Objective
The mammalian nervous system is in some respect surprisingly robust to perturbations, as suggested by the virtually complete recovery of brain function after strokes or the pre-clinical asymptomatic phase of Parkinson’s disease. Ultimately though, cognitive and behavioral robustness relies on the ability of single neurons to cope with perturbations, and in particular to maintain a constant and reliable transfer of information.
So far, the main facet of robustness that has been studied at the neuronal level is homeostatic plasticity of electrical activity, which refers to the ability of neurons to stabilize their activity level in response to external perturbations. But neurons are also able to maintain their function when one of the major ion channels underlying their activity is deleted or mutated: the number of ion channel subtypes expressed by most excitable cells by far exceeds the minimal number of components necessary to achieve function, offering great potential for compensation when one of the channel’s function is altered. How ion channels are dynamically co-regulated to maintain the appropriate pattern of activity has yet to be determined.
In the current project, we will develop a systems-level approach to robustness of neuronal activity based on the combination of electrophysiology, microfluidic single-cell qPCR and computational modeling. We propose to i) characterize the electrical phenotype of dopaminergic neurons following different types of perturbations (ion channel KO, chronic pharmacological treatment), ii) measure the quantitatives changes in ion channel transcriptome (40 voltage-dependent ion channels) associated with these perturbations and iii) determine the mathematical relationships between quantitative changes in ion channel expression and electrical phenotype. Although focused on dopaminergic neurons, this project will provide a general framework that could be applied to any type of excitable cell to decipher its code of robustness.
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.
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.
- natural sciences biological sciences neurobiology
- medical and health sciences basic medicine neurology stroke
- medical and health sciences basic medicine neurology parkinson
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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.
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.
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.
ERC-2013-CoG
See other projects for this call
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.
Host institution
75654 PARIS
France
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.