New Centre of Excellence in neuroscience
Located in Athens, Greece, the HPI hosts three large laboratories: Molecular Neurobiology and Immunology, Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology, and Molecular Genetics. Research in these laboratories covers the interaction between the neural and the immune system, neuromuscular function and neurodegeneration, respectively. Given the complementarity of their work, these three groups formed a Department of Neuroscience. The Department's overall research scope is to study neuronal signalling and how it becomes perturbed during nervous system dysfunction. The key objective of the EU-funded 'Development of a Centre of Excellence in neurosignalling' (NEUROSIGN) project was to reinforce the infrastructure of the Department of Neuroscience at the HPI and transform it into a national CoE for the study of neuronal signalling. Project activities included the recruitment of highly qualified researchers and the establishment of European collaborations, improved expertise and material exchange. Key to any good research is access to appropriate equipment and technology. The NEUROSIGN project improved the Institute's technical infrastructure with the purchase of a multi-photon confocal microscope and other state-of-the-art equipment. This permits advanced imaging and in vivo whole animal imaging that is essential for research. The established collaborations proved very fruitful for HPI scientists. Exchange visits allowed them to advance their knowledge in leading imaging methods. The Department recruited 10 highly qualified researchers and 3 technicians with expertise in neuroimaging, electrophysiology, membrane protein expression and crystallisation, inflammation, spinal cord injury and stroke models, and stem cell biology. This new personnel contributed to the overall improvement of research potential at the HPI. NEUROSIGN researchers organised international workshops and conferences on animal models of neurodegeneration and behavioural tests for assessment of motor and cognitive function. Project work resulted in 16 research articles in peer-reviewed journals, and findings were presented at 23 international and 14 national conferences and workshops. Overall, the upgrade of the research and technological development capacity of the HPI Department of Neuroscience improved the quality of its research. Also, by improving the Department's European visibility, it laid the ground for future collaborations and European funding.
Keywords
Neuroscience, Hellenic Pasteur Institute, neural research, neurosignalling, imaging
