Congratulations to Anna Beyeler, Daniela Cota, et Cyril Herry, award winners “Equipes FRM”

Anna Beyeler
Team Neural circuits of anxiety – Neurocentre Magendie

Abstract

Anxiety is a healthy response guiding daily behaviors. However, more than 25% of humans experience anxiety disorders over their lifetime. Multiple risk factors, including early life adversity, have been identified, and we know that most treatments target the serotonin system. Yet, the neurobiology underlying the vulnerability to develop such a disease remains a mystery.
As functional imaging studies have identified that the insular cortex is dysregulated in patient with anxiety disorder, this research project aims to define the role of serotonergic modulation within insular circuits in the control of anxiety vulnerability and resilience. We will use cutting-edge technologies in mice models to dissect neural circuits at an unprecedented resolution. Our hypothesis is that the structure and activity of serotonergic and insular circuits predict vulnerability and resilience to anxiety phenotypes induced by early life adversity.
First, we will perform whole-brain mapping of DRN and insula anxiety circuits in anxiety-vulnerable and anxiety-resilient mice, and identify the synaptic strength with those circuits. Afterward, we will use RNA-sequencing on neurons of those circuits to characterize their transcriptional signature and dissect serotonin receptor patterns in mice with different levels of anxiety. To assess serotonin function in vivo, we will first record serotonin transmission in insular structures using a genetically encoded serotonin sensor (GRAB-SERT) and fiber photometry technology. Then, based on the serotonin dynamics identified, we will implement chemogenetic manipulations of a selective serotonin-insula pathway in adult individuals in an attempt to reprogram circuits encoding anxiety and restore anxiety levels in vulnerable individuals.
Our findings will provide a fundamental dissection of the serotonergic system in anxiety, which will be key to increasing our understanding of anxiety physiopathology and current pharmacotherapies mechanisms.



Daniela Cota
Team Energy balance and obesity – Neurocentre Magendie

Title

Understanding Brain Responses to Energy Surfeit to Tackle Obesity

Abstract

Obesity is a major health problem worldwide, leading to pathologies like diabetes, cancer, and Alzheimer’s disease. In France, 16% of adults suffer from obesity and this percentage is expected to rise in the future. To better treat obesity, it is essential to understand the biological mechanisms that lead to it. The brain coordinates how our body introduces, uses, and stocks the energy coming from the food we ingest, and it is the main victim of diet-induced changes that favor weight gain. Within the brain, POMC neurons located in the hypothalamus control food intake and body weight. Besides POMC neurons, the microglia, which are the immune cells of the brain, have been recently found to play key roles in the regulation of body weight. The consumption of high-calorie foods, rich in fats and sugars, alters the function of both hypothalamic POMC neurons and microglia, contributing to the development of obesity. Recent studies also suggest the existence of different subpopulations of POMC neurons, whose specific functions are still unclear. The goal of this project will be to pinpoint the impact of energy surfeit on cellular and molecular mechanisms regulating the function of hypothalamic POMC neurons, microglia, and their interaction, and define their relevance for obesity etiology and treatment.



Cyril Herry
Team Neuronal circuits of associative learning – Neurocentre Magendie

Abstract

Generalization is arguably one of the most fundamental principles underlying learning, and despite being a phenomenon accounted since the seminal work of Pavlov, its core mechanisms remain unknown. Although generalization is a fundamental process that promote survival, excessive broad generalization can have strong detrimental consequences. Therefore, understanding the neuronal circuit mechanisms controlling generalization is of clinical interest and the focus of the FRM funding. By combining experimental and computational approaches, this proposal aims to reveal how the dynamic functional organization of interacting microcircuits modulates the expression and inhibition of approach and avoidance generalization behavior in mice. The proposed studies will, for the first time, address some fundamental questions about the internal positive and negative valence influence in the generalization of instrumental behavior. Moreover, our experiments will reveal how large-scale networks involving the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), the basolateral amygdala (BLA) and ventral hippocampus (vHPC) microcircuits interact during this process. Finally, identifying neural mechanisms facilitating/inhibiting expression of generalization would make an important breakthrough in the development of new therapeutic strategies to treat the pathological aspects of approach/avoidance generalization.

The Bordeaux Neurocampus Graduate Program was created in 2017. This 10-year project, conceived and directed by Christophe Mulle, supports the training and professional development of Master’s students in neuroscience and PhD students present in the Bordeaux Neurocampus research teams. Among the programme’s missions: an annual call for PhD applications which has just been launched for the fifth year, creation of courses and training, and – perhaps less well known – mobility grants.

At the start of the 2022 academic year, Agnès Nadjar succeeded Christophe Mulle as director of the programme. He is remaining at the head of the Bordeaux School of Neuroscience. “It was an honour to be offered the position of director and it is with great pleasure that I accepted it,” she says. The partnership officer is now David Perrais, who also took up his post in September, and Denis combes remains academic officer.

Agnès Nadjar, a researcher at the Neurocentre Magendie (Daniela Cota's team), was already familiar with the challenges of the Graduate Program and international trainings, as head of the Neurasmus programme from 2014 to 2022, and a member of the Graduate program executive committee since 2017. The EUR also benefits from the support of a steering committee made up of the heads of the Masters programmes, but also of representatives of the department’s research units, the NBA and the Medical/Science dual programme. It should be noted that Pascal Fossat is the coordonator of Neurasmus alongside Morgane Lebon-Jego.

The EUR is a real success,” she confirms, “thanks to the active participation of many members of our community: researchers, teacher-researchers, students, the Bordeaux School of neuroscience, etc. The collaboration with the department, the doctoral school and the college of doctoral schools are also really efficient.

Her plans? To go on what has been put in place by the steering committee since 2017 flourish, but also to strengthen certain actions such as administrative support for the writing of European projects by recruiting a ‘grant officer’. And then there is the longer-term challenge of ensuring the financial sustainability of this fine programme!


Agnès Nadjar and Armand Blondiaux
Armand Blondiaux, who joined the team in November as project manager, will help to meet this challenge.

Armand Blondiaux holds two masters degrees from the University of Montpellier, one in neurobiology and endocrinology, the other in biostatistics. He defended his thesis on the role of lecticans in the epileptic phenotype at the Leibniz Institute of Neurobiology in 2021, in Magdeburg, Germany.

He is already familiar with the environment of the University of Bordeaux, having worked in the ACT programme for a year: “I like the university environment. It is a rich environment, from many different points of view: international, scientific, cultural…”

This new position allows him to respond to the desire to have a role of accompaniment and support for students. “It’s a role I had already taken on during my thesis as a doctoral student representative,” he explains.

So here he is, ready to support and help our student community. His office is at the CGFB, room 203. He is waiting for you!

Contact
neurocampus.graduateprogram@u-bordeaux.fr

Meeting room: Domaine du Haut-Carré Talence

The next Bordeaux Neurocampus Day will take place on Tuesday 8th November 2022 at the Domaine du Haut-Carré.

Registrations are open (free but mandatory – before October 30th):
https://framaforms.org/bordeaux-neurocampus-day-november-8th-1665056861

This day is open to members of Bordeaux Neurocampus and to researchers in neuroscience from the University of Bordeaux and the University of Poitiers.

Poster prize
A poster prize, with 3 prizes of 400 euros each, will be organised with the support of Casden. Please specify your participation in the registration form if you present a poster.

Limited to 38 posters.

Venue
Domaine du Haut-Carré, Talence.
43 rue Pierre Noailles – Talence
Access (maps.google.com)

Programme
8h30 – 9h – Welcome coffee

9h – 9h05 – Welcoming speech, by Jérôme Baufreton, director of Bordeaux Neurocampus

9h05 – 9h35 – Jean-Paul Lasserre, INCIA (MCU – Team; Goizet/Stévanin)
The baker’s yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a model and tool for BPAN pathology

9h35 – 9h50 – Nathalie Piette, IINS (PhD student, Team: Studer)
Synapse on a chip : A quantitative model to investigate synaptogenesis

9h50 – 10h20 – Alexis Dubreuil, IMN (CR CNRS – Team: Mallet/Leblois)
On the role of population structure in neural computations

10h20 – 10h50 – Coffee break

10h50 – 11h05 – Monica Fernandez Monreal, BIC (IR)
Expansion microscopy, a great alternative to get super-resolved images

11h05 – 11h35 – Naoya Takahashi, IINS (Team leader)
Cortical dendrites modulate touch sensitivity

11h35 – 11h50 – Camille Allard, Magendie (Post-doc – Team: Cota)
Cannabinoid receptors type 1: it’s not all in your head

11h50 – 12h20 – Pierre Trifilieff, NutriNeuro (Team leader)
Brain lipids do matter: from biophysical effects to psychiatric disorders

12h20 – 14h00 : Lunch

13h00 – 14h00 : Posters

14h00 – 14h45 – Institutional talks:
. 14h00 – 14h15 – GPR BRAIN_2030, by Daniela Cota
. 14h15 – 14h35 – Bordeaux Neurocampus Parity Committee, by Sandrine Cremona and Michel Thiebault de Schotten
. 14h35 – 14h45 – Bordeaux Neurocampus : Events and communication, by Arnaud Rodriguez

14h45 – 15h00 – Alessandro Piccin, INCIA(Post-doc – Team: Wolff)
Role of prefrontal noradrenergic signaling in flexible behavior

15h00 – 15h30 – Thomas Bienvenu, Magendie, (MCU – Team: Herry)
Frontal oscillations in pathological anxiety, from bench to bedside

15h30 – 15h45 – Anaëlle Braine, IMN (PhD student – Team: Georges/Baufreton)
Building bridges between limbic and motor circuits: anatomical and functional characterization of amygdala-striatal pathway

15h45 – 16h15 – Florian Pécune, Sanpsy

16h15 – 17h00 – Posters & drinks

17h00 – 18h30 – Wine & cheese

17h30 – Poster prize announcement

Want to increase the quality and reproducibility of your

Meeting room: CGFB

Research Director from Lille Neuroscience & Cognition (Development and Plasticity of the Neuroendocrine Brain
Inserm, University of Lille, CHU Lille)'s lab will give a presentation entitled 'The not-so-sweet effect of maternal nutrition on metabolic programming and brain development'

Invited by:
Agnès Nadjar (Magendie Eq Cota) and Xavier Fioramonti (NutriNeuro)

Meeting room: Centre Broca

Program
9:00 – Jose A. ESTEBAN
Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa, Madrid
PI3K signaling for neuronal growth and synaptic plasticity

9:45 – Stéphane LÉON
Neurocentre Magendie (Cota Team)
Single-cell mapping of POMC neurons in obesity reveals novel subtypes with atypical identity

10:05 – Vincent PAGET-BLANC
IINS
A Synaptomic analysis reveals dopamine hub synapses in the mouse striatum

10:25-10:55 – Coffee break

10:55 – François LAMBERT
INCIA
Multimodal integration and plasticity in extraocular motoneurons: Synapse or phenotype matters?

11:25 – Ignacio FERNANDEZ MONCADA
Neurocentre Magendie (Marsicano Team)
CB1 receptors control memoryconsolidation via modulation of astroglial lactate and L-serine metabolism

11:45 – Agatha IDZIAK
IINS
It’s time for GreenT! A novel sensor for extracellular calcium imaging

12:05 – Cyril HANUS
Institute for Psychiatry and Neurosciences of Paris
N-glycans regulate synaptic receptor structure and function12:50-14:30 Lunch

12:50-14:30 – Lunch

14:30 – Anna BRACHET
IINS
Organization and role of beta spectrins in dendritic spines

15:00 – Lorena DELGADO
IMN
Normalization of substantia nigra pars reticulata parvalbumin-expressing neuron activity restores motor function in Parkinsonian mice

15:20 – Émilie PACARY
Neurocentre Magendie (Abrous Team)
The temporal origin of dentate granule neurons dictates their anatomical properties

15:50 – Nathan BENAC
IINS
Transient dopamine-NMDA receptor interaction governs hippocampal synaptic and network maturation

16:10 – Laura BALLERINI
SISSA, Trieste
Engineered nanomaterials to target synapses at the nanoscale

Scientific Committee
Elena AVIGNONE (Neurocentre Magendie)
Maurice GARRET (INCIA)
Mathieu LETELLIER (IINS)
Nathalie SANS (Neurocentre Magendie)

Registration
Please fill the registration formular by following the webpage down below:
https://framaforms.org/synapse-and-network-day-2022-1658751038