DYNAMIC BRAIN FUNCTION: Towards the Understanding and Treatment of Brain Disorders

ongoing

DYNABrain aims to develop, extend and fully unlock the research potential of the Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology (CNC), through the implementation of a new interdisciplinary research line in the field of Systems Neuroscience that will synergise and uplift CNC’s flagship research domain, Neuroscience, to the EU/ERA level. It will capitalize on CNC’s installed capacity and research excellence in cellular and molecular Neuroscience and Brain Diseases, and establish an ERA Chair in Systems Neuroscience to incorporate the systems-level of understanding brain function and pathology in CNC core research activity. The field has gained center-stage due to recent advances in technology for recording and manipulating neural circuits at single-cell resolution and in vivo, creating new opportunities to investigate how neuronal networks give rise to behavior, and how alterations in their activity relate with neuropsychiatric diseases and with early stages of neurodegenerative disorders. It will greatly contribute to the development of pioneer strategies to treat brain diseases, or to delay/reduce their socio-economic burden. DYNABrain will thus recruit a research team in Systems Neuroscience headed by an outstanding scientist in the field with proven leadership and management competence, to transversally impact on CNC core research activities and synergise its complementary research areas. The CNC Neuroscience ecosystem, immersed in the large R&I network of the University of Coimbra, provides the right setting for the successful integration of the ERA Chair. An innovative International PhD Programme in Integrative Neuroscience will be created powered by the ERA Chair expertise that will boost the competitiveness of CNC graduate school and train the next generation of Neuroscientists. A group of highly prestigious and influential European and US Neuroscientists, with a clear view of the current challenges in Neuroscience, will advise on the different steps of the project.