Project description
Decoding bioelectric signals in early brain development
Scientists still cannot fully explain how embryonic tissues reliably build complex 3D structures. In early development, this involves unknown mechanisms coordinating tissue shape, fate acquisition and growth across time and space. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the BIOSIG project examines how bioelectric signals guide the early formation of the central nervous system. Using human stem-cell-derived neural tube organoids, it will build a four-dimensional map of bioelectric activity during development, linking these patterns to cell shape, tissue structure and morphogen signals. It will also test how electrical, mechanical and chemical cues interact to shape tissue development. The findings will shed light on developmental disorders like neural tube defects and provide new tools for tissue development research.
Objective
Living tissues reliably develop into species-specific forms from noisy components, implying a distributed control system that tells cells what shape to make and when to stop. While gene regulatory networks, morphogen gradients and tissue mechanics explain much of development, they do not yet yield comprehensive, predictable control of complex 3D structures. Emerging evidence points to bioelectricity as the missing integrative layer: ion channels and gap junctions wire epithelia into electrical networks that propagate information rapidly and generate spatial patterns even in transcriptionally similar cells. BIOSIG addresses this gap in a human-relevant context by asking how bioelectrical dynamics guide early CNS morphogenesis, with a focus on neural tube folding and closing. The central hypothesis is that ion channels act as coincidence detectors, integrating mechanical, chemical and electrical cues and funneling them into canonical pathways through membrane-potential and calcium dynamics, altering cellular fate commitment, proliferation and shape change. Using human stem-cell derived neural tube organoids that recapitulate plate formation, folding and closure, BIOSIG will (i) build a 4D atlas of bioelectric activity aligned to morphology and morphogen fields; (ii) map the spatial expression of the bioelectric components (channels, connexins, transporters) and link it to live electrical states; and (iii) impose mechanical actuation and optogenetically patterned morphogen gradients, to reconstruct dorsal–ventral identity. BIOSIG will produce the first human-specific framework for bioelectric control of morphogenesis and its relation to morphogen gradients and mechanical stimulation. Beyond understanding the underlying mechanisms of diseases of developmental morphogenesis, such as neural tube defects, BIOSIG will produce valuable open resources (cell lines, code, datasets) with direct relevance to neural tube defects and, more broadly, to tissue morphogenesis.
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.
- engineering and technology electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering electronic engineering control systems
- natural sciences chemical sciences inorganic chemistry alkaline earth metals
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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)
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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)
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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.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF
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3000 Leuven
Belgium
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