Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS
Content archived on 2024-05-30

Charting the landscape of brain development by large-scale single-cell transcriptomics and phylogenetic lineage reconstruction

Objective

Embryogenesis is the temporal unfolding of cellular processes: proliferation, migration, differentiation, morphogenesis, apoptosis and functional specialization. These processes are well understood in specific tissues, and for specific cell types. Nevertheless, our systematic knowledge of the types of cells present in the developing and adult animal, and about their functional and lineage relationships, is limited. For example, there is no consensus on the number of cell types, and many important stem cells and progenitors remain to be discovered. Similarly, the lineage relationships between specific cell types are often poorly characterized. This is particularly true for the mammalian nervous system. We have developed (1) a reliable high-throghput method for sequencing all transcripts in 96 single cells at a time; and (2) a system for high-throughput phylogenetic lineage reconstruction. We now propose to characterize embryogenesis using a shotgun approach borrowed from genomics. Tissues will be dissected from multiple stages and dissociated to single cells. A total of 10,000 cells will be analyzed by RNA sequencing, revealing their functional cell type, their lineage relationships, and their current state (e.g. cell cycle phase). The novel approach proposed here will bring the powerful strategies pioneered in genomics into the field of developmental biology, including automation, digitization, and the random shotgun method. The data thus obtained will bring clarity to the concept of ‘cell type’; will provide a first catalog of mouse brain cell types with deep functional annotation; will provide markers for every cell type, including stem cells; and will serve as a basis for future comparative work, especially with human embryos.

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.

You need to log in or register to use this function

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.

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

ERC-2010-StG_20091118
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.

ERC-SG - ERC Starting Grant

Host institution

KAROLINSKA INSTITUTET
EU contribution
€ 1 496 032,00
Address
NOBELS VAG 5
171 77 STOCKHOLM
Sweden

See on map

Region
Östra Sverige Stockholm Stockholms län
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost

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.

No data

Beneficiaries (1)

My booklet 0 0