Champalimaud Research Annual Report 2019 Champalimaud Research Annual Report 2019 The Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown integrates research and clinical operations, under Champalimaud Research and the Champalimaud Clinical Centre (respectively), with the objective of developing cutting edge research side by side with excellent patient care. The goal of Champalimaud Research (CR) is to perform world-leading fundamental and translational research. Current research work is focused on the fields of neuroscience, physiology and cancer. As of 2019, CR hosts three programmes that explore the core research areas of the Foundation: Champalimaud Neuroscience Programme Champalimaud Physiology and Cancer Programme Champalimaud Experimental Clinical Research Programme A Research Direction Team was appointed to coordinate this endeavour. It is comprised of three scientific directors representing the three programmes: Joe Paton, Henrique Veiga- Fernandes and Celso Matos. Together, the team will carry out the scientific aim of the Champalimaud Foundation: to explore new avenues of investigation, while reinforcing the links between research and clinical activities. 10 14 Content The Competitive Foundation External Funding 06 80 70 Structure Education 08 84 84 Growth Events & Diversity 90 10 Culture Research 96 Labs 100 14 Scicom & Outreach Research 100 Associates 98 70 Support Units 108 Adjunct Labs Sci & Tech 72 Platforms 114 Publications 74 The Nitty Gritty 123 Leonor Beleza, President CRAR 2019 CRAR João Silveira Botelho, Vice-president (right) António Horta-Osório, Non executive director (left) The Foundation Through scientific breakthroughs and clinical developments, the Champalimaud Foundation is there to help those who need it most. The Champalimaud Foundation exists as In September 2018, during the António the legacy of Portuguese entrepreneur Champalimaud Vision Award ceremony, and industrialist, the late António de the Champalimaud Foundation announced Sommer Champalimaud. It was formally the creation of the first pancreas cancer created in 2005 under the full title: Anna research and treatment centre in the world. de Sommer Champalimaud and Dr. Carlos Montez Champalimaud Foundation. Thus, Mauricio Botton Carasso and his wife, honouring the benefactor’s parents, with Charlotte Botton, decided to work with the Leonor Beleza as President, as set out Champalimaud Foundation, contributing 50 in the will of António Champalimaud. million euros to build an innovative facility The Foundation gives full backing to its where scientists, doctors and physician- researchers who work on the frontline of scientists can work together to advance science and biomedicine. Its scientists and knowledge, take control and fight the doctors use their creativity, experience and hitherto irreducible character of a disease talents to find new and innovative ways to that has defied science for decades. approach the many questions of modern neuroscience and oncology. 06 Champalimaud Foundation CRAR 2019 CRAR Structure Champalimaud Champalimaud Champalimaud Centre for the Clinical Centre Research Unknown Champalimaud Research Support Units Scientific & Technological Direction Team Platforms Direction Support Celso Matos, Henrique Veiga-Fernandes, Joe Paton Events Fish Human Resources & Fellows Flow Cytometry Support Office Fly Lab Administration Glasswash & Media Preparation Research Groups Pre-award Histopathology Post-award Microscopy Experimental Physiology Neuroscience Molecular & Transgenic Tools Clinical Research & Cancer Rodent Megan Carey Scientific Hardware Eugenia Chiappe Scientific Software Mireia Castillo Bruno Costa-Silva Rui Costa Durval Costa Adriana Sánchez Dánes Gonzalo de Polavieja Rita Fior Eduardo Moreno Susana Lima Cristina João Christa Rhiner Christian Machens Markus Maeurer Henrique Veiga-Fernandes Zachary Mainen Albino Oliveira-Maia Marta Moita Science Communication Nickolas Papanikolaou Michael Orger Noam Shemesh Joe Paton Institutional communication Leopoldo Petreanu Outreach Alfonso Renart CR SAB * Carlos Ribeiro Maria Luisa Vasconcelos Regular members 2019 members Education Graduate Programme SAB * J. Anthony Movshon Gilles Laurent Martin Raff Michael Shadlen Direction Carlos Belmonte Rainer Friedrich Coordination Gilles Laurent Thomas Clandinin Teaching Lab Alessandro Treves Yang Dan Education & Courses * The Scientific Advisory Board consist of external scientists who provide helpful guidance to CR 08 Programmes and Research Groups. CRAR 2019 CRAR Growth and 35 diversity NATIONALITIES 308 Angola The CR grew by nearly 100 By maintaining their Argentina new members since last links with the clinic, while Australia year! This increase was the establishing new ones with result of the association of the fundamental research Austria clinical research groups, department, the new Belgium previously solely affiliated Experimental and Clinical Brazil with the Champalimaud Research Programme is well Canada Clinical Centre, to CR. poised to persue its goals 467 Cape Verde in the field of translational CR MEMBERS 65.5% research. Chile PORTUGUESE Colombia Croatia Ecuador Finland France Germany Greece India Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Lesotho 159 Mauritius Norway Philippines Poland Portugal Romania Postdocs Spain Phd Students Research Techincians Platforms MSc Students Admin PI’s Switzerland 34.5% The Netherlands NON PORTUGUESE Turkey 26 40 108 53 98 58 84 United Kingdom United States of America Venezuela 41% Male 59% Female 10 CR Community Alentejo, 2019 Exploring new avenues of investigation, Research while Groups reinforcing the Experimental Physiology Neuroscience & Clinical links between & Cancer Research research and clinical activities. Megan Carey Neural Circuits & Behaviour CRAR 2019 CRAR How the brain generates Brain Models Research Regions Methods and controls Rodent Cerebellum Quantitative behavioural analysis; Optogenetics coordinated movement Chemogenetics; Electrophysiology Postdoctoral Researchers Ana Machado Catarina Albergaria Dana Darmohray Hugo Marques Jorge Ramirez * The Neural Circuits and Behaviour lab studies the cerebellum, a brain area that PhD Students is critical for coordinated motor control Ana Gonçalves and motor learning. The well-described Diogo Duarte cerebellar circuit is conserved across Jovin Jacobs species, which enables the researchers Tatiana Silva to study it in mice, a powerful animal Rita Félix (Co-Sup model that offers an array of genetic with Michael Orger) tools for measuring and manipulating activity in specific populations of neurons. MSc Student In some cases, these manipulations mirror Leonard Dupont neural conditions that exist in humans who suffer damage to the cerebellum “Several exciting things happened in 2019. Research Technicians through illness or injury. Among these, I would highlight a couple Catarina Almeida of events. The first is publishing a new Marta Maciel In 2019, the lab published an innovative research article in the journal Neuron, Virginia Casasnovas study, where they reported remarkable where we reported striking similarities similarities between the way humans between human and mouse locomotor and mice learn to adapt their manner of learning and localised a brain area walking. In addition, in that same study, that controls the temporal and spatial the researchers identified a site in the brain components of walking. that controls the two components crucial for mastering this task - space and time. Another highlight was Chairing the 2019 complex spike 10 ms Gordon Research Conference on the * Cerebellum, a top conference in our field, which took place in Switzerland in July. Finally, my lab received a Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council A cell-attached in vivo electrophysiological recording from (ERC). This generous grant will allow us to a mouse cerebellar Purkinje cell reveals two kinds of action potentials: frequent simple spikes, and the occasional ‘complex continue investigating how the activity of spike’ (marked with an *) that gives rise to large increases in neurons throughout the brain produces postsynaptic calcium. learned and coordinated movements." Credit: Jorge Ramirez, Carey lab Spatial and temporal locomotor learning in mouse cerebellum. careylab.org Darmohray DM, Jacobs JR, Marques HG, Carey MR. Neuron. 102(1):217-231.e4. doi: 10.1016/j. neuron.2019.01.038 16 Eugenia Sensorimotor Integration CRAR 2019 CRAR Chiappe The computational Brain Research Models Region Methods principles that govern motor Fruit fly Sensory; Electrophysiology; Premotor Optical tools; Behaviour; and sensory coordination and motor areas Virtual reality; Whiteboard; Literature for the control of goal Postdoctoral Researchers oriented locomotion João Marques Paavo Huoviala Terufumi Fujiwara PhD Students The research strategy of the Sensorimotor André Marques Integration lab focuses on connecting Mert Erginkaya neural activity dynamics to internal Miguel Paço representations of the brain to the Nuno Rito LAL_PN LP_PN locomotive behaviour of the fruit fly, Tomás Cruz Drosophila melanogaster. The researchers employ multiple methods to record and MSc Student reversibly perturb neural activity in Mara Bruhns behaving flies, to analyse the structure of interconnected neurons, to quantify Research Technicians different aspects of the fly’s locomotive Margarida Brotas behaviour, and to model functional Nélia Varela ME_PN IPSIN DN networks. This multidisciplinary approach, Saliha Ece Sönmez together with the ever-expanding genetic Sebastián Malagón Pérez toolkit of the fruit