ICVS researcher Sara Calafate has been awarded €250,000 to develop a project investigating how sleep contributes to brain homeostasis/balance and memory organization.
The project will explore how different types of support cells in the brain, called glia, interact with connections between neurons, known as synapses, in the hippocampus, a region essential for memory. During sleep, these interactions are adjusted , a process critical for turning experiences into long-lasting memories.
Moreover, Calafate also suggests that, because sleep is disturbed in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, these interactions might be impaired. With this funding, it will allow her to launch her project and develop this new line of work.
Sara Calafate
Her work focuses on understanding how neurons form precise and stable circuits and how the brain maintains the balance needed for these circuits to function properly in memory formation. In previous studies, she investigated the role of a peptide, a small brain messenger molecule involved in regulating sleep and neuronal communication, and identified early changes in this system in Alzheimer’s disease.
The funding comes from the ERC-PT-A Projects call by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, which supports projects that received an A grade in the ERC Starting Grant evaluation but could not receive full funding due to budget limitations.
