Deliniating fronto-striatal circuits and its interactions in Huntington’s disease: a multimodal neuroimaging approach (Dr.Estela Camara Mancha)
Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) is a research centre focused on cancer, neurosciences and translational medicine, in which high quality biomedical research takes place with the aim of benefitting people’s health and promoting economic development. This joint research initiative was set up as a legal entity in 2004 by the Bellvitge University Hospital, the Catalan Institute of Oncology, the University of Barcelona, The City Council of L’Hospitalet, the Catalan Institute of Health and the Generalitat of Catalonia.
IDIBELL manages the research activities of researchers at the University Hospital of Bellvitge (HUB), the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO-Hospitalet), the University of Barcelona-Bellvitge Campus (UB), and Viladecans Hospital (HV). The institute is located south of Barcelona, in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat. A key aspect of IDIBELL’s research is its proximity to the patient due to its location and daily clinical activity of many of its researchers. The real proximity between both excellent clinicians and basic researchers has made translational research a reality in IDIBELL.
In 2009, IDIBELL became one of the first five Spanish research centres accredited as a health research institute by the Institute of Health Carlos III (ISCIII) and it is currently one of the most productive biomedical research institutions in Spain. It is also a member of the Campus of International Excellence of the University of Barcelona HUBc and of the CERCA institution of the Generalitat of Catalonia.
IDIBELL has a total laboratory area of 5000 sq m, including shared core facilities to carry out experiments requiring genomic and proteomic analysis, animal facilities, a Clinical Trial unit (UCICEC), a Bioinformatics and statistics unit and a Biobank. In addition to the excellent scientific facilities available, IDIBELL offers researchers a strong network of support departments, such as an Research Support Office, an Innovation and Technology Transfer Office, a Communications & Outreach Department and a Human Resources Department. Each department counts on experienced personnel in the relevant area and can be counted on to assist the researcher with the successful implementation of the project.
ADDRESS
Gran Via de l’Hospitalet, 199, 08908 Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona
GROUP DISCIPLINES
Life Science Panel
GROUP LEADER
http://brainvitge.org/groups/diffusion-mri-bran-connectivity/
POSITION DESCRIPTION
Research Project / Research Group Description:
Converging data support the idea that the striatum forms a hub and integrates motor, cognitive control and motivational circuits, which partially overlap and interact with each other. In particular, the motor, premotor and sensorimotor projections to the dorsolateral striatum form the motor circuit. The associative circuit, devoted to executive functions, consists of dorsolateral and ventro-lateral prefrontal cortex projections into the rostral parts of the striatum. Finally, the limbic circuit, which is mainly involved in reward and emotional processing, is formed by projections from orbitofrontal, ventromedial prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortices, hippocampus and amygdala into the ventral striatum. Despite the differential function of each circuit, the interaction of these three systems is constantly taking place and it is difficult to have a complete picture of brain function and behavior by studying each circuit independently without considering the other ones.
There are individual differences in the degree of damage of these circuits in Huntington’s disease (HD). HD is an inherited, autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disease that manifests in mid-adulthood. The neurodegeneration begins subcortically in the striatum and gradually extending to the cortex, leading to a progression of characteristic motor, cognitive and psychiatric symptoms. These individual differences will allow us to investigate how the different degree of neurodegeneration in each circuit affects one to each other, due to the high interaction between these circuits.
In this project, structural and functional brain measures in HD patients and controls will be investigated. On the one hand, we will delineate the functional specialization of the striatum and their relation with specific cortico-striatal pathways by using previously validated functional MRI tasks tailored to evaluate motor control, executive functions and reward-motivational processing. On the other hand, by recording behavioral and hemodynamic responses during the performance of these tasks, complemented with structural DTI information and functional connectivity measures of these regions, we will investigate the potential role of the striatum to integrate motor, cognitive control and motivational information in HD patients and controls.
Job position description:
We are searching for a very motivated PhD student to join the Cognition and Brain Plasticity Unit (www.brainvitge.org). The Cognition and Brain Plasticity Unit is integrated in the Bellvitge Health University Campus and consists of five different research groups in which physicists, neurologists, biologists, engineers and psychologists work in collaboration in different fields of Cognitive Neuroscience using complementary techniques. The unit has also extensive experience in neuroimaging analysis and Huntington’s disease research, and it is complemented by a group of clinicians from several important reference hospitals in Huntington’s disease: Bellvitge Universitary Hospital, Duran i Reynals Hospital, Hospital Clínic and Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau.
The suitable candidate should have a degree in experimental psychology, physics, neurology, neuropsychology, biology, or computer science. She/he should be interested in Cognitive Neuroscience and in learning a variety of MRI neuroimaging techniques, such as functional/structural connectivity analysis using different processing packages. We search for a student interested in identifying neuroimaging biomarkers in Huntington’s, disease, to advance our understanding of Huntington’s disease and promoting translational research. The student will be involved in the design and and analysis of behavioral and multimodal neuroimaging data (including volumetry, diffusion and functional imaging). The student is expected to show initiative in their work, to be updated in the literature on the topic and to write the drafts of the manuscripts derived from the research developed.
We search for a creative, autonomous and motivated researcher with initiative and keen to learn new tools, happy to work in a collaborative team. The lab will provide with the necessary equipment and support to develop the research with at a highly competitive level. We are fully confident that this research project is an excellent opportunity to pursuit a research career.