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Competitive research projects funded by external entities
Comparative Connectomics: Revealing change and conservation in whole brain circuits across evolution
Acronym
CircuitEvolution
Project title
Comparative Connectomics: Revealing change and conservation in whole brain circuits across evolution
External reference
101167460
Description/abstract
Animals display remarkable diversity in their behaviors, yet very little is known about how nervous systems evolve to generate such variation. CircuitEvolution will answer two fundamental questions: 1. How does brain wiring change across species as novel behavioral traits evolve? 2. What core features of brain circuits are deeply conserved across species? We will use electron microscopy connectomics,
the only method that enables unbiased, brain-wide structural analysis of the synaptic connectivity between all neurons. Building on
recent rapid progress in Drosophila melanogaster, the frontier of whole brain connectomics, we will target drosophilids at a strategically
selected range of evolutionary divergences. Two PIs (Cardona, Jefferis) are pioneers in Drosophila connectomics, and our third PI (Ruta) and collaborators (Prieto-Godino, Benton) have pioneered molecular genetic investigation of behavioral and circuit evolution across drosophilids. Crucially, with our fourth PI (statistical physicist, Sales Pardo), we will identify conserved and divergent neurons and circuits across increasingly distant species, developing new inference methods for connectome alignment, simplification, and neuron annotation. Working together on this project we can develop a new field of whole-brain comparative connectomics. With cutting edge technology, we will obtain and share multiple connectomes for 7 species. These unique datasets will allow comparisons across species,
sexes and developmental stages and support three areas of biological investigation within this grant: olfactory circuits, courtship behavior and the conserved core of the insect brain. This will generate many hypotheses that will be tested experimentally by the PIs, collaborators and laboratories worldwide. The insights and methods will have a major impact on understanding conserved and evolving circuit function across phyla all the way to mammalian brains and impact the design of artificial intelligence systems.
Financing entity
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
Amount granted
1.021.005,00 €
Logos
Call
ERC-2024-SyG: Call for Proposals for ERC Synergy Grants. Topic: ERC-2024-SyG: ERC Synergy Grants. Type of Action: HORIZON-ERC-SYG HORIZON ERC Synergy Grants
