Project description
Mechanistic insight into schizophrenia development
Schizophrenia is a serious mental illness associated with psychosis and distorted perception of reality. Although patients present with increased dopamine levels before psychosis and suspected abnormal activity of midbrain dopamine neurons, the precise mechanisms remain elusive. The EU-funded SchizoFree project aims to shed light on the aetiology of dopamine neuron dysregulation in schizophrenia. Using a mouse model of the disease, researchers will investigate the role of cortical and striatal interneurons in the development of schizophrenia. They hope to identify biomarkers for prompt disease diagnosis and design novel treatments that alleviate schizophrenia symptoms.
Objective
Schizophrenia is an incurable disease hallmarked by the presence of positive, negative and cognitive symptoms. Currently, antipsychotic drugs are used to treat some of the positive symptoms, including psychosis but fail to alleviate cognitive and negative symptoms. Psychosis is associated with striatal hyperdopaminergia, hypothesized to be due to abnormal activity of midbrain dopamine neurons. Dopamine levels are already elevated in patients with schizophrenia before the onset of psychosis, suggesting that increased dopamine levels might be secondary to other alterations occurring earlier in life. Additionally, functional alterations in the prefrontal cortex contribute to the disease, and interestingly abnormally increased activity in cortical excitatory neurons leads to striatal hyperdopaminergia in mice. However, the mechanisms and developmental trajectory underlying schizophrenia is still unclear, challenging the development of novel treatment strategies. Previous work from the Marin and Rico labs has shown that reducing excitatory synapses received by Parvalbumin (PV)-expressing interneurons through deletion of tyrosine kinase receptor ErbB4 from these neurons causes a schizophrenia-like phenotype and striatal hyperdopaminergia. The first aim of this fellowship is to use this mouse model and answer the question whether striatal hyperdopaminergia is caused by interneuron dysregulation in the cortex and/or striatum. The second aim is to identify the mechanisms causing the abnormal regulation of striatal dopamine neurons and to characterize a developmental trajectory of the disease. In the third aim, I attempt to normalize interneuron function to alleviate a wider spectrum of schizophrenia symptoms, including symptoms in the cognitive and negative domain. This is important because it would allow a better treatment outcome and the identification of biomarkers for earlier detection of patients at risk.
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.
You need to log in or register to use this function
We are sorry... an unexpected error occurred during execution.
You need to be authenticated. Your session might have expired.
Thank you for your feedback. You will soon receive an email to confirm the submission. If you have selected to be notified about the reporting status, you will also be contacted when the reporting status will change.
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.
-
H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
MAIN PROGRAMME
See all projects funded under this programme -
H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
See all projects funded under this programme
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.
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)
See all projects funded under this funding scheme
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) H2020-MSCA-IF-2020
See all projects funded under this callCoordinator
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.
WC2R 2LS London
United Kingdom
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.