ERC FUNDED PROJECTS

At every moment in time, the brain receives a vast amount of sensory information about the environment. This makes attention, the process by which we select currently relevant stimuli for processing and ignore irrelevant input, a fundamentally important brain function. Studies in primates have yielded a detailed description of how attention to a stimulus modifies the responses of neuronal ensembles in visual cortex, but how this modulation is produced mechanistically in the circuit is not well understood. Neuronal circuits comprise a large variety of neuron types, and to gain mechanistic insights, and to treat specific diseases of the nervous system, it is crucial to characterize the contribution of different identified cell types to information processing. Inhibition supplied by a small yet highly diverse set of interneurons controls all aspects of cortical function, and the central hypothesis of this proposal is that differential modulation of genetically-defined interneuron types is a key mechanism of attention in visual cortex. To identify the interneuron types underlying attentional modulation and to investigate how this, in turn, affects computations in the circuit we will use an innovative multidisciplinary approach combining genetic targeting in mice with cutting-edge in vivo 2-photon microscopy-based recordings and selective optogenetic manipulation of activity. Importantly, a key set of experiments will test whether the observed neuronal mechanisms are causally involved in attention at the level of behavior, the ultimate readout of the computations we are interested in. The expected results will provide a detailed, mechanistic dissection of the neuronal basis of attention. Beyond attention, selection of different functional states of the same hard-wired circuit by modulatory input is a fundamental, but poorly understood, phenomenon in the brain, and we predict that our insights will elucidate similar mechanisms in other brain areas and functional contexts.

1 466 505 €

Start date: 2014-02-01, End date: 2019-01-31

The BioMNP objective is the molecular-level understanding of the interactions between surface functionalized metal nanoparticles and biological membranes, by means of cutting-edge computational techniques and new molecular models. Metal nanoparticles (NP) play more and more important roles in pharmaceutical and medical technology as diagnostic or therapeutic devices. Metal NPs can nowadays be engineered in a multitude of shapes, sizes and compositions, and they can be decorated with an almost infinite variety of functionalities. Despite such technological advances, there is still poor understanding of the molecular processes that drive the interactions of metal NPs with cells. Cell membranes are the first barrier encountered by NPs entering living organisms. The understanding and control of the interaction of nanoparticles with biological membranes is therefore of paramount importance to understand the molecular basis of the NP biological effects. BioMNP will go beyond the state of the art by rationalizing the complex interplay of NP size, composition, functionalization and aggregation state during the interaction with model biomembranes. Membranes, in turn, will be modelled at an increasing level of complexity in terms of lipid composition and phase. BioMNP will rely on cutting-edge simulation techniques and facilities, and develop new coarse-grained models grounded on finer-level atomistic simulations, to study the NP-membrane interactions on an extremely large range of length and time scales. BioMNP will benefit from important and complementary experimental collaborations, will propose interpretations of the available experimental data and make predictions to guide the design of functional, non-toxic metal nanoparticles for biomedical applications. BioMNP aims at answering fundamental questions at the crossroads of physics, biology and chemistry. Its results will have an impact on nanomedicine, toxicology, nanotechnology and material sciences.

1 131 250 €

Start date: 2016-04-01, End date: 2021-03-31

Responding to climate change has profound implications for behaviour; yet policies to achieve this change have met with limited success. A key challenge for environmental social scientists is the need to move forward in understanding how to bring about change in consumption, community and political behaviours, which is commensurate to the scale of the climate change challenge. One promising area is ‘behavioural spillover’, the notion that taking up a new behaviour (e.g., recycling) may lead to adoption of other, more environmentally beneficial, behaviours. Such a notion appears to hold the promise of changing a suite of behaviours in a cost-effective way. Yet despite robust theoretical principles (e.g., self-perception theory) underpinning behavioural spillover, there is little empirical research. The proposed research intends to produce a step-change in behavioural and sustainability science by undertaking a mixed-method, cross-cultural study of pro-environmental behavioural spillover in order to open up new ways of promoting sustainable lifestyle change and significantly broadening our understanding of behaviour within individuals and cultures. There are three objectives for the research: 1. To examine ways in which pro-environmental behaviour, lifestyles and spillover are understood and develop within different cultures; 2. To understand drivers of behavioural consistency and spillover effects across contexts, including home and work, and cultures; and 3. To develop a theoretical framework for behavioural spillover and test interventions to promote spillover across different contexts and cultures. Three Work Packages will address these objectives: 1. Defining and understanding spillover: Focus groups with biographical questions and card sorts [Years 1-2] 2. Examining drivers of spillover: Cross-national survey with factor, correlation and regression analyses [Years 2-3] 3. Developing theory and testing interventions: Laboratory and field experiments [Years 3-5]

1 486 563 €

Start date: 2014-02-01, End date: 2019-01-31

Each year millions of animals undertake remarkable migratory journeys, across oceans and through hemispheres, guided by the Earth’s magnetic field. The cellular and molecular basis of this enigmatic sense, known as magnetoreception, remains an unsolved scientific mystery. One hypothesis that attempts to explain the basis of this sensory faculty is known as the magnetite theory of magnetoreception. It argues that magnetic information is transduced into a neuronal impulse by employing the iron oxide magnetite (Fe3O4). Current evidence indicates that pigeons employ a magnetoreceptor that is associated with the ophthalmic branch of the trigeminal nerve and the vestibular system, but the sensory cells remain undiscovered. The goal of this ambitious proposal is to discover the cells and molecules that mediate magnetoreception. This overall objective can be divided into three specific aims: (1) the identification of putative magnetoreceptive cells (PMCs); (2) the cellular characterisation of PMCs; and (3) the discovery and functional ablation of molecules specific to PMCs. In tackling these three aims this proposal adopts a reductionist mindset, employing and developing the latest imaging, subcellular, and molecular technologies.

1 499 752 €

Start date: 2014-04-01, End date: 2019-03-31