Last year, ZNZ sustained the active partnership with McGill University and in particular with the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI). Within the strategic partnership of UZH with the University of Queensland, ZNZ established a new working group organizing workshops and first joint pilot research projects.
We have reported earlier on two joint workshops with the MNI: Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Based Modeling in Brain Disease Research and Neurodevelopmental Disorders. Last November, we illuminated in our third workshop How Open Science is Changing Research Practice. In parallel, an open call for joint research proposals was launched in the summer of 2021 and two pilot project were selected:
- Cell-specific models of altered dopamine function during early postnatal development by Jean-Francois Poulin (McGill University) and Marie Labouesse (ETH Zurich).
- miRNA-dependent control of neuronal energy metabolism in autism spectrum disorders by Ivan Topisirovic (McGill University) and Gerhard Schratt (ETH Zurich).
In 2021, ZNZ established a new partnership with Queensland Brain Institute (QBI). In three workshops neuroscientists introduced their main research activities. In a first call for joint pilot projects, three proposals were selected:
- Proof-of principle study testing 40 Hz visual stimulation as a new treatment option for vascular dementia by Matilde Balbi (QBI) and Anna-Sophia Wahl (UZH)
- Optoacoustic tracing of therapeutic antibodies delivered into the mouse brain with low intensity ultrasound by Jürgen Götz (QBI) and Daniel Razansky (UZH/ETH)
- Illuminating molecular dynamics during transsynaptic plasticity by Fred Meunier (QBI) and Martin Müller (UZH).
All joint projects will start in early 2022.