Project description
Study examines how endogenous electric fields affect cell growth
Endogenous electric fields in tissues are essential for growth and repair, a trait shared by many species. During regeneration, wound electric currents can last hours to days, even after healing, affecting organ growth by increasing cell division rates. However, how ion flows, membrane potential and cell growth interact during regeneration remain unclear. Funded by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the ElectricFins project will seek to uncover these electrical changes when organs are damaged and how they trigger cell growth. Using regenerating zebrafish larval fins, researchers will employ fast imaging and electrophysiology to measure electrical signals immediately after injury. An electrohydraulics model will connect cell ionic flows to tissue-scale electric fields. Optogenetic tools will test whether these currents start cell growth.
Objective
The existence of endogenous electric fields in tissues is a fundamental feature for successful morphogenesis and repair processes, conserved across species. In a regeneration setting, wound electric currents can last hours to days, even after the wound is closed. Altering such currents by perturbing its underlying ion flows has been shown to affect organ growth via an increase in proliferative rates. Therefore, electric field directly takes part in regeneration. However, the relationship between ion flows, membrane potential, and cell proliferation for driving the regeneration response is not well understood.
This project aims to uncover the dynamic electrical environmental changes that cells are exposed to upon organ damage, and how these can be coupled with biochemical signalling towards starting proliferation. By using the regenerating zebrafish larval fin as an experimental model, I will establish quantitative and interdisciplinary approaches that bridges injury sensing and regeneration dynamics across length and time scales. By establishing fast in vivo imaging and electrophysiology assays, I will measure the electrical signals in the fin tissue upon injury, providing an in-depth kinetic analysis of the electric spatiotemporal changes occurring within seconds of injury. In parallel, I will establish an analytic electrohydraulics model that connects cell-based ionic flows to tissue-scale electric field and currents, being continuously interwoven with experimental data and the idea of flexoelectricity. Then, I will generate and engineer optogenetic tools to spatiotemporally perturb ionic flows and electrochemical coupling strengths, directly testing the hypothesis of ion flow-derived electric currents as voltage-gated triggers for cell proliferation. This combined strategy will provide a first-of-the-kind quantitative and mechanistic study in the emerging field of bioelectricity.
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.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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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.
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.