Grand Research Plan for Neural Circuits of Emotion and Memory — Current status of neural circuit studies in China

During recent years, major advances have been made in neuroscience, i.e., asynchronous release, three-dimensional structural data sets, saliency maps, magnesium in brain research, and new functional roles of long non-coding RNAs. Especially, the development of optogenetic technology provides access...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Neuroscience bulletin 2013-02, Vol.29 (1), p.121-124
Main Authors: Zhu, Yuan-Gui, Cao, He-Qi, Dong, Er-Dan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anatomy
Anesthesiology
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Biomedicine
Brain - physiology
China
Emotions - physiology
Human Physiology
Humans
Memory - physiology
Neural Pathways - physiology
Neurology
Neurosciences
Neurosciences - methods
Pain Medicine
Project Spotlight
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Summary:During recent years, major advances have been made in neuroscience, i.e., asynchronous release, three-dimensional structural data sets, saliency maps, magnesium in brain research, and new functional roles of long non-coding RNAs. Especially, the development of optogenetic technology provides access to important information about relevant neural circuits by allowing the activation of specific neurons in awake mammals and directly observing the resulting behavior. The Grand Research Plan for Neural Circuits of Emotion and Memory was launched by the National Natural Science Foundation of China. It takes emotion and memory as its main objects, making the best use of cutting-edge technologies from medical science, life science and information science. In this paper, we outline the current status of neural circuit studies in China and the technologies and methodologies being applied, as well as studies related to the impairments of emotion and memory. In this phase, we are making efforts to repair the current deficiencies by making adjustments, mainly involving four aspects of core scientific issues to investigate these circuits at multiple levels. Five research directions have been taken to solve important scientific problems while the Grand Research Plan is implemented. Future research into this area will be multimodal, incorporating a range of methods and sciences into each project. Addressing these issues will ensure a bright future, major discoveries, and a higher level of treatment for all affected by debilitating brain illnesses.
ISSN:1673-7067
1995-8218
DOI:10.1007/s12264-013-1307-1