"We believe that peer learning, i.e. learning with and from each other, is one of the most important forms of learning. The aim of the XP2P-project is to implement peer-to-peer learning during a semester/module for post-graduate students in mechatronics, connected to the implementation of a suitable Competency Portfolio Assessment for guidance and documentation of the progress. Project-based learning in combination with this innovative approach on peer-to-peer learning will allow the students to acquire improved cross-functional skills such as:- social skills (coordinating with others, negotiation, persuasion, training and teaching others), - resource management skills (management of materials resources, time management),- systems skills (judgement and decision-making, systems analysis), - technical skills.Mechatronics is usually defined as a synergistic and integrated process of several sciences and skills (among which control and computer sciences, electronics, mechanics). It allows to conceive products and systems with augmented or improved functionality and it requires to consider the conception of the product or system in its overall lifecycle in a cooperative interdisciplinary approach.With the learning methodology examined in XP2P, peer-to-peer learning can act as a motivational instrument to gradually enhance the interest of current and future engineering students in mechatronics. The expected impact of the XP2P-project on our organisations is to gradually loosen itself from traditional teaching patterns and show possibilities beyond. On the market, different models of peer learning already exist. One of them is the model in which senior students tutor junior students. Another one is formation of partnerships in which students in the same year assist each other. Other models involved discussion seminars, private study groups, a buddy system or counselling, peer assessment schemes, collaborative project or laboratory work, projects in different sized (cascading) groups, workplace mentoring and community activities [D. Boud, ""Making the move to peer learning""].Our project proposal involves the set-up of innovative learning and teaching practice in mechatronics at master level. Special attention is given to the documentation and guidance of the learning process by a Competency Portfolio Assessment. To meet this need, our consortium aims at setting up peer-to-peer learning and project-based learning during a study semester/module thanks to collaborative projects proposed by partners’ staffs or by their partner companies. This study semester/module is one of the Intellectual Outputs of the project. Peer learning is an active learning method, and a student-centered instructional method in which students learn from each other. In our project, peer-to-peer learning (and teaching) will take place between master’s students themselves as they originate from different scientific background (mechanics, electronics, control science, computer science, mechatronics) and from different countries. 30 ECTS will be allotted to the semester, 10 to 20 ECTS being devoted to peer-to-peer learning (10 ECTS for HSKL and UTCN, and 20 ECTS for USMB). Peer-to-peer learning will take place in every learning mode and will use digital platforms such as Moodle and OLAT.Linked to this aim, our objective is first the integration of didactic tools and methods in the context of peer-to-peer teaching and learning through project-based learning, customization of learning pathways and their corresponding teaching and assessment methods as well as the definition of the corresponding relevant reference competency framework in mechatronics. We identify 3 target groups in our project. First, the master students in mechatronics involved in this programme will gain skills and competencies positive for their employability and for their potential employers. Second, the involved teaching staffs will increase their teaching skills by facing this challenging way of student-centered teaching, by working in crossed environment: several disciplines and students from different countries with different backgrounds and “student cultures”. Third, employers and laboratories will benefit from the increased competencies of graduated students in complex and collaborative problem solving. As a result, the institutions involved in the project will gain a strategic expertise in mechatronics peer-to-peer teaching and learning on a European scale. The international perspective will be necessary to implement and validate different ways of teaching and of learning and to obtain generic results which will be transferable in other higher education institutions.Finally, it is our goal to widely share the results of the XP2P-project into the academic community as part of our individual strategies for improving the universities’ reputation."

Proteases recently emerged as a promising new class of biomarkers with a broad diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic potential for different human diseases including neurological and psychiatric diseases, several types of cancer, and immune system disorders. However, there is a lack of tools for real-time activity analysis of disease-related protease biomarkers. To address this issue, we propose to develop a highly sensitive graphene-based biosensor platform for parallel detection of multiple proteases in serum. We will exploit a new label-free sensing mechanism based on charge removal due to cleavage of designer peptides by proteases. As a specific business case, we plan to address therapy response prediction along treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD). MDD is one of the most common and burdensome mental disorders worldwide. MDD is also among the most expensive brain diseases in Europe. While effective treatments exist, there is a high variability in treatment response. There are no serum-based tests to predict personalized therapy for MDD patients. The effective treatment is identified through trial and error, a great burden for patients and the health care system. A rapid, sensitive and easy-to-use test would allow faster and more precise treatment identification, improving therapy outcomes and reducing hospitalization times. Here, we plan to detect two protease biomarkers associated with MDD. The biosensors will be validated in clinical serum samples. Arrays of graphene biosensors will be integrated on silicon wafers with a multiplexed readout matrix to realize a miniaturized sensor system with multi-analyte detection capability, high dynamic range, high precision, low detection limit, and low material consumption. The resulting platform technology may enable various point-of-care diagnostic and therapy prediction tools. This will help secure industrial leadership of the EU over the entire value chain of novel graphene-based bio-analytical tools.

Our project focuses on the regulatory properties of a subset of microbiota-specific TR1-like regulatory T (Treg) cells, for which we have already shown an unprecedented association with the clinical outcome of patients in various inflammatory diseases, for a therapeutic use in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). IBD is a disabling chronic inflammatory process that affects young individuals and causes many life-altering symptoms, and represents a risk factor for colon cancer. Existing treatments are complex, with most people requiring lifelong medications as well as dietary and lifestyle modifications, and some requiring surgery. In this context, the development of new therapeutic approaches appears essential and immunotherapy and cell-based therapy are particularly promising strategies for this disease. Teams from Nantes have a strong expertise in the field of human immunology, mucosal immunology and immunotherapeutic strategies applied to various pathological conditions, including gut inflammatory diseases. They recently identified a novel microbiota-induced Treg subset, associated with good prognosis in IBD patients, thus representing a promising candidate for innovative immunotherapeutic approaches. Based on the limitation to develop immunotherapy approach for human diseases by using animal models due to immune system specificities/differences and ethical considerations, we opted for the development of an ex vivo human preclinical model that will reconstitute the physiological complexity of the human gut. Teams from Strasbourg have a strong experience and already set-up models of organoids in different pathological systems, that will perfectly fit to be used as ex vivo preclinical models for this project. This proposal aims thus at providing a pre-clinical package including i) the proof of concept that a cellular immunotherapy using the identified Tregs subset represents a treatment for IBDs and ii) the reglementary pre-clinical in vitro and in vivo toxicity.