Project acronym CUTS
Project Creative Undoing and Textual Scholarship:
A Rapprochement between Genetic Criticism and Scholarly Editing
Researcher (PI) Dirk Van Hulle
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITEIT ANTWERPEN
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH5, ERC-2012-StG_20111124
Summary "In the past few decades, the disciplines of textual scholarship and genetic criticism have insisted on their respective differences. Nonetheless, a rapprochement would be mutually beneficial. The proposed research endeavours to innovate scholarly editing with the combined forces of these two disciplines. Since genetic criticism has objected to the subservient role of manuscript research in textual criticism, the proposed research suggests a reversal of roles: instead of employing manuscript research with a view to making an edition, an electronic edition can be designed in such a way that it becomes a tool for manuscript research and genetic criticism. The research hypothesis is that such a rapprochement can be achieved by means of an approach to textual variants that values creative undoing (ways of de-composing a text as an integral part of composition and literary invention) more than has hitherto been the case in textual scholarship. This change of outlook will be tested by means of the marginalia, notes and manuscripts of an author whose work is paradigmatic for genetic criticism: Samuel Beckett. His manuscripts will serve as a case study to determine the functions of creative undoing in the process of literary invention and its theoretical and practical implications for electronic scholarly editing and the genetic analysis of modern manuscripts. Extrapolating from this case study, the results are employed to tackle a topical issue in European textual scholarship. The envisaged rapprochement between the disciplines of genetic criticism and textual scholarship is the core of this proposal’s endeavour to advance the state of the art in these disciplines by giving shape to a new orientation within scholarly editing."
Summary
"In the past few decades, the disciplines of textual scholarship and genetic criticism have insisted on their respective differences. Nonetheless, a rapprochement would be mutually beneficial. The proposed research endeavours to innovate scholarly editing with the combined forces of these two disciplines. Since genetic criticism has objected to the subservient role of manuscript research in textual criticism, the proposed research suggests a reversal of roles: instead of employing manuscript research with a view to making an edition, an electronic edition can be designed in such a way that it becomes a tool for manuscript research and genetic criticism. The research hypothesis is that such a rapprochement can be achieved by means of an approach to textual variants that values creative undoing (ways of de-composing a text as an integral part of composition and literary invention) more than has hitherto been the case in textual scholarship. This change of outlook will be tested by means of the marginalia, notes and manuscripts of an author whose work is paradigmatic for genetic criticism: Samuel Beckett. His manuscripts will serve as a case study to determine the functions of creative undoing in the process of literary invention and its theoretical and practical implications for electronic scholarly editing and the genetic analysis of modern manuscripts. Extrapolating from this case study, the results are employed to tackle a topical issue in European textual scholarship. The envisaged rapprochement between the disciplines of genetic criticism and textual scholarship is the core of this proposal’s endeavour to advance the state of the art in these disciplines by giving shape to a new orientation within scholarly editing."
Max ERC Funding
1 147 740 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-01-01, End date: 2017-12-31
Project acronym dEMORY
Project Dissecting the Role of Dendrites in Memory
Researcher (PI) Panayiota Poirazi
Host Institution (HI) FOUNDATION FOR RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY HELLAS
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), LS5, ERC-2012-StG_20111109
Summary Understanding the rules and mechanisms underlying memory formation, storage and retrieval is a grand challenge in neuroscience. In light of cumulating evidence regarding non-linear dendritic events (dendritic-spikes, branch strength potentiation, temporal sequence detection etc) together with activity-dependent rewiring of the connection matrix, the classical notion of information storage via Hebbian-like changes in synaptic connections is inadequate. While more recent plasticity theories consider non-linear dendritic properties, a unifying theory of how dendrites are utilized to achieve memory coding, storing and/or retrieval is cruelly missing. Using computational models, we will simulate memory processes in three key brain regions: the hippocampus, the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex. Models will incorporate biologically constrained dendrites and state-of-the-art plasticity rules and will span different levels of abstraction, ranging from detailed biophysical single neurons and circuits to integrate-and-fire networks and abstract theoretical models. Our main goal is to dissect the role of dendrites in information processing and storage across the three different regions by systematically altering their anatomical, biophysical and plasticity properties. Findings will further our understanding of the fundamental computations supported by these structures and how these computations, reinforced by plasticity mechanisms, sub-serve memory formation and associated dysfunctions, thus opening new avenues for hypothesis driven experimentation and development of novel treatments for memory-related diseases. Identification of dendrites as the key processing units across brain regions and complexity levels will lay the foundations for a new era in computational and experimental neuroscience and serve as the basis for groundbreaking advances in the robotics and artificial intelligence fields while also having a large impact on the machine learning community.
Summary
Understanding the rules and mechanisms underlying memory formation, storage and retrieval is a grand challenge in neuroscience. In light of cumulating evidence regarding non-linear dendritic events (dendritic-spikes, branch strength potentiation, temporal sequence detection etc) together with activity-dependent rewiring of the connection matrix, the classical notion of information storage via Hebbian-like changes in synaptic connections is inadequate. While more recent plasticity theories consider non-linear dendritic properties, a unifying theory of how dendrites are utilized to achieve memory coding, storing and/or retrieval is cruelly missing. Using computational models, we will simulate memory processes in three key brain regions: the hippocampus, the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex. Models will incorporate biologically constrained dendrites and state-of-the-art plasticity rules and will span different levels of abstraction, ranging from detailed biophysical single neurons and circuits to integrate-and-fire networks and abstract theoretical models. Our main goal is to dissect the role of dendrites in information processing and storage across the three different regions by systematically altering their anatomical, biophysical and plasticity properties. Findings will further our understanding of the fundamental computations supported by these structures and how these computations, reinforced by plasticity mechanisms, sub-serve memory formation and associated dysfunctions, thus opening new avenues for hypothesis driven experimentation and development of novel treatments for memory-related diseases. Identification of dendrites as the key processing units across brain regions and complexity levels will lay the foundations for a new era in computational and experimental neuroscience and serve as the basis for groundbreaking advances in the robotics and artificial intelligence fields while also having a large impact on the machine learning community.
Max ERC Funding
1 398 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2012-10-01, End date: 2017-09-30
Project acronym EVALISA
Project "The Evolution of Case, Alignment and Argument Structure in Indo-European"
Researcher (PI) Jóhanna Barðdal
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITEIT GENT
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH4, ERC-2012-StG_20111124
Summary "Alignment and argument structure lies at the heart of all current theoretical models in linguistics, both syntactic models and research within typology. In spite of that, no large-scale comprehensive study of the historical development of case marking and argument structure has been carried out in modern times, using modern linguistic approaches and frameworks, and covering an entire language family from its first documentation until modern times. The project EVALISA aims to investigate case marking and argument structure from a historical perspective, or more precisely non-nominative case marking of subjects, focusing on its development through the history of the Indo-European languages. One of the products emerging from the project is an electronically searchable database of predicates taking non-nominative subject marking, available to the research community at large, for further research on the topic. Another product is a typology of grammaticalization paths of non-nominative case marking of subjects. This is a timely enterprise given that non-nominative subject marking is extremely common in the languages of world. A third product is a methodology for reconstructing syntax and grammar, based on the tools of Construction Grammar. The theoretical framework of Construction Grammar is easily extendible to syntactic reconstruction, due to the basic status of form–meaning pairings in that model, and hence the more lexicon-like status of the grammar. This creates a natural leap for Construction Grammar from synchronic form–meaning pairings to historical reconstruction, based on form–meaning pairings. This methodology is of importance for scholars within anthropological linguistics, working on the history of oral or less-documented languages."
Summary
"Alignment and argument structure lies at the heart of all current theoretical models in linguistics, both syntactic models and research within typology. In spite of that, no large-scale comprehensive study of the historical development of case marking and argument structure has been carried out in modern times, using modern linguistic approaches and frameworks, and covering an entire language family from its first documentation until modern times. The project EVALISA aims to investigate case marking and argument structure from a historical perspective, or more precisely non-nominative case marking of subjects, focusing on its development through the history of the Indo-European languages. One of the products emerging from the project is an electronically searchable database of predicates taking non-nominative subject marking, available to the research community at large, for further research on the topic. Another product is a typology of grammaticalization paths of non-nominative case marking of subjects. This is a timely enterprise given that non-nominative subject marking is extremely common in the languages of world. A third product is a methodology for reconstructing syntax and grammar, based on the tools of Construction Grammar. The theoretical framework of Construction Grammar is easily extendible to syntactic reconstruction, due to the basic status of form–meaning pairings in that model, and hence the more lexicon-like status of the grammar. This creates a natural leap for Construction Grammar from synchronic form–meaning pairings to historical reconstruction, based on form–meaning pairings. This methodology is of importance for scholars within anthropological linguistics, working on the history of oral or less-documented languages."
Max ERC Funding
1 498 744 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-10-01, End date: 2018-09-30
Project acronym EVO-HAFT
Project Evolution of stone tool hafting in the Palaeolithic
Researcher (PI) Veerle, Lutgard, Petra Rots
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITE DE LIEGE
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH6, ERC-2012-StG_20111124
Summary "Palaeolithic stone tool hafting has been considered important for decades, both in terms of technological and cognitive evolutions, but it has been hard to design methods that allow detailed insight into the appearance of hafting and its evolution through time. The main reason is that handles were manufactured from organic materials and these are only rarely preserved. The issue thus appears to largely escapes us, but as finds become more and more numerous, promising new techniques have also been developed, which allow a more detailed investigation of hafting. It has been demonstrated that a microscopic investigation of stone tools allows a distinction between tools that were used in the hand and those that were mounted in / on a handle, as well as an interpretation of the hafting arrangement. Knowing whether and how stone tools were hafted provides crucial data for improving our understanding of past human behaviour. It is invaluable for a better comprehension of technological evolutions, it provides insight into the organic tool component that is rarely preserved, and it allows understanding the complete life cycle of stone tools. The goal of this research project is to gain insights in the appearance, regional and chronological variability, and evolution of Palaeolithic stone tool hafting in Europe and the remaining Old World through a comprehensive functional investigation of key sites, which includes the analysis of wear traces and residues, bio/physico-chemical analyses, next to an elaborate experimental program. The proposed project starts from the conviction that many of the changes observed during the Palaeolithic can be understood based on functional data. Consequently, this research project will contribute significantly to our understanding of archaeological assemblages and their variability, and of past human behaviour and its evolution through time."
Summary
"Palaeolithic stone tool hafting has been considered important for decades, both in terms of technological and cognitive evolutions, but it has been hard to design methods that allow detailed insight into the appearance of hafting and its evolution through time. The main reason is that handles were manufactured from organic materials and these are only rarely preserved. The issue thus appears to largely escapes us, but as finds become more and more numerous, promising new techniques have also been developed, which allow a more detailed investigation of hafting. It has been demonstrated that a microscopic investigation of stone tools allows a distinction between tools that were used in the hand and those that were mounted in / on a handle, as well as an interpretation of the hafting arrangement. Knowing whether and how stone tools were hafted provides crucial data for improving our understanding of past human behaviour. It is invaluable for a better comprehension of technological evolutions, it provides insight into the organic tool component that is rarely preserved, and it allows understanding the complete life cycle of stone tools. The goal of this research project is to gain insights in the appearance, regional and chronological variability, and evolution of Palaeolithic stone tool hafting in Europe and the remaining Old World through a comprehensive functional investigation of key sites, which includes the analysis of wear traces and residues, bio/physico-chemical analyses, next to an elaborate experimental program. The proposed project starts from the conviction that many of the changes observed during the Palaeolithic can be understood based on functional data. Consequently, this research project will contribute significantly to our understanding of archaeological assemblages and their variability, and of past human behaviour and its evolution through time."
Max ERC Funding
1 192 300 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-01-01, End date: 2017-12-31
Project acronym GENDERBALL
Project Implications of the Shifting Gender Balance in Education for Reproductive Behaviour in Europe
Researcher (PI) Jan Van Bavel
Host Institution (HI) KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH3, ERC-2012-StG_20111124
Summary This project is the first comprehensive study of the demographic consequences of a major recent development in Europe: while men have always received more education than women in the past, this gender balance in education has now turned around. For the first time in history, there are more highly educated women than men reaching the reproductive ages and looking for a partner. I expect that this will have profound consequences for the demography of reproduction because mating practices have always implied that men are the majority in higher education. These traditional practices are no longer compatible with the new gender distribution in education. The objective of my project is to study in depth the consequences of this historically new situation for reproductive behaviour. The first step of the project is to reconstruct country-specific time series charting the shifting gender balance in education across time and space at different ages. These can then be used as contextual information in subsequent multilevel analyses of reproductive behaviour. In the second part, I will investigate how the reversal of the gender balance is influencing patterns of assortative mating by level of education. Third, I will study how the shifting gender balance is connected to the timing and probability of marriage versus unmarried cohabitation and to the timing and quantum of fertility. Finally, I will investigate the consequences for divorce and separation. Existing data sources will be used that cover a wide range of European countries. This project will not only be ground breaking by setting the research agenda for a new era in the European reproductive landscape. It will also introduce methodological innovations. First, agent based modelling will be used as a method to study assortative mating. Second, I propose a new way to study the causal effect of the gender balance in education. These methodological innovations will prove useful for many other social science projects.
Summary
This project is the first comprehensive study of the demographic consequences of a major recent development in Europe: while men have always received more education than women in the past, this gender balance in education has now turned around. For the first time in history, there are more highly educated women than men reaching the reproductive ages and looking for a partner. I expect that this will have profound consequences for the demography of reproduction because mating practices have always implied that men are the majority in higher education. These traditional practices are no longer compatible with the new gender distribution in education. The objective of my project is to study in depth the consequences of this historically new situation for reproductive behaviour. The first step of the project is to reconstruct country-specific time series charting the shifting gender balance in education across time and space at different ages. These can then be used as contextual information in subsequent multilevel analyses of reproductive behaviour. In the second part, I will investigate how the reversal of the gender balance is influencing patterns of assortative mating by level of education. Third, I will study how the shifting gender balance is connected to the timing and probability of marriage versus unmarried cohabitation and to the timing and quantum of fertility. Finally, I will investigate the consequences for divorce and separation. Existing data sources will be used that cover a wide range of European countries. This project will not only be ground breaking by setting the research agenda for a new era in the European reproductive landscape. It will also introduce methodological innovations. First, agent based modelling will be used as a method to study assortative mating. Second, I propose a new way to study the causal effect of the gender balance in education. These methodological innovations will prove useful for many other social science projects.
Max ERC Funding
1 489 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-01-01, End date: 2017-12-31
Project acronym LIGHT
Project advanced Light mIcroscopy for Green cHemisTry
Researcher (PI) Maarten Blanka Jozef Roeffaers
Host Institution (HI) KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), PE4, ERC-2012-StG_20111012
Summary "Optimization of catalytic materials and hence of chemical processes heavily relies on gaining detailed insight into the complex dynamics underlying the outcome of a catalytic process and using this information in the rational design of improved catalysts. So far, spectroscopic approaches have already contributed importantly; however a strong need for new and improved in situ spectroscopic methods with micro- and nanometer resolution still remains. This project aims to develop advanced light microscopy tools that will significantly contribute to this goal."
Summary
"Optimization of catalytic materials and hence of chemical processes heavily relies on gaining detailed insight into the complex dynamics underlying the outcome of a catalytic process and using this information in the rational design of improved catalysts. So far, spectroscopic approaches have already contributed importantly; however a strong need for new and improved in situ spectroscopic methods with micro- and nanometer resolution still remains. This project aims to develop advanced light microscopy tools that will significantly contribute to this goal."
Max ERC Funding
1 999 485 €
Duration
Start date: 2012-10-01, End date: 2017-09-30
Project acronym MEPIHLA
Project Memory of empire: the post-imperial historiography of late Antiquity
Researcher (PI) Peter Erik Renaat Van Nuffelen
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITEIT GENT
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH6, ERC-2012-StG_20111124
Summary "The current project aims at offering the first comprehensive interpretation and reconstruction of the historiographical traditions in the Mediterranean from the fourth to the eighth centuries AD, the crucial transitional period from Antiquity to the Middle Ages. In particular, it advances the hypothesis that the historiography of this period should be understood as ‘post-imperial’, in the sense that the literary, cultural, religious and political traditions of the Roman Empire remained the point of reference at a time when that empire had, by the seventh century, lost its grip on the West and large portions of the East. New realities were thus still understood within a traditional framework and described with long-lived categories – a situation that generated fundamental tensions within late ancient historiography but also spurred great creativity in the genre. In order to be able to test this hypothesis, the project will make new sources available (especially regarding fragmentary Early Byzantine, Syriac, and late Latin historiography), increase the accessibility of existing sources through the creation of an online database, and explore different philological methodologies and interpretative models through a series of specifically targeted studies. Emphasing the shared cultural heritage instead of cultural and political fragmentation, the interpretation will especially focus on the continuation of the rhetorical tradition in late Antiquity, the incarnation of meaning in geographical space, and intercultural contacts across the Mediterranean. It thus hopes not only to establish a new paradigm for our understanding of late antique historiography but also set the study of this field on an improved methodological footing."
Summary
"The current project aims at offering the first comprehensive interpretation and reconstruction of the historiographical traditions in the Mediterranean from the fourth to the eighth centuries AD, the crucial transitional period from Antiquity to the Middle Ages. In particular, it advances the hypothesis that the historiography of this period should be understood as ‘post-imperial’, in the sense that the literary, cultural, religious and political traditions of the Roman Empire remained the point of reference at a time when that empire had, by the seventh century, lost its grip on the West and large portions of the East. New realities were thus still understood within a traditional framework and described with long-lived categories – a situation that generated fundamental tensions within late ancient historiography but also spurred great creativity in the genre. In order to be able to test this hypothesis, the project will make new sources available (especially regarding fragmentary Early Byzantine, Syriac, and late Latin historiography), increase the accessibility of existing sources through the creation of an online database, and explore different philological methodologies and interpretative models through a series of specifically targeted studies. Emphasing the shared cultural heritage instead of cultural and political fragmentation, the interpretation will especially focus on the continuation of the rhetorical tradition in late Antiquity, the incarnation of meaning in geographical space, and intercultural contacts across the Mediterranean. It thus hopes not only to establish a new paradigm for our understanding of late antique historiography but also set the study of this field on an improved methodological footing."
Max ERC Funding
1 446 600 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-01-01, End date: 2017-12-31
Project acronym MusicExperiment21
Project Experimentation versus Interpretation: exploring New Paths in Music Performance in the Twenty-First Century
Researcher (PI) Paulo De Assis
Host Institution (HI) ORPHEUS INSTITUUT VZW
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH5, ERC-2012-StG_20111124
Summary As part of the historical shift out of a textual culture into a ‘mediatized’ image and sound culture, musical performance practices have undergone, in recent decades, a shift from text-based to performative-based renderings of musical works—focussing attention upon the experience of performance more as a material, present event, then as an ‘execution’ or ‘interpretation’ of an abstract work. The aim of this research proposal is to investigate: (a) the extent to which the traditional conception of musical interpretation is bound to a given historical period; (b) how new investigative paths can be created through experimental performance practices; and (c) the extent to which the scientific model of the practice of experimentation is transferable to music performance.
Crucial to these objectives is the material engagement in artistic practice, including the generation of concrete artistic outputs by the PI and other team members. The practice of music – understood as a fundamental methodological tool for the generation and exposition of new knowledge, will contribute decisively to innovations in both theory and practice, opening up opportunities for both scholarship and future performance practices. While exploring alternative approaches to music performance, this project will deliver concrete examples of such possibilities, situating itself at the frontline of the burgeoning field of Artistic Research.
Combining theoretical investigation with the concrete practice of music, this project presents a case for change in the field of musical performance. Alongside critical reflection on the state-of-the-art, it proposes a graspable and ‘audible’ alternative to traditional understandings of ‘interpretation’ in musical performance.
Hosted at the Orpheus Research Centre in Music, it will benefit from, and contribute to, the wider discourse on Artistic Experimentation, the Centre's current research focus.
Summary
As part of the historical shift out of a textual culture into a ‘mediatized’ image and sound culture, musical performance practices have undergone, in recent decades, a shift from text-based to performative-based renderings of musical works—focussing attention upon the experience of performance more as a material, present event, then as an ‘execution’ or ‘interpretation’ of an abstract work. The aim of this research proposal is to investigate: (a) the extent to which the traditional conception of musical interpretation is bound to a given historical period; (b) how new investigative paths can be created through experimental performance practices; and (c) the extent to which the scientific model of the practice of experimentation is transferable to music performance.
Crucial to these objectives is the material engagement in artistic practice, including the generation of concrete artistic outputs by the PI and other team members. The practice of music – understood as a fundamental methodological tool for the generation and exposition of new knowledge, will contribute decisively to innovations in both theory and practice, opening up opportunities for both scholarship and future performance practices. While exploring alternative approaches to music performance, this project will deliver concrete examples of such possibilities, situating itself at the frontline of the burgeoning field of Artistic Research.
Combining theoretical investigation with the concrete practice of music, this project presents a case for change in the field of musical performance. Alongside critical reflection on the state-of-the-art, it proposes a graspable and ‘audible’ alternative to traditional understandings of ‘interpretation’ in musical performance.
Hosted at the Orpheus Research Centre in Music, it will benefit from, and contribute to, the wider discourse on Artistic Experimentation, the Centre's current research focus.
Max ERC Funding
1 497 241 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-02-01, End date: 2018-01-31
Project acronym REFCOM
Project The Real Estate/Financial Complex
Researcher (PI) Manuel Berthus Aalbers
Host Institution (HI) KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH2, ERC-2012-StG_20111124
Summary Real estate and finance were at the roots of the global economic crisis that started in 2007. States and their many institutions have also been seen as complicit to the crisis. The connections between real estate (both residential and non-residential), finance and states still remain under-researched and under-theorized. Work in various political economy traditions has done a great deal of research into the connection between finance and states, but they have often ignored a crucial sector: real estate. There is also a tradition of work focusing on the interaction between real estate and states, usually concentrating on the involvement of municipalities in real estate projects. Finance is often ignored in this tradition. Moreover, this tradition has its roots in urban studies and is very micro focused, while the various political economy traditions are very macro focused. In other words, we not only need a stronger connection between finance and real estate, we also need a stronger connection between different scales: local/urban, national and global.
I here propose a new metaphor that can help us to centre attention on the connection between real estate, finance and states: the real estate/financial complex, akin the military/industrial complex. Both complexes should be seen as triangles since states are also part of the equation. A Postdoc will do internationally comparative research on both the quantitative and qualitative shifts towards real estate, finance and their interaction. Three PhD students will focus on two countries each, each complementing two national mappings of the complex with two local/urban case studies. The PI will focus on the qualitative shift towards real estate, finance and the role of the state in this; the global dimensions of the complex; and the conceptualization of the complex in relation to the structural changes in state-society-market relations.
Summary
Real estate and finance were at the roots of the global economic crisis that started in 2007. States and their many institutions have also been seen as complicit to the crisis. The connections between real estate (both residential and non-residential), finance and states still remain under-researched and under-theorized. Work in various political economy traditions has done a great deal of research into the connection between finance and states, but they have often ignored a crucial sector: real estate. There is also a tradition of work focusing on the interaction between real estate and states, usually concentrating on the involvement of municipalities in real estate projects. Finance is often ignored in this tradition. Moreover, this tradition has its roots in urban studies and is very micro focused, while the various political economy traditions are very macro focused. In other words, we not only need a stronger connection between finance and real estate, we also need a stronger connection between different scales: local/urban, national and global.
I here propose a new metaphor that can help us to centre attention on the connection between real estate, finance and states: the real estate/financial complex, akin the military/industrial complex. Both complexes should be seen as triangles since states are also part of the equation. A Postdoc will do internationally comparative research on both the quantitative and qualitative shifts towards real estate, finance and their interaction. Three PhD students will focus on two countries each, each complementing two national mappings of the complex with two local/urban case studies. The PI will focus on the qualitative shift towards real estate, finance and the role of the state in this; the global dimensions of the complex; and the conceptualization of the complex in relation to the structural changes in state-society-market relations.
Max ERC Funding
1 497 919 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-02-01, End date: 2018-01-31
Project acronym SynapseCode
Project Uncovering the role of new synaptic adhesion molecules in encoding synaptic connectivity in the brain
Researcher (PI) Joris De Wit
Host Institution (HI) VIB
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), LS5, ERC-2012-StG_20111109
Summary Synapses connect neurons into a network that encodes our thoughts, memories and personalities. Loss of synaptic connectivity is thought to underlie a variety of cognitive disorders such as autism, schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease, but little is known about the molecules and mechanisms that establish and maintain the precise patterns of synaptic connectivity in the brain. Neither is it understood how perturbed synaptic connectivity affects cognitive function. The synaptic adhesion molecules that connect pre- and postsynaptic partners across the synaptic cleft provide the key to understand these processes.
I hypothesize that the proper formation and function of synaptic connections depends on synapse-specific complexes of adhesion molecules. Together, these complexes form a synaptic adhesion code that specifies synaptic connectivity and contributes to the functional and structural diversity of synapses in the brain. In my preliminary studies, I have identified a large complex of novel synaptic adhesion molecules that is required for normal synapse function, and is ideally suited to confer precise synaptic connectivity. Using in vivo manipulation of these novel synaptic adhesion molecules, I will uncover how the diversity in synaptic adhesion complexes contributes to the specification of synaptic connectivity and the diversity of synapses. Furthermore, I will determine how loss of these novel adhesion molecules affects cognitive function. This will yield new insights in the molecular and cellular mechanisms that underlie the establishment of precise synaptic connectivity in the brain. Ultimately, this insight will guide the development of new strategies for the treatment of cognitive disorders.
Summary
Synapses connect neurons into a network that encodes our thoughts, memories and personalities. Loss of synaptic connectivity is thought to underlie a variety of cognitive disorders such as autism, schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease, but little is known about the molecules and mechanisms that establish and maintain the precise patterns of synaptic connectivity in the brain. Neither is it understood how perturbed synaptic connectivity affects cognitive function. The synaptic adhesion molecules that connect pre- and postsynaptic partners across the synaptic cleft provide the key to understand these processes.
I hypothesize that the proper formation and function of synaptic connections depends on synapse-specific complexes of adhesion molecules. Together, these complexes form a synaptic adhesion code that specifies synaptic connectivity and contributes to the functional and structural diversity of synapses in the brain. In my preliminary studies, I have identified a large complex of novel synaptic adhesion molecules that is required for normal synapse function, and is ideally suited to confer precise synaptic connectivity. Using in vivo manipulation of these novel synaptic adhesion molecules, I will uncover how the diversity in synaptic adhesion complexes contributes to the specification of synaptic connectivity and the diversity of synapses. Furthermore, I will determine how loss of these novel adhesion molecules affects cognitive function. This will yield new insights in the molecular and cellular mechanisms that underlie the establishment of precise synaptic connectivity in the brain. Ultimately, this insight will guide the development of new strategies for the treatment of cognitive disorders.
Max ERC Funding
1 718 070 €
Duration
Start date: 2013-02-01, End date: 2018-01-31
