Search for European Projects

37 European Projects Found

Searched on 125080 European Projects

 FINISHED 

RNAi-mediated genome regulation (RNAiGenReg)

Start date: Jan 1, 2012, End date: Dec 31, 2016,

RNA interference (RNAi) is a highly conserved, sequence-specific gene regulatory mechanism among eukaryotes. It is critical for a variety of important biological functions and is being pursued as a promising new tool for the treatment of a variety of human maladies. A surprising link between heterochromatin and the RNAi pathway was discovered a few years ago in fission yeast and plants, and simila ...
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 2

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A BLUEPRINT of Haematopoietic Epigenomes (BLUEPRINT)

Start date: Oct 1, 2011, End date: Sep 30, 2016,

In response to the call for a high impact initiative on the human epigenome, the BLUEPRINT Consortium has been formed with the aim of generating at least 100 reference epigenomes and studying them to advance and exploit knowledge of the underlying biological processes and mechanisms in health and disease. BLUEPRINT will focus on distinct types of haematopoietic cells from healthy individuals and o ...
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 45

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Epigenetics towards systems biology (EPIGENESYS)

Start date: Oct 1, 2010, End date: Mar 31, 2016,

The ‘EpiGeneSys’ Network of Excellence aims to enable European epigenetics research to enter the arena of systems biology, a new step forward with major implications for human health. Many diseases, not explained solely by gene mutation, have rather been associated with epigenetic disorders. Following the identification of key epigenetic regulators, a move towards a systems biology approach is nee ...
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 28

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Neuronal circuits controlling motor behavior (Motor Circuits)

Start date: Mar 1, 2010, End date: Feb 29, 2016,

How does the assembly of neuronal circuits contribute to the emergence of function controlling dedicated animal behaviors? Finding answers to this question requires a deep understanding of the connectivity map of neuronal circuits controlling a behavior as well as the mechanisms involved in the generation of these specific circuit maps. In the project outlined here, I propose the analysis of the n ...
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 2

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The molecular basis of Cockayne Syndrome (MOBA-CS)

Start date: Jan 1, 2011, End date: Dec 31, 2015,

Cockayne syndrome is a congenital disease with impaired DNA repair in actively transcribed genes. Affected children show developmental abnormalities and signs of premature aging. Cockayne syndrome is caused by mutations in the Cockayne syndrome complementation group A (CSA) and B (CSB) genes. While CSB encodes a SWI/SNF ATPase that likely assists the stalled RNA polymerase in overcoming lesions, C ...
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 2

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Neural circuit function in the retina of mice and humans (CELLTYPESANDCIRCUITS)

Start date: Nov 1, 2010, End date: Oct 31, 2015,

The mammalian brain is assembled from thousands of neuronal cell types that are organized into distinct circuits to perform behaviourally relevant computations. To gain mechanistic insights about brain function and to treat specific diseases of the nervous system it is crucial to understand what these local circuits are computing and how they achieve these computations. By examining the structure ...
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 2

 FINISHED 

Dopaminergic modulation of neuronal circuit function in the zebrafish olfactory system (ZF Optomodulomics)

Start date: Aug 1, 2013, End date: Jul 31, 2015,

Neuromodulatory neurons project to a wide range of target areas and adjust neuronal circuit function by modifying neuronal properties, synaptic transmission, and neuronal plasticity. Neuromodulators such as dopamine are implicated in various neurological disorders such as Schizophrenia and addiction. Despite detailed insights into the molecular and cellular actions of neuromodulators, their concer ...
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 2

 FINISHED 

The role of microRNAs in the Retinal Bipolar Cell (RBC miRNA)

Start date: Feb 1, 2013, End date: Jun 6, 2015,

Studies conducted at the Friedrich Meischer Institute (FMI) in Basel have focused on the roles of miRNAs specific to the retina. They have recently shown that absence of functional miRNA expression has severe consequences on mature cone photoreceptors of the mouse retina; a selective and dramatic reduction of cone-specific gene expression arises with the cone-specific loss of regulation by miRNAs ...
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 2

 FINISHED 

Mechanisms of microRNA biogenesis and turnover (miRTurn)

Start date: May 1, 2010, End date: Apr 30, 2015,

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a novel class of genes, accounting for >1% of genes in a typical animal genome. They constitute an important layer of gene regulation that affects diverse processes such as cell differentiation, apoptosis, and metabolism. Despite such critical roles, deciphering the mechanism of action of miRNAs has been difficult, leading to multiple, partially contradictory, models of m ...
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 2

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The role of protein-tyrosine phosphatases in breast development and cancer (PTPSBDC)

Start date: Feb 1, 2010, End date: Jan 31, 2015,

Each year 1.1 million new cases of breast cancer will occur among women worldwide and 400,000 women will die from this disease. Although progress has been made in understanding breast tumor biology, most of the relevant molecules and pathways remain undefined. Their delineation is critical to a rational approach to breast cancer therapy. This proposal focuses on the role of the under-explored fami ...
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 2

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Paving the Way for Future Emerging DNA-based Technologies: Computer-Aided Design and Manufacturing of DNA libraries (CADMAD)

Start date: Feb 1, 2011, End date: Oct 31, 2014,

CADMAD aims to make a foundational breakthrough in the way computers and computer-aided design and manufacturing is employed in DNA-based research and development, making a radically new use of information technologies in biology and biotechnology.Biology and biotechnology research involves "DNA programming", which is akin to computer programming. Researchers modify and combine DNA of interest in ...
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 12

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European Consortium on Synaptic Protein Networks in Neurological and Psychiatric Diseases (EUROSPIN)

Start date: Jan 1, 2010, End date: Jun 30, 2014,

"Signalling at nerve cell synapses - a key determinant of all aspects of brain function - depends on the function of hundreds of synaptic proteins and their interactions. Numerous recent studies showed that a wide range of neurological and psychiatric diseases are 'synaptopathies' whose onset and progression are due to mutations of synaptic proteins and subsequent synaptic dysfunctions. EUROSPIN w ...
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 19

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Euro-BioImaging - Research infrastructure for imaging technologies in biological and biomedical sciences (Euro-BioImaging)

Start date: Dec 1, 2010, End date: May 31, 2014,

Euro-BioImaging brings together imaging technologies stretching from basic biological imaging with advanced light microscopy, in vivo molecular imaging of single cells to animal models up to the clinical and epidemiological level of medical imaging of humans and populations. Euro-BioImaging, in close consultation with its stakeholders, will address the imaging requirements of both biological and m ...
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 44

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The subnuclear relocation of promoters during development, and following stress induction in C. elegans (WormProLoc)

Start date: Jan 1, 2012, End date: May 7, 2014,

During development and cellular differentiation, cells acquire specific fates by regulating spatially and temporally the expression of certain groups of genes. This correlates with drastic changes in the 3D organization of the genome. A recent discovery from the Gasser lab has demonstrated that in differentiated cells of C. elegans, tissue-specific promoters relocate inward the 3D nuclear space wh ...
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 2

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Optogenetic Neural stimulation platform (OptoNeuro)

Start date: Oct 1, 2010, End date: Mar 31, 2014,

The 2003 breakthrough discovery of a nanoscale optically active cation channel, channelrhodopsin-2, made it possible for the first time, to genetically re-engineer neuron cells to be photosensitive. It became possible to stimulate or inhibit individual action potentials at will, without further chemical modification. The capabilities have been demonstrated in a number of recent high profile journa ...
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 7

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Fighting blindness of Usher syndrome: diagnosis, pathogenesis and retinal treatment (TreatRetUsher) (TREATRUSH)

Start date: Feb 1, 2010, End date: Jan 31, 2014,

Usher syndrome (USH) is the most frequent hereditary cause of deafness associated to blindness. It is a rare disease, affecting 1 in every 10.000 individuals, with an autosomal recessive monogenic inheritance. Deafness is congenital while the retinitis pigmentosa is not detected before the age of 8 to 10. These patients suffer from a dreadful disability as their two major senses are impaired. Impo ...
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 13

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Nucleosome Structure & Function across Biological Scales and Biological Function (NUCLEOSOME4D)

Start date: Nov 1, 2009, End date: Oct 31, 2013,

Chromatin packages a few meters of DNA into a nucleus measuring a few microns. This tight folding occurs by assembling DNA with histones into so-called nucleosomes, thus ensuring the mechanical stability of our genome. On the flipside, this makes nucleosomes a formidable obstacle to the machines that read, copy or repair its DNA message. One of the fundamental questions in biology is to understand ...
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 17

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Epigenetic determinants of the genome that govern cellular plasticity (EPIGEPLAS)

Start date: Oct 1, 2008, End date: Sep 30, 2013,

Differentiation events in mammalian development involve stable resetting of transcriptional programs, which entails changes in the epigenetic state of target sequences defined by modifications of DNA and bound nucleosomes. These recently identified epigenetic layers modulate DNA accessibility in a positive and negative manner and thus could make genetic readouts context-dependent and dynamic. The ...
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 2

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Promotion of plasticity as a treatment for neurodegenerative conditions (PLASTICISE)

Start date: Dec 1, 2008, End date: Nov 30, 2012,

"Neurodegenerative diseases all cause damage to the circuitry of the nervous system, with loss of connections, axons and neurons. The loss can be gradual, as in Alzheimer’s disease, rapid as in stroke, or intermediate as in the delayed neuronal loss after stroke. Following damage, the nervous system is able partially to compensate through the formation of alternative connections and pathways, a pr ...
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 16

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High Resolution Microscopy in the DNA Damage Response (Image DDR)

Start date: Nov 1, 2008, End date: Oct 31, 2012,

Background: The DNA damage response (DDR) is a specialised stress response fundamental to maintaining genome integrity and suppressing tumour formation. Traditional molecular and cellular biology, combined with genetics and biochemistry, have led to an understanding of the architecture of the DDR in a variety of model organisms and in human cells. These studies have employed populations of cells/ ...
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 6

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Optogenetic analysis of neural circuits controlling behavior in zebrafish (ZF Optogenetics)

Start date: Jul 1, 2010, End date: Jun 30, 2012,

The aim of this project is to understand how behaviours are controlled by neuronal circuits in zebrafish. Genetic methods such as the Gal4-UAS system will be used to express the light-gated cation channel channelrhodopsin-2 and the light-gated chloride pump halorhodopsin in defined neuronal populations. These optogenetic tools permit the stimulation (channelrhodopsin) or inhibition (halorhodopsin) ...
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 1

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The role of nuclear pore and inner nuclear envelope proteins in the regulation of recombination and repair pathways in budding yeast (NE as a Healing Hub)

Start date: Jul 1, 2010, End date: Jun 30, 2012,

DNA double strand breaks (DSBs) and telomeres both represent ends of a linear chromosome, and both can lead to dangerous genomic rearrangements. Recent studies in budding yeast suggest that persistent DSBs associate with factors in two perinuclear compartments, at nuclear pores and in the inner nuclear membrane (INM). The stability of short telomeres also involves telomere binding to an INM protei ...
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 1

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Molecular Analysis of Synapse Formation, Maintenance and Disassembly at the Drosophila neuromuscular junction (Synapse Stability)

Start date: Jun 1, 2008, End date: May 31, 2012,

The refinement of neuronal circuits requires both a stabilization of existing synaptic connections and a disassembly of previously functional synapses. While the mechanisms of synapse formation have been extensively studied, very little is known about the molecular mechanisms that are responsible for the stabilization of synaptic connections. Any inappropriate loss of synaptic stability will lead ...
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 1

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"Structural studies of the yeast Topoisomerase III, RMI1 Sgs1 complex." (TOPO)

Start date: Apr 1, 2010, End date: Mar 31, 2012,

"The eukaryotic Topoisomerase3 (TopIII) belongs to the replicative machinery present at the replication fork. TopIII is a type 1 enzyme whose activity is known to unlink the DNA single strand catenanes as shown by the crystal structure of the E. coli Topoisomerase III solved in 2001. The TopIII propensity to solve DNA topological problems and to complete homologous recombination events during repl ...
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 1

 FINISHED 

Organization, plasticity and perceptual functions of neuronal circuits in a higher olfactory forebrain area (ZebrafishForebrain)

Start date: Mar 1, 2010, End date: Feb 29, 2012,

The brain processes sensory information in a succession of interconnected brain areas. Response complexity tends to increase with distance from the sensory organ, and neurons in higher brain areas exhibit complex response properties that may also reflect memory processes and behavioural associations. Little is known about how such complex representations emerge. I propose to confront this problem ...
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 1

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Functional long-term imaging of single bouton-spine pairs during optogenetically controlled synaptic plasticity (OMFLICSS)

Start date: Mar 1, 2010, End date: Feb 29, 2012,

"Communication between neurons in the brain occurs mainly via chemical synapses. Activity-dependent changes in synaptic strength represent the cellular basis of learning and memory and depend on both the presynaptic terminal and the postsynaptic specialization. Although postsynaptic strength and presynaptic transmitter release have been extensively studied in isolation, simultaneous investigation ...
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 1

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Functional in vivo two-photon imaging of fear memory traces in identified neuronal networks of the amygdala (Amygdala Imaging)

Start date: Jan 1, 2008, End date: Dec 31, 2011,

Memory formation is one of the most sophisticated and fascinating functions of the nervous system. Our brains remain plastic throughout life and enable us to store and access an amount of information that no computer could cope with. While the physiological mechanisms underlying learning have been studied extensively using in vitro preparations, much less is known about how memories are stored at ...
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 1

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Circuit specific approaches to retinal diseases (RETICIRC)

Start date: Jan 1, 2009, End date: Dec 31, 2011,

"The RETICIR project focuses on neuronal mechanisms of vision from photoreceptor level to visual cortex. Physiological knowledge of the visual system will be used to address pathophysiological neuronal mechanisms of diseases affecting vision. In the project we will identify molecular and cellular disease mechanism of retinitis pigmentosa and glaucoma, and will demonstrate restoration of vision in ...
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 6

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Spinal locomotor circuits: organization and repair after injury (SPINAL CORD REPAIR)

Start date: Jan 1, 2008, End date: Jun 30, 2011,

"Neural circuits in the spinal cord, called central pattern generators (CPGs), can produce locomotor movements. The locomotor activity pattern is the result of the circuit design and the interplay between the firing properties of the CPG constituent neurons and their synaptic interactions. Spinal cord injury impairs the function of the locomotor circuitry and results in paralysis. An understanding ...
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 5

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Role of protein-tyrosine phosphatases in angiogenesis (PTPs in Angiogenesis)

Start date: Jul 1, 2009, End date: Jun 30, 2011,

Angiogenesis is the formation of new blood vessels from pre-existing ones and is involved in different physiological and pathological processes such as cancer and ischemia. Tyrosine phosphorylation is a reversible process, mediated by protein-tyrosine kinases (PTKs) and protein-tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs). Although the role of PTKs in angiogenesis is well established, little is known about the fu ...
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 1

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Topoisomerase Function in genome and epigenome regulation during Neuronal Differentiation (toponeuronal)

Start date: Mar 1, 2009, End date: Feb 28, 2011,

Transcriptional regulation defines the identity of pluripotent and differentiated cells. DNA Topoisomerases are enzymes that catalyze the unlinking of the DNA strands by making transient DNA strand breaks and allowing the DNA to rotate around these breaks, a process essential for DNA replication, transcription, chromosome condensation and segregation (Champoux, 2001). A mammalian-specific distinct ...
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 1

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Ubiquitination and sumoylation in modulating subnuclear localization of DNA repair (Slx5-8 in DNA Repair)

Start date: Mar 1, 2009, End date: Feb 28, 2011,

The maintenance of genomic integrity is a crucial biological process. Among the main factors influencing genome stability are DNA repair mechanisms, which are highly conserved among eukaryotes. There is a complex interplay and crosstalk among the different regulatory mechanisms that control DNA repair pathways. These mechanisms often exploit post-translational modifications such as ubiquitination ...
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 1

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Regulation of selective translation via signal transduction pathways (Translation Control)

Start date: Mar 1, 2009, End date: Feb 28, 2011,

The overall rate of protein synthesis is an important factor modulating cell and tissue metabolism. In addition, the translational machinery plays key roles in controlling gene-specific expression in eukaryotic cells. The regulatory mechanisms involve changes in the activities of components of translational complexes that lead to selective translation of specific subsets of messenger RNAs. Modulat ...
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 1

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Functional Analysis of Genetically Identified Retinal Interneurons (Neural Circuits)

Start date: Nov 1, 2008, End date: Oct 31, 2010,

The classification of cell types that make up the brain has long been recognized as a prerequisites to understanding brain function. In addition, relating identified neurons to neural function has relied heavily on their inactivation. To answer such questions a tool that allows one to reliably target specific cells for recording, labeling and manipulation is needed. Here I describe a multidiscipli ...
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 1

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Imaging light evoked activity at different strata of the mammalian retina (RetActivityImaging)

Start date: Nov 1, 2008, End date: Oct 31, 2010,

"The mammalian visual system analyzes the world through a set of separate spatio-temporal channels. The organization of these channels begins in the retina where the precise laminations of both the axon terminals of bipolar cells and the dendritic arbors of ganglion cells form a vertical stack of neural strata at the inner plexiform layer. A major challenge is to understand how the different ""vis ...
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 1

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Regulating nuclear organisation in telomere maintenance and DNA repair: the role of SUMO modification (SUMO and chromatin)

Start date: Mar 1, 2008, End date: Feb 28, 2010,

The organisation of the genome into separate domains and sub-compartments through higher order chromatin structure is an important means by which eukaryotic cells control nuclear processes such as DNA transcription and repair. Recent evidence has implicated sumoylation as an important regulator of global nuclear architecture as well as allied processes such as telomere maintenance and DNA damage r ...
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 1

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Elucidation of a microRNA turnover machinery in C. elegans (miRT)

Start date: Mar 1, 2008, End date: Feb 28, 2010,

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a large class of noncoding regulatory RNAs. In animals miRNAs base-pair with the 3’ untranslated region (UTR) of their target mRNAs to target them for cleavage or translational repression. Repressed target mRNAs accumulate in cytoplasmic structures termed P-bodies, where some targets may be degraded. Other targets appear to be stable and can subsequently be re-expressed. In ...
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 1