Project description
Thinking about cognitive processes
When we think, the brain integrates mental processes such as perception and memory. Understanding this complex network remains a major scientific challenge. The ERC-funded MESO_AG project tackles this by studying mice using a unique zoom-out and zoom-in strategy. It will examine brain networks during sensory integration and working memory at multiple scales. By training mice on cognitive tasks, the team uses wide-field imaging to see the whole brain and two-photon microscopy to watch individual cells. This dual approach maps thought formation in both healthy and diseased brains. Mapping these circuits turns biological noise into a clear cognitive atlas. The goal is to provide the foundation for treating neurological disorders. Brain maps will help guide modern medical research efforts.
Objective
The brain is responsible for cognition, broadly defined as thinking, by combining mental processes such as sensory integration, perception, and working memory. One of neuroscience’s major challenges is understanding how the brain encodes cognition as a whole. The biggest obstacle to this goal is the complex nature of the brain, which contains billions of entangled neurons that form a dynamic, ever-changing network. We propose to use the mouse model to study cognitive processing streams across the brain. By applying a zoom-out/zoom-in approach, we first study cognition at the mesoscale level (i.e. the population level across many areas) and then zoom in and dissect a specific sub-population. Importantly, we focus on the dynamic brain-wide networks of different cognitive functions that are modulated within single trials and in each individual mouse. We hypothesize that cognitive functions are encoded at the mesoscale level in which information flexibly flows across many brain areas, but with certain motifs and rules. Each objective targets one processing stream and one cognitive function: streams within one cortical hemisphere during sensory integration, streams across cortical hemispheres transferring working memory, and streams between cortex and sub-cortex during perception. In each work package, we will train mice in cognitive behavioral paradigms, and perform a zoom-out/zoom-in protocol with the same mouse. First, we will implement a mesoscale approach (e.g. wide-field imaging and/or multi-fiber photometry) to outline the processing stream within the cognitive network. Second, we will zoom in to dissect a specific node or edge using multi-area two-photon microscopy, labeling techniques, and optogenetics. Importantly, these work packages are modulatory and with substantial overlaps, enabling us to obtain a brain-wide cognitive map that will aid in understanding cognition as a whole in both the healthy and the diseased brain.
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
- natural sciences physical sciences optics microscopy
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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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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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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.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2021-STG
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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.
91904 Jerusalem
Israel
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