Phosphorus (P) is an essential macronutrient for the production of food crops and the demand for P fertilizer is increasing worldwide. Earth's P is being depleted at an alarming rate urging the need for alternative strategies in order to maximize the availability of agronomic resources, optimize crop yields and guarantee food security with less impact on our environment. White lupin is the only crop that can form specific organs constituted by numerous short lateral roots, the so-called cluster roots (CRs), as an adaptation to low P availability in the soil, allowing an efficient acquisition of this nutrient, which is fundamental for plant growth and development. Remarkable advances have been made over the last years in identifying numerous genes involved in different facets of root adaptation to the environment and is known that microRNAs play a pivotal role in regulating gene expression during development and in response to environmental cues. The main objective of LUMIROOT is to elucidate the miRNA-dependent mechanisms regulating the formation of CRs in white lupin contributing to optimize plant resource acquisition based on the already proven role of miRNAs in root developmental processes. I will focus on these networks based not only on their functional importance but also on the broader interest of regulatory pathways controlling the development CRs. I will in deep functionally analyze the role miR396/target genes modules in CR development and reveal novel miRNA regulatory networks acting in CR formation and function. I also aim to develop miRNA-based nanoparticles to modulate in vivo miR396 action, as well as other regulatory miRNA/target networks to assess its potential to improve relevant agronomic traits such as CRs formation. LUMIROOT project will allow opening the way to crop improvement reducing the need for P fertilizers and will help to select regulatory networks with potential use in the improvement of relevant agronomic traits.

The main purpose of this proposal is to explore random planar metrics. Two canonical models of random continuum surfaces have been introduced in the past decade, namely the Brownian sphere obtained as the scaling limit of uniform random planar triangulations, and the Liouville Quantum Gravity metric obtained formally from the exponential of the Gaussian free field on the sphere. Our objective is to broaden our understanding of random planar metrics to the case of metrics with “holes” or “hubs”, and to the causal (when a time dimension is singled out) paradigm. We also plan on studying random maps in high genus and to connect to models of 2-dimensional hyperbolic geometry such as the Brook–Makover model, random pants decompositions or Weil–Petersson random surfaces. We believe that the tools developed in the context of random planar maps, such as the systematic use of the spatial Markov property, the utilization of random trees to decompose and explore the surfaces, or the fine study of geodesic coalescence can be successfully applied to the aforementioned models. We expect spectacular results and we hope to reinforce the connections between those very active fields of mathematics. This proposal should give rise to exceptionally fruitful interactions between specialists of different domains such as probability theory, two-dimensional hyperbolic geometry, and theoretical physics, as well as mathematicians coming from other areas, in particular from combinatorics. To ensure the best chances of success for the proposed research, we will rely on the unique environment of University Paris-Saclay and neighboring institutions.

The purpose of this proposal is to support the organisation of the 2022 edition of the Week of Innovative Regions in Europe. The university Paris-Saclay was chosen to manage, organize and host the conference. The general objectives of WIRE are: • To contribute to research, innovation and regional development policies • To better position regional actors in order to enhance policy formation for effective innovative regional development • To contribute effectively to the future of Europe in relationship to integrative policies, European added value and real interregional cooperation and co-investments It will take place the 11-12-13th May 2022, 500 visitors are expected. It will look for greater synergies between the EU and Member State actions focusing on the priorities of the Horizon Europe programme 2021 - 2027, its headline targets, and the European Research Area. The title of the conference is “Towards a leading Europe in breakthrough innovation” Based on the fact that breakthrough innovation is a key strategic element of economic development in Europe, as well as on the international context, the WIRE conference proposes a reflection in two parts: • The first will be an overview of the tools available in Europe for the development of breakthrough innovation, especially those available at regional levels to help local developments., It will include a reflection on the articulation between actions and fundings at regional/national/European levels. • The second one proposes a declination of these tools to enforce the European strategy of becoming leader in breakthrough innovation for all stakeholders at different levels, and more specifically at regional levels. In this context, some key topics will be addressed:innovations with potential breakthrough and disruptive nature in a regional ecosystem, innovations with scale-up potential that may be too risky for private investors, the questions of fundings and also the relevant level: European? National? Regional ?

A fundamental goal of Algebraic Geometry is to classify algebraic varieties up to isomorphism. This is extremely hard, already for surfaces, and open in general. It has become clear that we can only hope for a classification up to birational maps, that is, isomorphisms between dense open sets. Understanding birational maps is therefore a key step towards the classification of algebraic varieties. For one of the largest families of algebraic varieties, so-called Mori fibre spaces, any birational map between any two of them is composed of special birational maps called Sarkisov links. For surfaces over nice fields, Sarkisov links are well-understood, but little is known about them in dimension three or higher, over any field. The understanding of Sarkisov links will mean an enormous advance in the study of birational maps and a substantial leap towards a classification of a large family of algebraic varieties. The very ambitious aim of this project is to describe all Sarkisov links completely in any dimension and in several non-classical settings in terms of base-locus, contracted hypersurfaces and induced rational map on the bases of the implicated Mori fibre spaces. If achieved, it will revolutionize the study of birational maps and provide new exciting tools to determine classes of algebraic varieties in several settings. In dimension three and higher, already the classification of Sarkisov links over the field of complex numbers is extremely ambitious. Another very difficult task is to classify Sarkisov links over a field of positive characteristic, as the geometry of algebraic varieties over such fields is even more challenging than it is over the field of complex numbers. The Minimal Model program, a major active research area in Biratonal Geometry, has made tremendous advances in the last decades. Recently developed ideas and techniques allow the attack on birational maps between algebraic varieties by studying Sarkisov links.

Gypsum-based stromatolites (GS) make excellent paradigms for the investigation of fine-scale mineral-microbial interactions and for the detection of life remnants on gypsiferous deposits of Earth and Mars. Yet, they have been largely overlooked compared to the carbonate microbialites. To date we do not know: i) what is their exact mineralogy, ii) which microbial communities are associated to these structures, iii) what is the exact role of microbes and related bioproducts (e.g., exopolymeric substances) in mineral precipitation and stromatolite construction, and iv) which biosignatures may be preserved in GS. NanoBioS aims to address this knowledge gap by employing an interdisciplinary approach to study newly discovered gypsum-based stromatolites from Lake Bakili (Danakil Depression, Ethiopia) from a combined microbiology and mineralogy perspective. The Danakil Depression and the difficult-to-access and so-far unexplored Lake Bakili constitute a unique, natural laboratory for the study of both living and fossil gypsum microbialites, and a terrestrial Martian analogue-site. Besides the possibility to discover novel microbial lineages/metabolisms, we will attempt to identify characteristic associations of microbial groups with mineral assemblages and look for biosignatures. The overarching goal of NanoBioS is to gain a deeper understanding of the microbial influence on Ca-sulfate precipitation, as well as, to develop insights for distinguishing fossil life remnants from inorganic biomorphs on Earth and Martian chemical sediments. The host and secondment host laboratories that have advanced the subject of geomicrobiology of microbialites, will offer me intensive training in cutting-edge molecular biology and mineralogic tools, complementary to my so far geochemical expertise, aside to other, transferable skills. Overall, the development of NanoBioS will be career-defining and it will transform me in an independent, highly competitive, early stage bio-geo-chemist.