Objective
Understanding the cellular, molecular and genetic mechanisms involved in building the brain is a fundamental problem in the neurosciences. Recent studies on brain development in the two leading genetic model systems, Drosophila and mouse, indicate that many basic molecular and genetic mechanisms involved in regionalization, neurogenesis and pathfinding in the brain are highly conserved. We propose to take advantage of the powerful genetic and molecular genetic technology available in these two model systems in order to develop and implement a novel and multi-disciplinary approach for the identification, characterization and manipulation of the genes that are essential for building complex brains. In Drosophila different regulatory control genes involved in brain development are now being characterised and evidence is accumulating that such genes play the role of master regulators for specific brain regions, including the visual system (e.g. Pax6/ey, Otx/otd) . Due to the sophisticated genetics and molecular genetics available in Drosophila, it is now possible within reasonable time limits to characterize the brainphenotypic effects of numerous additional candidate regulatory genes of this type, study the interactions among these genes, determine their downstream targets, and investigate their functional role through gene rescue and targeted expression. Moreover, given the evolutionary conservation of such master regulatory genes, the results of the investigations in Drosophila can be directly and rapidly applied to the developing mouse brain where homologous genes are already cloned, or can be rapidly cloned based on the knowledge gained in Drosophila. In the mouse system, spatio-temporal gene expression studies, gene knockout technology, and modern neuroanatomical techniques can then be combined to investigate the functional role of these evolutionarily conserved genes in the embryonic development of the mammalian brain in a biomedically highly relevant model system.
Thus, by taking advantage of evolutionary conservation, by combining the specific experimental and conceptual advantages of the two model systems, Drosophila and mouse, and by assuring a rapid exchange of information, experimental data and molecular probes among the collaborating researchers involved, this innovative multi-disciplinary investigation will with high probability lead to a significant advance in our understanding of brain development. Moreover, the molecular genetic technology that we plan to implement in this investigation of neurogenetic model systems may lead to improved methods for diagnosis of neurological damage and for the gene technological reconstruction of damaged brain tissue in human patients.
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 biological sciences genetics
- natural sciences biological sciences molecular biology molecular genetics
- natural sciences biological sciences developmental biology
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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.
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.
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Funding Scheme
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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.
Coordinator
79104 Freiburg
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.