Unfolding the dynamic interplay of mechanical and molecular processes in brain folding

Project Information

UNFOLD

Grant agreement ID: 101118729

DOI

10.3030/101118729

EC signature date 19 March 2024

Start date 1 April 2024

End date 31 March 2030

Funded under

• European Research Council (ERC)

Total cost

€ 10 770 990,00

EU contribution

€ 10 770 990,00

Coordinated by

AGENCIA ESTATAL CONSEJO SUPERIOR DE INVESTIGACIONES CIENTIFICAS
Spain

CORDIS provides links to public deliverables and publications of HORIZON projects.

Links to deliverables and publications from FP7 projects, as well as links to some specific result types such as dataset and software, are dynamically retrieved from OpenAIRE .

Deliverables

Data Management Plan (1)

Data Management Plan

Publications

Peer reviewed articles (22)

Glycan atlassing enables functional tracing of cell state

Author(s): Dijo Moonnukandathil Joseph, Nazlican Yurekli, Sarah Fritsche, Reem Hashem, Oana-Maria Thoma, Imen Larafa, Tina Boric, Chloé Bielawski, Karim Almahayni, Kristian Franze, Maximilian J. Waldner, Leonhard Möckl
Published in: Nature Nanotechnology, Issue 21, 2026, ISSN 1748-3387
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
DOI: 10.1038/S41565-026-02151-Y

Gene regulatory landscape of cerebral cortex folding

Author(s): Aditi Singh; Lucia Del-Valle-Anton; Camino de Juan Romero;, Ziyi Zhang; Eduardo Fernández Ortuño; Arun Mahesh; Alexandre Espinós; Rafael Soler; Adrián Cárdenas; Virginia Fernández; Ryan Lusby; Vijay K Tiwari; Víctor Borrell
Published in: Science Advances, Issue 10(23), 2024, ISSN 2375-2548
Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adn1640

eLife

Author(s): Sifan Yin; Chunzi Liu; Gary PT Choi; Yeonsu Jung; Katja Heuer; Roberto Toro; L Mahadevan
Published in: eLife, 2025, ISSN 2050-084X
Publisher: eLife Sciences Publications Ltd
DOI: 10.7554/ELIFE.107138.3

Neural stem cell fate: a tango of mechanics and genetics

Author(s): Mireia Pampols-Perez; Víctor Borrell
Published in: EMBO Reports, Issue 27, 2026, ISSN 1476-4687
Publisher: Springer Nature
DOI: 10.1038/S44319-026-00718-3

Biphasic inflammation control by fibroblasts enables spinal cord regeneration in zebrafish

Author(s): Nora John, Thomas Fleming, Julia Kolb, Olga Lyraki, Sebastián Vásquez-Sepúlveda, Asha Parmar, Kyoohyun Kim, Maria Tarczewska, Pooja Gupta, Kanwarpal Singh, Federico Marini, Sumeet Pal Singh, Vasiliki Tsata, Sven Falk, Kristian Franze, Jochen Guck, Daniel Wehner
Published in: Cell Reports, Issue 44, 2025, ISSN 2211-1247
Publisher: Elsevier BV
DOI: 10.1016/J.CELREP.2025.116469

Mechanical positional information guides the self-organized development of a polygonal network of creases in the skin of mammalian noses

Author(s): Paule Dagenais, Ebrahim Jahanbakhsh, Aurélien Capitan, Hélène Jammes, Karine Reynaud, Camino De Juan Romero, Victor Borrell, Michel.C. Milinkovitch
Published in: Current Biology, Issue 34(22), 2024, ISSN 0960-9822
Publisher: Cell Press
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.09.055

A new cell type drove human brain complexity

Author(s): Antonela Bonafina, Laurent Nguyen
Published in: Science, Issue 391, 2026, ISSN 0036-8075
Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
DOI: 10.1126/SCIENCE.AEE0974

Substrate stiffness and pressure alter retinal Müller glia response and extracellular matrix production

Author(s): Laura Prieto-López, Xandra Pereiro, Emilio J. González Ramírez, Noelia Ruzafa, Alicia Alonso, Kristian Franze, Elena Vecino
Published in: Biomaterials and Biosystems, Issue 19, 2025, ISSN 2666-5344
Publisher: Elsevier BV
DOI: 10.1016/J.BBIOSY.2025.100114

Differential tissue deformability underlies fluid pressure-driven shape divergence of the avian embryonic brain and spinal cord

Author(s): Susannah B.P. McLaren, Shi-Lei Xue, Siyuan Ding, Alexander K. Winkel, Oscar Baldwin, Shreya Dwarakacherla, Kristian Franze, Edouard Hannezo, Fengzhu Xiong
Published in: Developmental Cell, Issue 60, 2025, ISSN 1534-5807
Publisher: Elsevier BV
DOI: 10.1016/J.DEVCEL.2025.04.010

MitoLandscape, a semi-automated pipeline for subcellular localization and quantification of mitochondria

Author(s): Enrico Negri, Virginia Fernández, Víctor Borrell
Published in: Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology, Issue 13, 2025, ISSN 2296-634X
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
DOI: 10.3389/FCELL.2025.1668779

Spatiotemporal histogenesis of the developing human cerebellum reveals dynamic layering of Bergmann glia

Author(s): Guanyi He, Simon Du, Henry Tan, Sri Yellampally, Anders W. Erickson, Virginia Fernandez, Ferechte Encha-Razavi, Kimberley A. Phillips, Christine Haberler, Nicole Amberg, Victor Borrell, Paul A. Northcott, Michael D. Taylor, Kathleen J. Millen, Parthiv Haldipur
Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Issue 123, 2026, ISSN 0027-8424
Publisher: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
DOI: 10.1073/PNAS.2525673123

Stripe out for brain evolution: Astrocytes go human

Author(s): Lara López-González, Víctor Borrell
Published in: Cell Stem Cell, Issue 32, 2025, ISSN 1934-5909
Publisher: Elsevier BV
DOI: 10.1016/J.STEM.2025.02.008

Hyaluronic acid and tissue mechanics orchestrate mammalian digit tip regeneration

Author(s): Byron W. H. Mui, Joseph J. Y. Wong, Camille E. Dumas, Jia Hua Wang, Toni Bray, Kentaro Hirose, Lauren Connolly, Alexander Winkel, Sebastian Timmler, Nicholas A. Bright, Evelina Sliauteryte, Ragnhildur Thóra Káradóttir, Pamela G. Robey, Kristian Franze, Kevin J. Chalut, Mekayla A. Storer
Published in: Science, Issue 392, 2026, ISSN 0036-8075
Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
DOI: 10.1126/SCIENCE.ADY3136

Microdissection and Single-Cell Suspension of Neocortical Layers From Ferret Brain for Single-Cell Assays

Author(s): Valle-Anton, Lucia del; Amin, Salma; Borrell, Víctor
Published in: BIO-PROTOCOL, Issue 14(24), 2024, ISSN 2331-8325
Publisher: Bio Protoc
DOI: 10.21769/BIOPROTOC.5133

Mouse cortical organoids reveal key functions of p73 isoforms: TAp73 governs the establishment of the archetypical ventricular-like zones while DNp73 is central in the regulation of neural cell fate

Author(s): Alonso Olivares, Hugo; Marqués Martínez, Margarita; Prieto Colomina, Anna; López Ferreras, Lorena; Martínez García, Nicole; Vázquez Jiménez, Alberto; Borrell Franco, Víctor; Marín Vieira, María Carmen; Fernández Alonso, Rosalía
Published in: Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology, 2024, ISSN 2574-1241
Publisher: Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology
DOI: 10.3389/FCELL.2024.1464932

Measurement force, speed, and postmortem time affect the ratio of CNS gray-to-white-matter elasticity

Author(s): Julia Monika Becker, Alexander Kevin Winkel, Eva Kreysing, Kristian Franze
Published in: Biophysical Journal, 2025, ISSN 0006-3495
Publisher: Elsevier BV
DOI: 10.1016/J.BPJ.2025.03.009

Environmental stiffness regulates neuronal maturation via Piezo1-mediated transthyretin activity

Author(s): Eva Kreysing, Hélène O. B. Gautier, Sudipta Mukherjee, Katrin A. Mooslehner, Leila Muresan, Daniel Haarhoff, Xiaohui Zhao, Alexander K. Winkel, Tina Borić, Sebastián Vásquez-Sepúlveda, Niklas Gampl, Andrea Dimitracopoulos, Eva K. Pillai, Robert Humphrey, Ragnhildur Thóra Káradóttir, Kristian Franze
Published in: Nature Communications, Issue 16, 2025, ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
DOI: 10.1038/S41467-025-64810-3

Keep calm and make neurons: The effects of glucocorticoids on human cortical neurogenesis

Author(s): Virginia Fernández; Víctor Borrell
Published in: Neuron, Issue 112(9), 2024, ISSN 0896-6273
Publisher: Neuron
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2024.04.004

Epi-regulate my brain: unlocking mechanisms of brain growth evolution

Author(s): Virginia Fernández; Víctor Borrell
Published in: The EMBO Journal, Issue 43(8), 2024, ISSN 1460-2075
Publisher: Nature Publishing Group UK
DOI: 10.1038/s44318-024-00083-8

Long-range chemical signalling in vivo is regulated by mechanical signals

Author(s): Eva K. Pillai, Sudipta Mukherjee, Niklas Gampl, Ross J. McGinn, Katrin A. Mooslehner, Julia M. Becker, Alexander K. Winkel, Amelia J. Thompson, Kristian Franze
Published in: Nature Materials, Issue 25, 2026, ISSN 1476-1122
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
DOI: 10.1038/S41563-025-02463-9

Early neuronal inhibition sculpts adult cortical interhemispheric connectivity

Author(s): Míriam Javier-Torrent, Antonela Bonafina, Laurent Nguyen
Published in: Trends in Neurosciences, Issue 47, 2024, ISSN 0166-2236
Publisher: Elsevier BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.tins.2024.08.002

Ccp1 depletion disrupts network integration of hippocampal parvalbumin interneurons

Author(s): Romain Le Bail, Bernard Lakaye, Ira Espuny-Camacho, Carsten Janke, Maria M. Magiera, Dominique Engel, Carla G. Silva, Laurent Nguyen
Published in: iScience, Issue 28, 2025, ISSN 2589-0042
Publisher: Elsevier BV
DOI: 10.1016/J.ISCI.2025.113215

Book chapters (1)

Evolution of Cortical Folding

Author(s): Toro, R., Heuer, K.
Published in: 2026
Publisher: Elsevier