The stated goal of RHAPSODY is to define a molecular taxonomy of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) that will support patient segmentation, inform clinical trial design, and the establishment of regulatory paths for the adoption of novel strategies for diabetes prevention and treatment. To address these goals, RHAPSODY will bring together prominent European experts, including the leaders of the diabetes-relevant IMI1 projects to identify, validate and characterize causal biomarkers for T2D subtypes and progression. Our plans are built upon: (a) access to large European cohorts with comprehensive genetic analyses and rich longitudinal clinical and biochemical data and samples; (b) detailed multi-omic maps of key T2D-relevant tissues and organs; (c) large expertise in the development and use of novel genetic, epigenetic, biochemical and physiological experimental approaches; (d) the ability to combine existing and novel data sets through effective data federation and use of these datasets in systems biology approaches towards precision medicine; and (e) expertise in regulatory approval, health economics and patient engagement. These activities will lead to the discovery of novel biomarkers for improved T2D taxonomy, to support development of pharmaceutical activities, and for use in precision medicine to improve health in Europe and worldwide.

We present a methodological development for glycomics - a field which lags far behind its counterparts genomics and proteims in terms of available analytical tools. The proposed method will focus on profiling glycans epitopes (acetylated sialic acid and sulfatated extremities) which is currently beyond the state of the art of analytical chemistry and impairs the comprehensive characterisation of glycosylation profiles of proteins. The original concept underlying the proposition is the use of IR ion spectroscopy coupled with three dimension of separation (LC, IMS and MS) to resolve all existing isomeric patterns present in a heterogeneous mixture. The project brings together an interdisciplinary consortium of acknowledged experts in the fields of glycomics, ion spectroscopy, glycan synthesis and immunology.?To demonstrate the future impact of the method for glycosciences, we propose a case study: the early diagnostic of rheumatoid arthritis.

The purpose of the project is to examine how spontaneous interactive cues conveyed during social interactions contribute to learning and knowledge co-construction. The project seeks to address the question of how communication shapes people’s mental representations, and whether people’s states of mind become increasingly similar as they interact due to linguistic representation adaptation. Even though convergence and feedback can be described as reflecting the speakers’ attempts to improve mutual comprehension, it is still unknown whether speakers adapt their linguistic representations after an interaction, that is, whether spoken human communication has a direct influence on the content and organization of such representations. This proposal, which combines psychological and neuroscience approaches, addresses the question of whether feedback, a dialogic marker used to ensure mutual comprehension, contributes to the adaptation of linguistic representations after an interaction between two speakers. It also seeks to determine whether feedback facilitates prediction in comprehension. Two types of linguistic representations will be examined. Using behavioral and electrophysiological measures, we will focus on the conceptual level of word meaning (i.e., the semantic level) and on the level of word form (i.e., phonological level). Prediction in comprehension (i.e., predicting of what the interlocutor wants to say) is seen as a key mechanism of the adaptation of mental representations. By using cutting-edge behavioral and electrophysiological measures in the context of spontaneous dialogue settings, this project will examine both the reorganization of semantic and phonological representations after the interaction and the mechanisms underlying this phenomenon and persisting after the interaction. The consortium of the project will be coordinated by a young researcher, who works on spoken-word recognition, semantic memory and the role of prediction in spoken-language comprehension by using behavioural and electrophysiological measures. Thanks to complementary skills of the consortium at the methodological and theoretical levels, the project will be based on solid scientific knowledge about cognitive models in spoken word recognition and semantic memory. It will also integrate notions such as concept sharedness in dialogue and prediction in comprehension. This fundamental research proposes a new theoretical view of spoken language communication accounting for the adaptation of linguistic representations in the short and the long term after a dialogue and it is centered on an innovative dynamic view of spoken human communication in which linguistic representations are conceptualised as flexible. It also has direct implications for education, as learning settings are typical situations in which one person attempts to modify another person’s mental representations through communication. Thanks to the novelty and the originality of project, the findings will be presented at international conferences and journals. This project will contribute to create a European network on spoken human communication and linguistic representations in the fields of psychology, linguistics, and cognitive neuroscience.