Objective
Severe spinal cord injury leads to a range of disabilities, including permanent motor impairments that seriously diminish the patients’ quality of life. In the framework of an ERC Starting Grant, my team and I developed a pragmatic therapy that restored supraspinal control of leg movement after complete paralysis in rats. However, the mechanisms underlying the effects of this intervention remain unknown. This fundamental knowledge is pivotal to operate a disruptive conversion from our empirical approach to an evidence-based strategy with clinical perspectives. Our therapy, termed neuroprosthetic rehabilitation, acts over two time windows. Immediately, electrical and chemical spinal cord stimulations mediate motor control of the paralysed hindlimbs. In the long term, will-powered training regimens enabled by electrochemical stimulation and robotic assistance promote neuroplasticity of residual connections—an extensive rewiring that reestablishes voluntary movement. Here, we propose to identify the circuit-level remodelling, computational principles, and molecular cues that govern the immediate and long-term recovery of motor functions. To address this knowledge gap, we will use our unique neuroprosthetic platform and next-generation experimental techniques for longitudinal assessment of neuroplasticity and function in freely behaving mice. These techniques combine optogenetics, circuit-level inactivation techniques, unconstrained chronic calcium imaging, virus-mediated tract-tracing and genetic manipulations. Our strategy consists of deploying a judicious association of these experimental techniques to establish causality between the reorganisation of the motor circuitry and functional recovery. This project will fertilize frontier research with new knowledge and ideas, ultimately accelerating clinical implementation of safer and more efficacious therapies to improve the quality of life for spinal cord injured individuals.
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: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
- engineering and technology materials engineering fibers
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine physiotherapy
- natural sciences chemical sciences inorganic chemistry alkaline earth metals
- medical and health sciences medical biotechnology genetic engineering
- natural sciences physical sciences optics microscopy
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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.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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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.
ERC-COG - Consolidator Grant
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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) ERC-2015-CoG
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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.
1015 LAUSANNE
Switzerland
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.