Currently, standard cancer treatment includes surgery, external radiotherapy, and chemotherapy and / or immunotherapy. However, despite all the progress made in recent decades, there are still serious clinical situations offering very few or no therapeutic options to patients, leaving them with a survival limited to a few months in the case of cancers associated with a poor prognosis. There is therefore an urgent need for new treatment lines and, from this perspective, vectorized internal radiotherapy seems promising. It delivers a toxic dose of radioactivity directly to tumor cells while preserving healthy tissue. This requires the specific targeting of tumor cells: among the possible vectors, peptides are powerful tools since they are chemically accessible and can be easily modified to construct radiotherapies specific to a cell target. The PanCAIKS project aims to develop targeted radiotherapy agents based on peptides directed specifically to an original receptor (Peptide Receptor RadioTherapy, PRRT) to treat cancers with a poor prognosis (for example, pancreatic, liver and triple breast tumors. negative or gliomas.

Man has always had a close relationship with flax, one of the first domesticated plants, particularly in the Fertile Crescent and ancient Egypt. From the earliest times, its fibres, with their exceptional properties and fineness, have been used for clothing, household linen or even for making sails and ropes. Today, new industrial markets are opening up for this plant; the remarkable mechanical performance of its fibres makes it a choice reinforcement for developing innovative, environmentally friendly and recyclable biobased materials. Through an original and transdisciplinary archaeometric approach, the ANUBIS project aims to build a bridge between archaeology and materials science. Its main scientific objectives are i. to understand how the structure of the fibres has evolved over time and through ageing, ii. to understand the evolution of the structure of defects and their role on the mechanical performance of the fibres, iii. to evaluate the impact of time on the composition and biochemical architecture of the walls and, as an ultimate objective, iv. to understand how the brittle areas of the fibres can be reduced in order to preserve them as well as possible and to optimally configure future biobased composites. After a selection phase of ancient flax yarns in different renowned museums, using an approach both related to their historical and architectural characteristics (IFAO), we will study in depth their structural, biochemical and mechanical characteristics. Defect areas, sensitive to ageing, will be particularly targeted, whether through biochemical (deep UV, NMR or X-ray diffraction - INRAE), mechanical (traction or mechanical mode atomic force microscopy - UBS) or structural (two-photon microscopy or X-ray nano-tomography - Synchrotron SOLEIL) analyses; innovative couplings (AFM-Raman or Traction-Tomography) between technologies will also be implemented. All of this data will then be used to develop numerical behaviour models, at the scale of yarns and fibres, but also to develop a predictive model of fibre and cell wall ageing. To this end, ANUBIS brings together a highly complementary and multidisciplinary consortium of recognized experts; its ambition is to contribute to the advancement of knowledge on flax fibres and, in particular, to acquire new knowledge on the ageing and durability of these fibres, in order to be able to develop, in the future, the biobased composites of tomorrow, which will be more durable and efficient.

HaloFarMs will develop and optimize new sustainable farming systems for the Mediterranean region based on the smart use of halophyte plants to value degraded and unexploited salt-affected lands. These systems will ultimately cope with soil and water salinization. The project involves a multidisciplinary and intersectorial R&D team, including agronomists, biologists, engineers, chemists, environment experts, biotechnologists, veterinarians economists and social actors and stakeholders from Tunisia, Spain, Egypt, Portugal, France and Italy. HaloFarMs will optimize 1) desalination of saline soils by halophytes prior to crop cultivation, 2) intercropping halophytes on salt-affected soils, with important commercial cultivated crops, and 2) in vitro cultivation of halophytes. The produced halophytes will be biochemically characterized for nutritional profile and functional properties; these high added-value products can be used in the cosmetic, food and veterinary industries. HaloFarMs is particularly relevant to this call since it aims to leverage the challenges of the Mediterranean agriculture by offering Naure Based Solutions to stop the soil degradation or convert poorly valued lands, diversify the cultures with a set of traditional food crops, traditional cash crops and new high-value crops, and contribute to preserve biodiversity and natural resources in the Mediterranean area. The adoption by farmers of HaloFarMs findings, thanks to our NGO and governmental advisors partners, will decrease soil salinization, increase yields without depleting fresh water resources and diversify the sources of income. This will thus reduce environmental risk on farming ecosystems, increase the viability of farms and secure the incomes of workers in a socially and ecologically acceptable way.

Belief in conspiracy theories is on the rise and has been associated with a variety of worrisome attitudes and behaviors, from a diffuse distrust toward institutions to the justification of antisocial behavior and, in some extreme cases, to active involvement in terrorist organizations. Many countries have deployed important means to fight against radicalization, including TV spots and phone centers for families to inform about suspect behaviors among their relatives or friends, which often involve advocacy of conspiracy theories. The aim of the present project is to design and assess responses to the issue raised by conspiracy theories beliefs. This will be achieved by identifying relevant cognitive and personal factors that may favor conspiracy theories endorsement; evaluating already existing attempts to reduce conspiracist ideation to set a benchmark; and developing evidence-based intervention programs.

Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH) is a rare, incurable and deadly disease of the pulmonary vessel. It is defined by an elevation of pulmonary arterial pressure, due to progressive and obstructive remodeling of small pulmonary arteries, leading to right heart failure. Existing treatments target vasoconstriction, are not curative and it remains an unmet need for anti-remodeling strategy. The only outcome is lung transplantation, with a survival of 50% at 5 years. A new player related to respiratory diseases, the pulmonary microbiota, is not yet taken into account in PAH. Asthma, COPD, idopathic fibrosis, cystic fibrosis are related to a pulmonary pathobiome with a decrease in diversity promoting progression of the disease, acute exacerbations and mortality, thus opening the way to new therapeutic avenues. LUMI aims to explore the pulmonary microbiota as a new actor directly impacting vascular remodeling and the progression of PAH, via its metabolites. The specific objectives are: a/ to determine the physiological impact of the microbiota on the architecture of the developing pulmonary vascular tree, b/ to translationally characterize the pulmonary microbiota in experimental and human PAH and c/ to evaluate the physiopathological and therapeutic consequences of this microbiota and its metabolites on vascular remodeling leading to PAH in a pre-clinical model. One of the challenges will be to demonstrate the link between pulmonary bacterial species, their metabolites and pulmonary vascular remodeling. The other challenge is how to ensure the translation of the initial observations on the pulmonary microbiome composition in PAH patients to pre-clinical models of PAH. Thus LUMI has emerged as a multidisciplinary consortium that brings together 3 complementary expert partners P1 (INSERM UMR_S 999, Paris Sud University/Paris Saclay University), P2 (MICALIS-INRA), and P3 (INSERM UMR_S 1078, UBO), respectively in the fields of Biology/Medicine (Pathophysiology of PAH and Therapeutic Innovation), Functional Metagenomics (METAFUN), and Lung Ecosystem (16S Metagenetics / Metatranscriptomics and MUCOBIOME Bioinformatics pipeline). LUMI has designed a research strategy focused directly on these metabolites, through both a targeted and comprehensive approach, to address these challenges with the unique opportunity of access to explanted lung tissue from PAH patients in relation to the National Reference Center hosted by P1. We believe that whatever the mechanisms leading to altered composition of the pulmonary microbiota – disruption of pulmonary homeostasis, bacterial translocation from intestine along the gut-lung axis, or migration of oropharyngeal bacteria – changes in the structure and diversity of the pulmonary microbiota, its composition and function may have direct effects on pulmonary vascular remodeling leading to PAH, through microbial metabolites produced in the pulmonary microenvironment. Our preliminary results indicate the role of certain targeted metabolites as negative or positive modulators of pulmonary vascular cell proliferation. The expected results of LUMI are: a) to contribute to new knowledge on the role of the microbiota in respiratory diseases, b) to open up and feed a new field of knowledge on pulmonary vascular development, vascular remodeling and pathophysology of PAH c) to lead to a breakthrough in our vision of the pathophysiology and management of PAH patients. LUMI will provide a first knowledge on the pathobiome diversity and the pulmonary microbiota signature of PAH, as a basis for identifying new biotherapeutic approaches, as well as PAH biomarkers based on identified circulating metabolites. The final products that could emerge from LUMI for further development could be based on bacteria or their metabolites. As new therapeutic agents, they could be used in add-on therapy to existing treatments, to restore lung bacterial homeostasis and reverse lung vascular remodeling.