Project description
Insight into memory engrams in the hippocampus
Learning and memory are driven by the hippocampus, a central brain region that facilitates the formation, storage and retrieval of experiences. Specialised cells have been identified associated with engrams, physical representations of memories in the brain. However, the precise synaptic changes that encode memories remain unclear. The ERC-funded CA3-SYNGRAM project aims to study how engrams form in the CA3 network of the hippocampus, a highly interconnected circuit essential for memory processing. Researchers will follow an interdisciplinary approach to uncover the physical and chemical synaptic changes underlying memory storage and recall. Project results will improve our understanding of memory mechanisms and lead to new treatments for disorders linked to impaired memory formation.
Objective
A fundamental question in neuroscience is how information in brain circuits is stored and retrieved. However, the physical and chemical changes underlying the formation of memories, or “engrams”, are largely elusive. Although recent work identified engram cells, the nanoscopic changes at synapses during engram formation remain unclear. New experimental techniques allow us to probe the subcellular and synaptic components of the engram: functional analysis by multicellular electrophysiology, structural analysis by superresolution light and electron microscopy, and optical recording and stimulation techniques in vivo. Here, we propose to combine these techniques to reveal engrams in the hippocampal CA3 network. This circuit is ideally suited to identify engrams, as it plays a critical role in learning and memory, forms the largest recurrent network throughout the brain, and receives powerful input from hippocampal granule cells, previously defined as engram cells. The project has two main goals. First, we want to identify the physical and chemical changes in the CA3 network during engram formation, especially changes in synaptic transmission and network connectivity. Thus, we will be able to rigorously test cellular, synaptic, and connectomic hypotheses of the engram. Second, we want to probe the rules of synaptic engram storage (“engraphy“), the mechanisms of engram retrieval (“ecphory“), and the behavioral content of the engrams. Hence, we will be able to enrich the classical engram concept with quantitative data on how synaptic engrams are efficiently stored and reliably retrieved. Taken together, the expected results will lead to a substantial increase in our understanding of engrams, advancing it from the cellular to the synaptic level. The proposed experiments will answer a fundamental question in neuroscience and open new avenues for treatment of brain diseases in humans, in which engram formation or retrieval are impaired.
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 super resolution 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)
Programme(s)
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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)
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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.
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Call for proposal
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(opens in new window) ERC-2024-ADG
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3400 Klosterneuburg
Austria
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