Visualizing neuronal information processing

Gil Westmeyer, Professor of Molecular Imaging at the Technical University of Munich and Prinicipal Investigator at the Munich School of BioEngineering, is to receive funding in the form of a Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). In his ERC-funded project, Prof. Westmeyer will place genetically encoded markers in nerve cells that visualise the molecular states of neurons directly in an electron microscope. In total, four researchers at the technical University of Munich have been awarded a consolidator grant in this round. ERC consolidator grants are intended for researchers with 7-12 years of experience since completion of PhD and a scientific track record showing great promise and an excellent research proposal.The projects can receive up to 2 million euros in funding.

Visualizing neuronal information processing

Brains consist of branched networks of nerve cells. Information here moves in a similarly complex way as commuters in a road network do. In his "EMcapsulins project", MSB-PI Gil Westmeyer is developing biotechnological methods that will help us better understand how neuronal networks process and store information. Electron microscopy (EM) already provides the detailed anatomy of nerve cell networks, i.e. a static map of the "road network". However, EM has not yet provided any information on the molecular activation patterns, i.e. "traffic flows".
In his ERC-funded project, Prof. Westmeyer will place genetically encoded markers in nerve cells that visualise the molecular states of neurons directly in the EM in multiple colours. These functional EM maps can provide new insights into the cellular mechanisms of neuronal information processing and into how they are disturbed in neuropsychiatric diseases.