Investigating cortico-striatal plasticity underlying phenotype manifestation in dystonia (A07*)

• Subject Area: Experimental Models for the Understanding of Nervous System Diseases ; Clinical Neurology; Neurosurgery and Neuroradiology
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 424778381

Excessive and abnormal plasticity in the cortico-striatal network are considered major pathophysiological substrates of dystonia. However, it is still unclear whether these plasticity alterations are causally related to dystonia development or represent a compensatory strategy. We will use striatal temporal interference (TI) brain stimulation to experimentally modulate and study task-induced plasticity employing a cross-species approach (mouse model to studies in patient cohorts). Cutting-edge neuroscience tools will be used to quantify outcomes such as deep learning-based markerless pose estimation, in vivo calcium imaging, striatal dopamine sensing, transcriptomics, histomorphological analyses, electromyography-kinematic analyses, functional magnetic resonance imaging.

• DFG Programme: CRC/Transregios
• Subproject of: TRR 295: Retuning dynamic motor network disorders using neuromodulation
• Applicant Institution: shared FU Berlin and HU Berlin through:; Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
• Project Heads: Dr. Lisa Rauschenberger; Dr. Maximillian Jonas Wessel