Pre-configured and learned properties of hippocampal circuits (360G-Wellcome-210690_Z_18_Z)

£1,097,310

Despite recent advances in systems and computational neuroscience, very little is known about how the brain’s functional complexity arises during ontogenesis and which developmental mechanisms determine the emergence of complex behaviour. The proposed research aims to bridge this gap between developmental neurobiology and systems neuroscience by defining the relative roles of early embryonic events and post-natal learning in the development of spatial and non-spatial coding in the hippocampal formation. Our key goals are to: 1) establish whether the functional diversity in hippocampal place cells is defined by early embryonic divergence; 2) test whether ‘non-place’ coding in the hippocampus is intrinsic to the network (as place coding appears to be), or whether it requires late post-natal learning; 3) discover the relative contributions of experience-dependent and independent processes in creating the specific neural architecture (‘continuous attractor') underlying codes for direction and distance. We will deliver these goals using chronic in vivo recording of neural activity (high density electrophysiology and calcium imaging) in developing animals coupled with neuronal birth tagging, behavioural testing and functional inactivation of crucial targets, to discover which self-organised embryonic events and instructive signals are necessary to organise hippocampal circuits.

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Grant Details

Amount Awarded 1097310
Applicant Surname Cacucci
Approval Committee Science Interview Panel
Award Date 2018-04-10T00:00:00+00:00
Financial Year 2017/18
Grant Programme: Title Investigator Award in Science
Internal ID 210690/Z/18/Z
Lead Applicant Prof Francesca Cacucci
Partnership Value 1097310
Planned Dates: End Date 2029-04-02T00:00:00+00:00
Planned Dates: Start Date 2023-09-01T00:00:00+00:00
Recipient Org: Country United Kingdom
Region Greater London