BRAIN_2030 is one of the university’s seven ‘Grands Programmes de Recherche’ of the university of Bordeaux
BRAIN_2030’s overall objective for the coming decade is to build on the excellence and synergy of Bordeaux’s neuroscience teams to increase our understanding of how the brain works and its pathologies, from molecules to behaviour.
Specific challenges of the project
To achieve this, the BRAIN_2030 project is based on four challenges:
– Challenge 1: develop new disruptive neurotechnologies that will enable us to study and better understand the nervous system.
– Challenge 2: improve our knowledge of the fundamental bases of brain functions.
– Challenge 3: deciphering the biological basis of neurodegenerative and neurological diseases.
– Challenge 4: deciphering the biological basis of mental illnesses.
Specific objectives of BRAIN_2030
BRAIN_2030 is structured around seven strategically selected sub-projects, including a basic toolkit:
– Neurotechnologies, the ‘toolbox’: our goal is to provide Bordeaux Neurocampus teams with cutting-edge technologies to help elucidate the structure and function of the brain at all levels of organisation – i.e. from molecules to neural networks – and to bring competitive advantages to this endeavour. We will develop new in vitro strategies for protein labelling and modulation, multimodal microscopy and image analysis, in vivo strategies for recording, manipulating and analysing the activity of functional networks, and innovative tools for phenotyping behavioural conditions related to the human brain with a view to precision medicine for people with brain disorders.
– Nanocoding: we will study how protein complexes acting at the nanometric scale are integrated at the microscopic scale between subcellular compartments to generate accurate models of neuronal activity.
– Memory: we will search for the cellular trace of memory, called an engram, using innovative methodological tools at the molecular and network scales.
– Neurodegen: we will establish a bridge between three neurodegenerative diseases (Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) in order to study the common and divergent mechanisms underlying defective communication between cells.
– Inhibition: we will elucidate how inhibitory transmission is involved in the activity of different sensory-motor circuits under normal conditions and in their remodelling after peripheral or central lesions at different levels of integration.
– Neurofood: we will seek to understand the role of diet as a modifiable risk factor for non-communicable brain diseases such as depression, anxiety and cognitive disorders.
– Adapsy: thanks to the integration of the strong and complementary preclinical and clinical expertise of Bordeaux Neurocampus, we will aim to identify new prognostic biomarkers of physiological and pathological behaviour in order to develop precision medicine for mental disorders.
Cross-cutting axes
Cross-cutting axes, at the crossing of various subprojects, implemented in 2025, will enrich this framework:
– NEURO-GENETICS: Investigating genetic susceptibilities and variations linked to neurological disorders to foster collaboration between genetics and functional studies.
– NEURO-DEVELOPMENT: Exploring early-life environmental and genetic factors influencing neurodevelopment and subsequent brain health.
– NEURO-ONCOLOGY: Addressing interactions between neural tissues and tumor cells, leveraging neuroscience expertise to advance cancer research.
– NEURO-AGING: Unraveling the mechanisms of cognitive heterogeneity in aging populations, with a focus on early biomarkers and resilience factors.
This strategic framework positions BRAIN_2030 as a key driver in fundamental and clinical neuroscience research, fostering interdisciplinary collaborations and groundbreaking biomedical applications.
Video
The institutional launch ceremony for the University of Bordeaux’s Major Research Programmes (GPR) took place on Tuesday 9 November 2021 at the Agora in Talence. It was an opportunity to take a look at these seven flagship projects, including the GPR BRAIN_2030, led by Daniel Choquet.
The GPR BRAIN_2030 was presented by Daniela Cota.
About GPR programme
Interview of Manuel Tunon de Lara, president of the University (11 May 2021)