UNFOLD

The European Research Council (ERC) has selected the UNFOLD project 'Unfolding the dynamic interaction between mechanical and molecular processes in brain folding', as one of the 37 beneficiaries of the Synergy Grants 2023, in which 395 proposals were submitted. The project, which has been endowed with 10.8 million euros, will be led by Víctor Borrell. Our group will be joined by laboratories directed by Kristian Franze, director of the Institute of Medical Physics and Microtissue Engineering at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg and of the Max-Planck-Zentrum für Physik und Medizin (Germany), and a pioneering researcher in the field of brain mechanobiology; Laurent Nguyen, one of the most accredited brain development researchers in Europe, who is the elected scientific director of the GIGA Center of the University of Liège (Belgium); and Roberto Toro, a world leader in the development of mathematical models of brain folding and director of the Applied and Theoretical Neuroanatomy unit of the Pasteur Institute (France).

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Until now, experts know that folding of the cortex requires the participation of multiple types of stem cells and cell migration processes, controlled by complex genetic developmental programs. They are also aware that the mechanical properties of embryonic brain tissue play a central role in its folding. Importantly, mechanics, cell and genetic biology influence each other constantly and dynamically.

The UNFOLD project will address the question of cortical folding from all these points of view, with a special interest in understanding its complexity. The results of the experiments will be framed in a global computational model that researchers will use to ask specific questions and then find answers.