Project description
Solving the brain’s hemisphere puzzle
Human mental capacities often rely on both brain hemispheres, yet they are predominantly controlled by one side, leading to challenges in understanding brain injuries. Existing studies often focus on either the dominant or non-dominant hemisphere, ignoring individual differences in hemisphere specialisation. This fragmented approach hinders progress in developing effective therapies for cognitive recovery after brain damage. In this context, the MSCA-funded HEMIVAR project integrates advanced neuroscience techniques to study hemisphere organisation holistically and develop tailored rehabilitation strategies. This approach promises a novel theory explaining the roles of dominant and non-dominant hemispheres, and how individual differences interact with connectivity. Such insights could revolutionise brain rehabilitation, aligning with the EU’s push for personalised medicine.
Objective
Many human-defining mental capacities recruit an extensive network of brain regions in both hemispheres, yet are dominantly controlled by one side. For example, language activates both halves of the brain, but language impairments are more severe, likely and longer-lasting when that function’s dominant hemisphere is damaged. In spite of being such an important feature of the human brain, hemisphere organization is commonly studied in a fragmented way. Theories about the benefits of hemisphere organization are incomplete, either focusing solely on the dominant side or non-dominant side. Another issue hindering progress on understanding hemisphere organization is that individual differences in hemisphere specialization are ignored, despite being massive. Combined, this led to opposing philosophies for promoting cognitive recovery after one-sided brain damage and one-size-fits-all therapies. HEMIVAR will help resolve these issues through an original integration of advanced neuroscience techniques (MRI and TMS) and sophisticated network-analysis frameworks, that will allow to study hemisphere organization in the intact and disrupted brain holistically. A major conceptual and methodological innovation is the attention to individual variability in hemisphere organization. My project will deliver a novel empirically-validated theory that jointly explains the biological roles of the dominant and non-dominant hemisphere (Objective 1) and will clarify how individual hemisphere dominance interacts with between-hemisphere connectivity (Objective 2). The project's results will constitute a significant advancement of our understanding of the human brain and will generate widely-applicable methodological recommendations for future studies. On top of that, they will serve as a stepping stone for clinical research on integrating hemisphere specialization into (patient-tailored) brain rehabilitation, in line with the EU research policy aim to promote personalized medicine.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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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.
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- medical and health sciences clinical medicine physiotherapy
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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.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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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) HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01
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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.
80539 MUNCHEN
Germany
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.