DFF funds four research projects at Department of Neuroscience

The circadian system enables the brain to synchronise body functions to the day-night cycle of utmost importance to human health. The main circadian clock is in the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus and controls daily rhythms in glucocorticoid hormones. Our recent progress suggests that 24h rhythms in glucocorticoids act to control the circadian function of the hippocampus. Clinical and experimental findings further show that disruption of the circadian function of the cerebral cortex and hippocampus can elicit depression. We here aim to bridge the gap between neuroscience, psychology, and psychiatry with the purpose of determining if clock rhythms in leukocytes can be used to monitor circadian misalignment and to establish if rhythmic infusion of glucocorticoids in a 24h schedule can reestablish circadian function of the brain to counteract the development of depression.

This project explores how the basal ganglia control walking movements through their interaction with brainstem motor circuits. While the basal ganglia are known to regulate movement, their precise role in gait remains unclear. Building on our lab’s discovery of brainstem centres for movement initiation, stopping, and turning, we will map basal ganglia–brainstem connections, identify neural patterns that drive locomotion, and apply this knowledge to improve treatments for Parkinson’s gait disorders.

The grant has postdoc Giacomo Sitzia in our lab as a co-applicant. 

My FSS-funded project centres on the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) that protects the brain from impact and facilitates the transport of nutrients and hormones. CSF disturbances can lead to elevated intracranial pressure (ICP), as observed in e.g. stroke and hydrocephalus, which is currently treated by invasive neurosurgery with associated complications. Pharmacological approaches towards pathological brain fluid accumulation are therefore of high clinical priority. This project will reveal the contribution to CSF secretion of the transport proteins on the vascular-facing side of the choroid plexus, where they can be targeted by systemic drugs. The PhD student will employ in vivo determination of CSF dynamics in mice following pharmacological inhibition or choroid plexus-specific viral knockdown of select transport proteins, complemented by ex vivo determination of their involvement in human choroid plexus organoids. With a lack of specific pharmacological options for elevated ICP treatment, these results could provide a step towards medical treatment of these disorders.