Project description
Disease management among insects
The COVID-19 pandemic revealed how much social interactions can help to spread disease. Little is known about how animal groups deal with the increased risk of epidemics, and their disease defences. The EU-funded diseaseINgroups project will identify central factors driving disease management in groups to improve our understanding of how behavioural host defences and immunity evolve. The project will explore how group disease defences affect social evolution. The importance of pathogens as a driver of social complexity and novel adaptations is unclear. Using an established insect model organism, the flour beetle, the project will study group relatedness, size, structure, and epidemiological risk to determine how these factors affect group cohesion or dissolution.
Objective
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates the drawbacks of living socially; increased contact and high host density encourage the spread of disease in social groups, compared to those living solitary. Social interactions promote disease spread, but how do animal groups deal with the increased risk of epidemics? The goal of this proposal is to identify key factors governing disease management in groups, so as to enhance our understanding of how behavioural host defences and immunity evolve. In turn, this will help shed light on how group disease defences influence social evolution. This work is crucial as the importance of pathogens as a driver of social complexity and novel adaptations is still unclear. To achieve this goal, I will use a powerful genetically and genomically established insect model organism, the flour beetle (Tribolium castaneum), to manipulate group relatedness, size and structure, as well as epidemiological risk (pathogen species and infection stage). I will then explore how these factors influence group cohesion or dissolution. By using a combination of chemical analyses to identify disease cues and recognition profiles of healthy group members during a secondment, and bioinformatic approaches at my host institution, this project will also provide a detailed picture of the underlying olfactory circuits and genetic pathways behind disease management in groups. By combining behavioural, chemical and bioinformatic assays, this project will be able to address key gaps in our knowledge of group disease defence and will have a large impact on the fields of social evolution and behaviour. The transfer of knowledge at both institutions will significantly expand my technical skillset and allow me to development of my own, independent research niche. The data acquired and skills learnt during this project will be invaluable for applying for independent research positions after the fellowship.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been validated by the project's team.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been validated by the project's team.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2020
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
10000 Zagreb
Croatia
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.