Data-Gouv-ML/pcri-informations-sur-les-projets-laureats huggingface dataset:
Directed Evolution in vivo enabled through genetic circuits in a Synthetic Biology approach (DESB)

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-2013-IEF, 2013)
Start date: 2014-06-01
End date: 2016-05-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 221606.4
EU funding (EUR): 221606.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Given our limited ability to rationally design proteins to our needs, their supply for biotechnological solutions leading to a sustainable Bioeconomy is relying on proteins found in nature and methods for deriving improved versions. Proteins evolved their structure to fulfil certain functions in very specific niches, but these do not resemble optimal properties in the new context of biotechnological applications. Hence, improving the activity, affinity and stability of a protein is key, but technologically challenging. The current methods for improving proteins through directed evolution require intense human intervention and are limited in their ability to sample sequence space beyond single and double mutations. This project will establish a novel system, in which the whole process of mutation and selection takes place in vivo inside an E. coli host, and can be controlled through a genetic network designed using a Synthetic Biology approach. It will allow for the exploration of a larger sequence space during the evolutionary process, while controlling mutagenesis rate and selection stringency. Our preliminary data demonstrates a groundbreaking novel method to target mutagenesis in vivo. I will extend its mutation diversity by recruiting engineered error prone polymerases to the site of the targeted DNA damage. Using a SynBio approach, I will develop a control circuitry, which will stop the targeted mutagenesis activity, once a variant fulfils the selection criteria. While protecting the identity of the selected sequence, it will mark the successful cell by expression of a fluorescent reporter for selection. In a prototype application I will generate variants of the Quorum Sensing transcription factor, LuxR, with high affinities to different signalling molecules – a potential toolset for orthogonal cellular signalling applications in industrially relevant co-cultures. The resulting directed evolution system will be readily adaptable to different proteins.

Keywords: directed evolution,mutagenesis,synthetic biology,genetic circuits,aid
Single-Cell Epigenetics in Cell Fate Determination (CELL FATE)

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: Switzerland
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IOF, 2013)
Start date: 2015-01-01
End date: 2017-12-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 270964.8
EU funding (EUR): 270964.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The demonstration of induced pluripotency and direct lineage conversion of cells has led to remarkable insights regarding the roles of epigenetic modifications in mediating cell state transitions. However, approaches to elucidate the molecular mechanisms behind induced reprogramming are hindered by the inefficiency of induction and the interplay of reprogramming mechanisms with other cellular processes such as the cell cycle, which leads to variability in induced cell populations and limits the conclusiveness of bulk analyses. Here I propose to develop mass cytometry-based methods to monitor mRNA levels and gene locus-specific epigenetic modifications in single-cells. Thereby, the multi-dimensionality of mass cytometry will enable simultaneous measurements of up to 40 additional single-cell parameters, such as surface markers and intracellular phosphorylation sites. This platform will be used to profile cell populations at specific time-points during reprogramming of human somatic cells into induced pluripotent stem cells. The obtained data will be organized into clusters of similar cell phenotypes resulting in continuous single-cell maps that chart epigenetic changes and accompanying marker expressions during induced reprogramming. These maps will then serve as references to monitor the effects of chromatin-modifying small molecules that affect the efficiency of reprogramming. In combination, these analyses will lead to a more detailed understanding of the hierarchical and dynamic organization of reprogramming and will ideally define gene locus-specific epigenetic events that are rate-limiting for the process. This fine-grained view of reprogramming will then be used to define minimal combinations of early cellular markers that are likely to predict cell fate. In the final stage of the project, long-term single-cell imaging will be used to monitor cells with these previously defined properties to confirm their specific clonal future with absolute certainty.

Keywords: mass cytometry,single-cell biology,epigenetics,gene regulation,reprogramming,induced pluripotency,time-lapse single-cell imaging,regenerative medicine
Epitaxial transition-metal dichalcogenide monolayers for spin-valleytronics (SPINVALLEY)

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: Netherlands
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IOF, 2013)
Start date: 2014-05-01
End date: 2017-08-31
Duration (months): 36.0
Total project cost (EUR): 301557.3
EU funding (EUR): 301557.3
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Spin-valleytronics is a promising new paradigm in electronics. Besides the spins of electrons and holes, valleys in the electronic band structure of some materials may provide another robust identity for information processing. Transition-metal dichalcogenide (TMD) monolayers, exhibiting a layered graphene-like structure, have intrinsically strong spin-valley coupling, essential for harnessing this new physics. However, the quality of the monolayers available at present precludes their use in prototype devices. This proposal aims to alleviate this. As a first objective, methods for high-quality epitaxial TMD monolayer growth using Van der Waals epitaxy will be developed. We aim at (i) simultaneous control over crystallinity, lateral size and thickness, and (ii) all in-situ growth and characterization using state-of-the-art surface science techniques. Next, we will develop non-destructive surface capping, for ex-situ characterization/processing, and molecular charge transfer doping techniques. The latter uses organic donor/acceptor molecules to tune the charge carrier density in TMD monolayers. Last, coupled spin-valley phenomena will be studied in TMD monolayers, for the first time by all-electrical schemes. These tasks require different disciplines, well matched with the applicant’s unique, well-documented profile, combining experience in magnetism, (organic) semiconductors, hybrid interfaces, nanofabrication, and surface science- and magneto-transport techniques. The strong expertise of the outgoing host (National University of Singapore) ensures training in the specialist growth and doping techniques, which have been pioneered mainly in Asia. After transferring these skills to the European host (University of Twente), magnetotransport studies of nanoelectronic devices are enabled by the excellent infrastructure available there. This fellowship will provide the applicant with a new level of professional maturity, enhancing and diversifying his research career.

Keywords: spintronics,valleytronics,transition-metal dichalcogenide monolayer,van der waals epitaxy,2d materials,surface science,magnetotransport
Mechanistic Investigation of Microbial Secondary Lipid Assembly (MISELIAS)

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-2013-IEF, 2013)
Start date: 2014-04-01
End date: 2016-03-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 221606.4
EU funding (EUR): 221606.4
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Secondary lipid metabolites such as polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are specialised fats that are essential for any organism optimal physiological functions. PUFAs are indeed vital for human normal development and functioning of the brain and the central nervous system, and are consumed as nutraceuticals for their numerous health benefits, including anti-inflammatory and immunoregulatory actions. The current major sources of PUFAs (fish, algae and fish oil products) are threatened by global warming, pollution and overfishing, therefore novel and sustainable sources are sought after. PUFAs are biosynthesised de novo in bacteria by multifunctional iterative enzymes, the polyunsaturated fatty acid (Pfa) synthases. Despite the enormous interest in these enzymes and their products, Pfa biocatalysis remains poorly understood due to the inability of acquiring direct information on the nature and on the processing of the biosynthetic intermediates. This lack of knowledge hampers the full utilization of the biocatalysis and of sustainable resources for essential fatty acids. The proposed project aims at elucidating the mechanistic details of secondary lipids assembly by Pfa synthases utilising in vitro enzymology and chemical probes capable of capturing Pfa biosynthetic intermediates. Specific research objectives include: (1) the cloning, the expression and the reconstitution of an active Pfa synthase in vitro; (2) the capture of Pfa synthases intermediates using chemical probes and their characterisation; and, on these bases, (3) the detailed reconstruction of the mechanisms involved in secondary lipid assembly by the Pfa synthase. This work will provide novel insights into the fundamentals of PfA enzyme workings and therefore the foundations of novel microbial biotechnology for the production of secondary lipid metabolites.

Keywords: natural products,biosynthesis,secondary lipids,in vitro enzymology,chemical probes
Swimmers: one, few, thousands (S.O.F.T.)

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: Germany
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IEF, 2013)
Start date: 2014-09-01
End date: 2016-08-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 161968.8
EU funding (EUR): 161968.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The motion of artificial microswimmers can strikingly resemble collective motion in biological systems even though it only involves physical and chemical processes. A detailed understanding of their emergent swarming properties may therefore help to distinguish merely physics-related from biology-related aspects of motion in biological systems. This will improve our understanding of biological microswimmers, such as bacteria and spermatozoa, and it will provide the background to target the design of swimmers for technical and medical applications. Here, we will focus on modelling a new type of artificial microswimmers where propulsion is achieved by Marangoni flow. To fully characterize the parameter dependence of their motion, we will develop a multiscale description addressing (i) the propulsion mechanism of single swimmers, (ii) interactions between small numbers of swimmers, and (iii) the collective behaviour of large assemblies. We will derive the flow field inside and outside individual droplets, and take into account the two-way coupling of the swimmers motion and the external flow on all the modelling levels. For small numbers of droplets we will develop a flexible CFD model based on a level set method, easily adaptable to different kinds of swimmers. This will allow us to explore the dependence of propulsion on experimentally tunable parameters, like the droplet size and surfactant concentration, and to fully characterize the interactions between swimmers. To simulate the collective behaviour L. Stricker will develop a point-particle combined Lagrangian-Eulerian model that solves the flow and models each swimmer as a rigid particle, undergoing the forces established by the level-set simulations. For such code she will import state-of-the-art techniques from simulations of inertial particles and bubbly flows. All her results will be compared to predictions of theoretical models and to experimental data collected at the MPI-DS.

Keywords: microswimmers,collective behaviour,active droplets,swarming,multiscale modelling,hydrodynamic interactions,marangoni flow
The Future of European Citizenship in Comparative Perspective (FUTEURCIT)

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-2013-IIF, 2013)
Start date: 2015-01-01
End date: 2016-12-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 249242.8
EU funding (EUR): 249242.8
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The European University Institute (Florence, Italy) will host professor Willem Maas (York University, Toronto, Canada) for a Marie Skłodowska-Curie International Incoming Fellowship. As one of the most promising North American scholars in the study of citizenship, professor Maas brings extensive research experience, project management capability, and especially expertise in the emerging area of multilevel citizenship. Drawing on his careful combination of empirical knowledge and interpretive and analytical skills, he will work with professor Rainer Bauböck, one of Europe’s leading scholars of citizenship, and other EUI experts. The combination of this expertise will enable an innovative and ground-breaking research project to assess the future of European citizenship on the basis of its historical development and of comparative cases, from analytical, interpretive, and normative perspectives. The project will boost EUI’s research capacity in the area of comparative and multilevel citizenship, which in turn will help advance understanding of the choices facing Europeans and their leaders as EU citizenship enters its third decade and beyond. The project will be of considerable interest to social scientists, legal scholars, and policy-makers, both in Europe and other states governed by federal or multilevel political arrangements, including regional integration efforts outside Europe. It will result in a major book as well as five papers to be presented at international conferences and subsequently submitted as articles to academic journals. Each research deliverable (the book and each of the five papers) is accompanied by academic events and knowledge transfer activities open to the public at the host institution and elsewhere including at the Fellow's home institution. The incoming Fellow will both benefit from and contribute to EUI's research dynamism. Collaboration between the two scholars and their institutions will also intensify.

Keywords: eu citizenship,comparative politics,nationality law,federalism,multilevel citizenship,european union,canada,united states,free movement of persons,jurisdictional boundaries,citizens
Ultra-short pulse fibre laser technology (ULTRAFIL)

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: United Kingdom
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IIF, 2013)
Start date: 2014-11-01
End date: 2016-10-31
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 231283.2
EU funding (EUR): 231283.2
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Ultrashort fibre lasers have wide range of applications including optics communications, material processing, supercontinum generation and so on. They have been developed for several decades. There are still great motivation to explore novel ultrashort fibre lasers, which is not only scientifically interesting but also attractive to practical applications. The proposed project aims at implementing several kinds of novel ultrashort fibre lasers. First, the Fellow has experimentally realized a novel ultrashort fibre laser named multi-type-pulse ultrashort fibre laser, which can emit different kinds of ultrashort pulses in a single laser. We plan to develop a theoretical framework for this laser, based on the dispersion management theory developed by the EU hosts; A novel cavity configuration will also be implemented to realize double-type-pulse ultrashort fibre laser; Second, two kinds of similariton fibre lasers will be demonstrated experimentally for the first time: one is based on nonlinear spectral compression, which has been theoretically proposed by the host, and the other depends on dispersion decreasing technology; Third, we will develop a novel pulse narrow mechanism benefitting from similariton character; Fourth, ultrashort Raman fibre lasers will also be explored, supported by the EU hosts’ expertise in continuum Raman fibre lasers. Specially, high-resolution wavelength-versatile similariton/dissipative soliton Raman fibre laser will be demonstrated, which is very attractive in many application field such as optics communications and spectroscopy. All the work proposed will be implemented for the first time and represent significant progress in the filed of ultrashort fibre lasers.

Keywords: ultra-short,fibre lasers,dispersion management,nonlinear dynamics,mode-locking,dissipative soliton,similariton,nonlinear polarization rotation,raman scatterring.
e-Gnosis: a novel platform technology for quantitative mobile diagnostics (E-GNOSIS)

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: Norway
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IEF, 2013)
Start date: 2014-05-01
End date: 2016-07-30
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 230943.6
EU funding (EUR): 230943.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

The aim is to produce a platform technology that combines the price-point and ease-of–use of lateral flow immunoassays with high-sensitivity, quantitative measurements currently requiring capital intensive equipment. This could ultimately allow its use as a consumer-technology, to diagnose and monitor health. e-Gnosis is an interdisciplinary project combining the current state-of-the-art in recessed ring-disk nanoelectrode arrays with a novel signal amplification strategy in the form of ferrocene loaded pH sensitive polymer nanobeads. e-Gnosis will combine these technologies to produce a multiplexed biosensor chip capable of running several ultra-high sensitivity immunoassays without the need for complex or expensive read-out equipment. The use of nanostructured electrode arrays allows the local pH to be changed electrochemically, such that the pH sensitive beads bound to the analyte dissolve and release ferrocene, leading to a large, proportional signal amplification of each binding event. Amplification can be triggered without external reagent addition and, importantly, without necessitating a wash step to remove unbound labels (the rapid initial current peak is bound to originate from within the nanostructures). Performance characteristics will include low sample volume requirement, sensitivity, limit of detection, robustness to interferrents, dynamic range and speed to result. Fabrication is based on highly parallel semiconductor fabrication technology and standard methods for antibody immobilisation, allowing low cost production. The e-Gnosis platform can also be used for other affinity based recognition events. Apart from the potential commercial and societal benefits of such a sensing technology, the project will also produce two enabling methods within nanofabrication and surface functionalisation. The project feeds into key areas identified by EU and industry stakeholders within ETP Nanomedicine and Horizon 2020, amongst others.

Keywords: biosensor,immunoassay,electrochemistry,nanofabrication,nanoelectrode array,point-of-care,thin film,platinum,functionalisation,surface chemistry,high-density immobilisation
Hybrid Nanowire Devices for Quantum Information Processing (HYWIRE)

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: Denmark
Call:  (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IIF, 2013)
Start date: 2014-03-01
End date: 2016-02-29
Duration (months): 24.0
Total project cost (EUR): 221154.6
EU funding (EUR): 221154.6
Participants: 1
Project status: CLOSED

Semiconducting nanowires are a promising materials system for quantum information processing applications. Presently, there is much interest in using nanowires to support both spin qubits and, when contacted by a superconductor, Majorana fermions. The overall aim of the proposed research will be to develop the next generation of hybrid superconductor semiconductor nanowire quantum devices using ultra-clean InSb nanowires grown by molecular beam epitaxy. We will develop new device assembly techniques and sensitive charge detection schemes to explore and control single spin quantum coherence. Nanowire devices will be coupled to superconducting microwave resonators in order to demonstrate coherent spin-photon coupling and probe Majorana bound states.

Keywords: quantum dots,quantum computation,cavity quantum electrodynamics,nanowires,spin qubits,majorana fermions