A University of Strathclyde researcher has secured a grant of nearly £1 million to explore the role which nerve cells play in the formation of learning and memory.
Chancellor’s Fellow Dr Binoy Paulose has received a Leverhulme Research Leadership Award to fund the development of innovative technologies which can probe the molecular processes which underpin memory formation in the brain.
Over five years, the project will also investigate how disruptions to learning and memory contribute to neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative conditions, such as ADHD, dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and multiple sclerosis.
Dr Paulose, of Strathclyde’s Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry, will also use the grant to establish a multidisciplinary research team with colleagues from the Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical sciences and collaborators at Imperial College London, the Francis Crick Institute, the University of Glasgow, UCL and Kings College.
Dr Paulose said: "Understanding how learning and memory emerge from molecular events within individual neurons is one of the most fundamental challenges in neuroscience.
This award allows us to develop entirely new tools to observe these processes directly in living cells, opening the door to insights that have not previously been accessible.
Learning and memory are driven by highly localised and dynamic changes within neurons and their connections, including synapses and dendritic spines. Modern neuroscience has made major advances in mapping neural circuits but it remains a challenge to measure directly how cell components, including RNA, proteins, and metabolites, change within the same neuron or synapse during learning processes.
New tools
Current approaches rely largely on static measurements or indirect readouts, which limits the ability to make causal links between molecular dynamics and memory. The new research will address this by developing minimally invasive nanoscale tools that enable repeated, precise extraction of molecular information from living neurons without compromising their function.
By integrating advanced analysis of single cells and subcells with real-time functional measurements, the project aims to discover how coordinated molecular changes enable learning, long-term memory and synaptic plasticity, the brain’s ability to adapt to information.
The Leverhulme Research Leadership Awards scheme creates opportunities for talented early career scholars to develop and demonstrate research leadership by supporting the career development and the project management of a team or group, leading to research that may significantly change the established landscape in a particular field of inquiry.