Objective
Neurovascular coupling (NVC) regulates blood flow to meet the metabolic demands of neural activity by delivering oxygen and nutrients. Its dysfunction is a hallmark of several neurological disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease (AD), where early NVC impairment contributes to disease progression. As the retina is the only optically accessible part of the central nervous system, it provides a unique opportunity to investigate NVC at the cellular level. A precise understanding of retinal NVC could uncover key biomarkers for the evaluation of AD progression and the development of new targeted therapies. However, current imaging tools lack the spatial and temporal resolution necessary to capture neural and vascular functions simultaneously.
In recent research, I have pioneered two novel imaging modalities for cellular-level retinal imaging: full-field optical coherence tomography (FF-OCT) and adaptive optics rolling slit ophthalmoscopy (AO-RSO). FF-OCT, with its interferometric properties, has the potential to visualize individual neurons involved in NVC. Meanwhile, AO-RSO, the only system capable of high-speed phase contrast imaging across a wide field of view, reveals critical vascular features, such as vessel walls and red blood cells, which are essential for probing vascular responses during NVC.
The MIRACLE-AD project aims to combine the strengths of these modalities to develop an innovative tool capable of characterizing neural and vascular activity at micrometer and sub-millisecond scales in both health and early-AD patients. This approach will map neuronal pathways from photoreceptors to ganglion cells following light stimulation and measure vascular responses linked to individual ganglion cell activation. By elucidating the spatiotemporal relationship between neuronal activation and hemodynamic changes, MIRACLE-AD will deepen our understanding of NVC dysfunction in AD and its role in disease pathophysiology.
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.
- medical and health sciences basic medicine physiology pathophysiology
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine ophthalmology
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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)
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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
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) ERC-2025-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.
75794 Paris
France
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.