Project description DEENESFRITPL What drives pathogens to jump hosts A zoonosis is an infection of bacterial, viral or parasitic origin that spreads to humans from other animals. The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has highlighted the need to understand the interaction of pathogens with human cells in order to better predict the zoonotic risk of any emerging pathogen. The EU-funded GRASSHOPPER project will focus on the pressure induced by the host as a direct estimate of the likelihood of viral zoonosis. Project results will provide fundamental insight into the drivers of host jumps, opening up new possibilities for vaccine design and pathogen surveillance strategies. Show the project objective Hide the project objective Objective Assessing the pandemic risk for viruses of zoonotic origin is extremely hard, but its importance motivates a steadily growing interest. The approaches used so far are hindered by the limited knowledge of the complex interactions of viral genomes with human cells. Within the framework of the global research effort to fill this gap, this action aims at unveiling the relevance of specific genomic features, especially those related to the codon usage bias, in the process of viral host jump. Two objectives are established: (i) identify and quantify the host-induced pressures on viral genomes; (ii) use these pressures to quantify the likelihood of host jumps. To address objective (i), the host-induced pressures will be inferred from large public databases of viral genomes, in the spirit of inverse problems in Statistical Physics. The results will be validated through experiments performed in collaboration with an experimental group at Istitut Pasteur (Paris). The results of objective (i) will be used in objective (ii) to take into account the compatibility of the viral genome with the host-induced pressures in a simple model of host jump. The Applicant will benefit from a secondment at University of Basel where he will acquire useful skills for this challenging objective.The ambitious aims of this action will be achieved via a strongly interdisciplinary approach, which will build on the existing skills of the Applicant, who specialized in combinatorial optimization problems and Statistical Physics of disordered systems during his PhD, together with the expertise of the Supervisor on inference and Statistical Physics models applied to biology topics. The proposed project is expected to have practical impact on vaccine strain design and virus surveillance strategies. Moreover, it will allow the Applicant to benefit of a unique training scheme, in contact with several top-level institutions in EU, and in close collaboration with internationally recognized researchers. Fields of science natural sciencescomputer and information sciencesdatabasesnatural sciencesbiological sciencesmicrobiologyvirologynatural sciencesbiological sciencesgeneticsgenomesviral genomesmedical and health sciencesbasic medicinepharmacology and pharmacypharmaceutical drugsvaccinessocial scienceslawhuman rightshuman rights lawnational state of emergencypandemic risks Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Main Programme H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility Topic(s) MSCA-IF-2020 - Individual Fellowships Call for proposal H2020-MSCA-IF-2020 See other projects for this call Funding Scheme MSCA-IF-EF-ST - Standard EF Coordinator ECOLE NORMALE SUPERIEURE Net EU contribution € 184 707,84 Address 45, rue d'ulm 75230 Paris France See on map Region Ile-de-France Ile-de-France Paris Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00
