkiye
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-RG, 2010)
Start date: 2010-09-01
End date: 2014-08-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Free-space optical (FSO) communication is a license-free access technology with high-bandwidth capacity. It is a powerful alternative and/or complementary solution to commonly deployed fiber optic and wireless radio-frequency links. FSO is appealing for a number of applications including metropolitan area network extensions, enterprise/campus network connectivity, fiber back-up, back-haul for wireless cellular networks, disaster recovery, and quantum key distribution among others. Despite the major advantages of FSO technology and variety of its application areas, its widespread use has been hampered by its rather disappointing performance for long-range links. The major performance limiting factor for FSO links with ranges longer than one kilometer is the atmospheric turbulence-induced fading. Building upon the concept of cooperative diversity, the proposed research will devise efficient physical layer solutions tailored for the inherent characteristics of the FSO channel that remedy the shortcomings of existing systems. The proposed systems and techniques will provide a novel research framework on the design and analysis of relay-assisted (cooperative) FSO transmission. The results of this proposed research will be instrumental in the building of long-range, highly reliable, and ultra-fast FSO systems to meet the demanding requirements of next generation communication networks. This proposal is in fact a natural continuation of the applicant Dr. Uysal’s internationally renowned research program on FSO communication which he has carried out at the University of Waterloo in Canada. The Marie Curie International Reintegration Grant, if funded, will help Dr. Uysal transfer this internationally visible research program to Europe.

Keywords: communication engineering,communication theory,wireless optical communication,free-space optical communication,cooperative diversity,diversity techniques,fading channels.
Forbidden Minor Characterizations For 4-Searchable Graphs (FORMI 4-SEG)

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: Türkiye
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-RG, 2010)
Start date: 2011-09-01
End date: 2014-08-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 75000.0
EU funding (EUR): 75000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Edge searching is a pursuit evasion game played on graphs. In the past two decades there has been fundamental work devoted to this topic by scientists in many diverse fields due to its highly interdisciplinary nature. We consider the problem of constructing a search plan in order to find a person lost in a system of caves which can be represented as a graph G. Equivalently, we aim to clean a network of tunnels filled with noxious gas using as few cleaners as possible. This minimum number for a graph G is the edge search number of G, and it is denoted as s(G). The problem has wide range of applications from network security to VLSI chip design. One of the major problems of edge searching is to characterize the graphs G such that s(G) is at most k, for a fixed positive integer k. This problem is solved only for k=1, 2 and 3 (Megiddo et. al. 1976). The problem has been considered as an open problem that has high priority. In this project our objective is to characterize those graphs for which k=4 searchers suffice and to generalize this characterization to any k>4. Our main contribution will be deriving a constructive characterization which works more efficient than the previous results. During the project we aim to improve the existing European interest on the subject and to start new discussions.

Keywords: network security,pursuit-evasion games,combinatorics,edge searching,forbidden minors
Staphylococcus aureus biofilm dynamics and innate immunity (SABDII)

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: Netherlands
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-RG, 2010)
Start date: 2010-09-01
End date: 2013-08-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 45000.0
EU funding (EUR): 45000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

During my postdoc at a marine biotechnology lab in Newcastle I experienced that bacteria growing in shakeflasks in the lab and bacteria in natural biofilms behave very differently. For instance, the global gene expression and production of secreted proteins is very different between these modes of growth. I would like to bring the knowledge and skills acquired there to a higher level by studying the interaction between a clinically relevant biofilm and host organism. To achieve this, I will study the dynamics of Staphylococcus aureus biofilms in interaction with the human innate immune system in the laboratory of Prof. van Strijp in Utrecht. S. aureus is a Gram-positive coccus that causes life threatening diseases and has become resistant against most antibiotics (MRSA). Our innate immune system is crucial in fighting S. aureus infections. Strikingly, S. aureus evades this defence line by production of small secreted proteins that repress this immune system. In many infections, S. aureus’ growth mode is generally considered to be biofilm-like. Using a novel, biofilm centred approach I will study the interaction between the innate immune system and S. aureus. By comparing planktonic growth with several biofilm stages using proteomic analysis, I will screen for novel immune evasion molecules that are expressed specifically during the biofilm mode of growth of S. aureus. The identified proteins will be studied further using deletion mutants in S. aureus and the proteins will be overexpressed in heterologous hosts, such as E. coli or B. subtilis. Using the mutant strains and the overproduced proteins, the specific interactions of these novel proteins with the innate immune system will be examined, both in vitro and in vivo. The identified molecules will be highly interesting drug targets against a problematic microbial pathogen

Keywords: immunology,bacteriology,proteomics,staphylococcus aureus,innate immunity,immune evasion,biofilm,biofilm dispersal
The role of hemoglobin derived heme in atherocslerosis (ATHEROHEME)

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: Hungary
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-RG, 2010)
Start date: 2011-02-01
End date: 2014-01-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 45000.0
EU funding (EUR): 45000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Atherosclerosis is the underlying process leading to the occurrence of cardiovascular diseases that accounts for one-third the world’s mortality. Although multifactorial the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis is triggered to a large extent by elevated plasma cholesterol levels, and by the oxidation of low density lipoprotein (LDL). The central hypothesis of this proposal is that proteins containing Fe protoporphyrin IX (heme) or free heme itself might act as central mechanism via which LDL is oxidized as to become atherogenic. The vast majority of heme is inside red blood cells (RBC) as the prosthetic group of hemoglobin (Hb). Under homeostasis a small percentage of RBCs lyses intravascularly, resulting presence of cell-free Hb in plasma. Several defence mechanisms evolved to cope with the deleterious effects of cell-free Hb, as well as those of heme itself. Plasma cell-free Hb is bound by haptoglobin (Hp), whereas heme binds to hemopexin (Hx). The formed Hb-Hp and Hb-Hx complexes are cleared from circulation by hemophagocytic macrophages and the heme is degraded by heme-oxygenase-1 (HO-1). This control mechanism prevents the accumulation of cell-free Hb or free heme in plasma while allowing iron recycling. The impairment of this control mechanism leads to severe oxidative stress-mediated pathologies, e.g. Hp-/- as well as Hx-/- mice develop severe renal damage in response to hemolysis, suggesting that this mechanism plays a central role in preventing the pro-oxidant effects of cell-free Hb or heme. Previous work from the applicant and others have demonstrated that LDL can bind free heme with high affinity with kinetics that are faster than those of Hx and can cause LDL oxidation. It is likely therefore that under conditions in which the plasma concentration of LDL and/or cell-free Hb or heme levels become elevated, the production of heme-LDL complexes would be more prevalent contributing in a critical manner to the development of atherosclerosis.

Keywords: health sciences,medical sciences,chronic diseases,atherosclerosis,low-density lipoprotein,red blood cell,hemoglobin,heme
Determinants of Eurosceptical Voting Behavior in CEE Countries and Party Responses (DEVBCEEC)

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: Austria
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-RG, 2010)
Start date: 2011-01-01
End date: 2014-12-31
Duration (months): 48.0
Total project cost (EUR): 100000.0
EU funding (EUR): 100000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The project intends to undertake a quantitative cross-national study of the successes of Eurosceptic political parties in Central and East Europe (CEE). It approaches this question in a novel way by exploiting systematic but unexplained attitudinal differences between mass publics in the CEE states and Western Europe. In doing so, it addresses empirically one of the central questions of contemporary European politics, the perception of European integration and the causes of the growing disenchantment on a part of the European public. The central argument is that the success of the Eurosceptic label in CEE party politics is not entirely a function of anti-EU sentiments but in part a response to mainstream party convergence and the perception of widespread corruption among domestic elites. By operationalizing and empirically testing these propositions with country-level and individual-level data from the region, it is possible to parse out the relative importance of these questions. Specifically, the project will implement surveys in representative CEE country(ies) where one can observe sufficient variation in type and strength of protest parties. The project forms the center piece of the fellow’s new research agenda while building on his previous work in the US. An experienced researcher, the fellow has to reestablish himself in a new scholarly community upon relocation from the United States to the University of Salzburg, Austria. There, he is expected to match the commitment and resources provided by his new academic institution. The principal benefit from this grant does not consist in launching or redirecting a career but to allow the effective progression of the fellow’s career after a major professional change.

Keywords: euroscepticism,political parties,central and east europe,european integration,corruption,populism,mainstream party convergence
Atto-calorimetric tools to explore material properties in the nanoscale (ATTOCALMAT)

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: Spain
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-RG, 2010)
Start date: 2010-09-01
End date: 2013-08-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 45000.0
EU funding (EUR): 45000.0
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Nanoscale phenomena where the surface/interfaces or the small dimensions play a predominant role in the physical properties have become increasingly important in the last decade. Many characterization techniques have been adapted to face new challenges and understand new phenomena and calorimetry is no exception. ATTOCALMAT project pursues the development of a new nanocalorimetric technique the ’microsecond-pulsed steady-state method’ that will combine the signal enhancing of the fast scanning and the advanced signal averaging of steady-state techniques. Preliminary results with sensitivities of 5 pJ/Kmm have already shown an improvement by a factor of 50 compared to the best steady state techniques. With the scaling down of the Si-nanochips (sensing areas~200 nm^2), the addenda reduces to few fJ/K. The increase of surface selectivity is followed by the sensitivity with values of 0.2 aJ/K. Chips with a monocristalline Si layer below the SiNx membrane will easy the study of epitaxial materials. With the new cutting edge technique and the nanochip measurement of heat capacities of single nano-objects as function of temperature but also of external variables (like magnetic and electrical field, time…) are within reach. This thermal tool will be applied to underpinning the physical properties of materials that represent a leading edge research frontier in nanoscale science towards its end-use in potential applications as magnetic storage, spintronics or photonics. Several of the challenging and unexplored measurements proposed are: (i) Magnetocalorimetry to detect Néel’s wall formation in the antiferromagnetic material of an exchange biased system on physical properties. (Co/CoO or Ni/NiO) (ii) Measurements of energy involved on the 2D-3D transition of Ge epitaxial heteroestructure on Si. (iii) Nanocalorimetric study of low dimensionality effects in the ferromagnetic transition of epitaxial EuO on Si.

Keywords: applied physics,nanocalorimetry,thin films,phase transitions,surface science,solid state physics,nanomagnetism,magnetocalorimetry,nanomaterials