-
Funding
Funding
HFSP supports novel, innovative and interdisciplinary basic research focused on the complex mechanisms of living organisms. A clear emphasis is placed on novel collaborations that bring biologists together to focus on problems at the frontier of the life sciences.
-
Awardees
Awardees
In this section you find information about the awardees in the HFSP scientific programs. This includes a searchable database of HFSP awardees, information on the HFSP Nakasone Award and other achievements by HFSP awardees.
- News & Impact
-
Events
Events
HFSP promotes and participates in several events every year. We are committed to bringing together the scientific community and forging new opportunities to network and have scientific discussions that help to create bridges and partnerships for the future of frontier science.
-
About
About
The Human Frontier Science Program is a program of funding for frontier research in the life sciences. It is implemented by the International Human Frontier Science Program Organization (HFSPO) with its office in Strasbourg. Here you can find all you need to know about the HFSPO.
Awardees
Development and plasticity of the retinotectal synapse system
ZHANG Xiao-Hui (CHINA, PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF)
Laboratory of Neural Plasticity - Chinese Academy of Sciences - SHANGHAI - CHINA, PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF
In the developing visual system, the spatiotemporal pattern of visual inputs play a critical role in shaping the connections of developing circuits. Using the developing retinotectal system of zebrafish larvae and combination of in vivo whole-cell recording and optical imaging techniques, I proposed to examine the development and experienced-dependent refinement of visual circuits at the cellular level. The proposal consists of four parts. In Part I, I will systematically examine the time course of synaptogenesis in the optic tectum, developmental changes in the synaptic function and in the functionally visual processing abilities, such as receptive field and direction & velocity selectivity, of the tectal neurons. In Part II, I will examine the effects of spatiotemporal visual inputs on retinotectal synapses and on the development of retinotectal map. In particular, I will examine the role of spiking-timing dependent plasticity in refinements of visual circuits. In Part III, I will furthermore examine the relationship between activity-dependent synaptic plasticity, long-term potentiation/depression, and the structural refinement at identified retinotectal connections. Finally, in Part IV, I will examine the development of zebrafish retinotectal mutants to clarify the molecular mechanism governing the development of retinotectal system. Overall, these in vivo studies will provide unique opportunities to address several fundamental issues concerning the instructive function of sensory inputs in the refinement of developing neural connections.
Object recognition in clutter: selectivity and invariance properties in monkey inferotemporal cortex
ZOCCOLAN Davide (ITALY)
Dept. of Brain and Cognitive Science - Massachusetts Institute of Technology - CAMBRIDGE - USA
POGGIO Tomaso (Host supervisor)
DICARLO James (Host supervisor)
A major challenge of current theories of vision is to understand how the visual system performs object recognition in cluttered visual scenes. Two essential requirements for object recognition are invariance and selectivity. Neurons in primate inferotemporal cortex (IT) fulfill these requirements: they are selectively tuned to views of complex objects and their responses show significant invariance to stimulus transformations such as position changes. The aim of my project is to combine physiological, psychophysical and computational studies to investigate the dependence of IT neuronal robustness to clutter on neuron's shape- and position-sensitivities. Single-unit recordings from IT neurons in behaving monkeys will provide the first quantitative data on the relationship between shape selectivity, position invariance and clutter interference in IT. A quantitative hierarchical model of recognition will guide the experiments that will force further development of the model in an interactive and continuous process. This project will differ from my previous research experience (study of neural coding in the leech nervous system) in many aspects: the model nervous system studied - primate vs. invertebrate the neural process investigated - object recognition vs. coding of motor responses the methodology - I will learn new experimental techniques, such as neurophysiology and psychophysics in behaving monkeys the theoretical framework - I will learn to work on computer simulations of the recognition model related to my experiments. In conclusion, the proposed research will be a precious addition to my scientific development in the field of systems and computational neuroscience.
Functions of the RNA polymerase III transcription system in genome organization and dynamics
DIECI Giorgio (ITALY)
Department of Life Sciences - University of Parma - PARMA - ITALY
DONZE David (USA)
Dept. of Biological Sciences - Louisiana State University - Baton Rouge - USA
KOBAYASHI Takehiko (JAPAN)
Laboratory of Gene Expression and Regulation - National Institute for Basic Biology - Okazaki - JAPAN
Interactions between areas of the visual cortex
ROELFSEMA Pieter R. (NETHERLANDS)
Dept. of Vision & Cognition - Netherlands Institute of Neuroscience - Amsterdam - NETHERLANDS
VAN VREESWIJK Cornelis (NETHERLANDS)
Neurophysics and Physiologie Lab - CNRS UMR 8119 - PARIS - FRANCE
VANDUFFEL Wim (BELGIUM)
Psychofysiologie - Katholieke Universiteit Leuven - Leuven - BELGIUM
Molecular movements essential for ribosome function
FOURMY Dominique (FRANCE)
Laboratoire de RMN - Institut de Chimie des Substances Naturelles CNRS - Gif-Sur-Yvette - FRANCE
JOSEPH Simpson (INDIA)
Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry - University of California, San Diego - La Jolla - USA
VISSCHER Koen (NETHERLANDS)
Department of Physics - University of Arizona - Tucson - USA
Visualization of molecular events involved in endocytosis at the synapse
ALVAREZ DE TOLEDO Guillermo (SPAIN)
Dept. of Physiology and Biophysics - University of Seville - Seville - SPAIN
FERNÁNDEZ-CHACÓN Rafael (SPAIN)
Dept. of Physiology and Biophysics - University of Seville - Seville - -
KLINGAUF Jürgen (GERMANY)
Cellular Biophysics - Institute for Medical Physics and Biophysics - Muenster - GERMANY
LAGNADO Leon (UK)
School of Life Science - University of Sussex - Brighton - UK
The biophysics of noise and signal in visual cortex
GRAHAM Lyle (USA)
Laboratory of Neurophysics and Physiology - CNRS - PARIS - FRANCE
SEGEV Idan (ISRAEL)
Dept. of Neurobiology - Hebrew University - Jerusalem - ISRAEL
STORM Johan Frederik (NORWAY)
Dept.of Physiology and Neurophysiology - University of Oslo - Oslo - NORWAY
Interplay between DNA supercoiling and DNA-bending proteins in the regulation of gene expression
ADHYA Sankar (USA)
Laboratory of Molecular Biology - National Cancer Institute - BETHESDA - USA
FINZI Laura (ITALY)
Dept. of Physics - Emory University - ATLANTA - USA
NELSON Philip C. (USA)
Dept. of Physics and Astronomy - University of Pennsylvania - Philadelphia - USA
Functional imaging of receptors in living cells by 2-photon uncaging of signalling molecules
BOOTMAN Martin (UK)
Life, Health and Chemical Sciences - The Open University - Milton Keynes - UK
ELLIS-DAVIES Graham (USA)
Dept of Neuroscience - Mount Sinai School of Medicine - New York - USA
KASAI Haruo (JAPAN)
Lab. of Structual Physiology - Center for Disease Biology & Integrative Medicine - Tokyo - JAPAN
The basis of the irradiated sporozoite vaccine: identification of Plasmodium genes essential for development to liver stages
AGRAWAL Alka (USA)
Département d'Immunologie - Institut Pasteur - Paris - FRANCE
MENARD Robert (Host supervisor)
An interdisciplinary approach to the problem of language and music specificity
ALTER Kai (GERMANY)
Institute of Neuroscience - Newcastle University Medical School - Newcastle upon Tyne - UK
BESSON Mireille (FRANCE)
Center for Research in Cognitive Neuroscience (CRNC) - National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) - Marseille - FRANCE
KOLINSKY Régine (BELGIUM)
Unit of Research in Cognitive Neurosciences - Free University of Bruxelles - Brussels - BELGIUM
PERETZ Isabelle (CANADA)
Psychology/International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research - Université de Montréal - MONTRÉAL - CANADA
Structural and functional studies of the yeast ribosome
ANDERSEN Gregers Rom (DENMARK)
Dep Molecular Biology and Genetics - Aarhus University - Aarhus - DENMARK
GOLDMAN Yale E. (USA)
Pennsylvania Muscle Institute - Perelman School of Medicine - Philadelphia - USA
KINZY Terri G. (USA)
Dept of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology - Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School - Piscataway - USA
NISSEN Poul (DENMARK)
Dept. of Molecular Biology and Genetics - Aarhus University - Aarhus - DENMARK
Role of BDNF/trKB signaling in the maturation of GABAergic circuits and critical period in visual cortex
ANGO Fabrice (FRANCE)
Dept. of Neuroscience - Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory - Cold Spring Harbor - USA
HUANG Z. Josh (Host supervisor)
De-novo enzymes dynamic selection in peptide "ecosystems"
ASHKENASY Gonen (ISRAEL)
Dept. of Chemistry and Molecular Biology - The Scripps Research Institute - La Jolla - USA
GHADIRI M. Reza (Host supervisor)
The neuropsychology of emotion perception from static and dynamic body expressions
ATKINSON Anthony (NEW ZEALAND)
Department of Neurology - University of Iowa - Iowa City - USA
ADOLPHS Ralph (Host supervisor)
Identification of axon guidance mechanisms underlying formation of midbrain dopaminergic projections
ATWAL Jasvinder (CANADA)
Department of Biological Sciences - Stanford University - Stanford - USA
TESSIER-LAVIGNE Marc (Host supervisor)
Ribosome-associated chaperones in protein biogenesis: structural and functional insights
BAN Nenad (CROATIA)
Institute for Molecular Biology and Biophysics - ETH Zurich - Zürich - SWITZERLAND
DEUERLING Elke (GERMANY)
Dept. of Biology - University of Konstanz - Konstanz - GERMANY
Systematic analysis of cytosolic protein folding in eukaryotes vs. prokaryotes
BARRAL Jose (MEXICO)
Department of Cellular Biochemistry - Max-Planck-Institute for Biochemistry - Martinsried - GERMANY
HARTL Franz-Ulrich (Host supervisor)
Controlling the onset of S-Phase: interactions at the heart of origin licensing
BASTIAENS Philippe (NETHERLANDS)
Dept. of Systemic Cell Biology - Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology - Dortmund - GERMANY
LYGEROU Zoi (GREECE)
Laboratory of General Biology - School of Medicine - Rio, Patras - GREECE
NISHITANI Hideo (JAPAN)
Dept. of Molecular Biology - Graduate School of Medical Science - Fukuoka - JAPAN
Zebrafish cardiac valve formation
BEIS Dimitris (GREECE)
Department of Biochemistry - University of California - San Francisco - USA