"The CBTOUCH project focuses on the cerebellum as a crucial component of the circuit involved in the precise tuning of motor control during tactile discrimination. A large fraction of the tactile information is acquired in a motor context.The nervous system must thus combine the sensory and motor informations to optimize movements aimed at collecting information and ultimately correctly interpret the sensations. My project aims at exploring the neurobiological basis of these operations, and particularly to identify the contribution of the cerebellum. Specifically, I will study the whisker sensory system in the rodent.The aims of my project are to:1.identify the connections of the cerebellum with the whisker sensory-motor cortices thanks to a combination of functional imaging optogenetic and electrophysiological experiments.2.demonstrate the functional recruitment of the cerebellum in relation with the whiskers movements during tactile exploration of known and unknown stimuli configurations, using electrophysiological recordings and fast video recordings in awake animals.3.establish the contribution of the cerebellum to the sense of touch by perturbing the cerebellar function during sensory discrimination, using optogenetic stimulations during a behavioral taskThis project should help to understand how the body movements are precisely tuned to optimize the sense of touch."