Communication in the brain
ERC Consolidator Grant for Henning Fenselau to study neuronal networks
Henning Fenselau, research group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Metabolism Research, has been awarded a Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). Over the next five years, his research into how neuronal networks in the brain function and how they influence metabolism will receive funding of 2 million euros.
The brain is the control centre for our metabolism. Nerve cells receive information from the stomach and intestines, detect hormones and tell other nerve cells what is going on in our body. Synapses, the connections between nerve cells, are the main arteries of communication in the brain.
In his EU-funded project, Henning Fenselau wants to find out to which neurons the nerve cells that are the first to receive the body's metabolic signals pass on their information. These nerve cells are located in the vagus nerve and in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus. They receive signals from the gastrointestinal tract or respond to hormones that influence hunger and appetite.
Fenselau's research group has developed a method that allows them to determine exactly which nerve cells are targeted by the synapses and respond to their signals. The researchers activate the synapses, then remove individual cells from the brains of mice and analyse their genetic profiles. By comparing this with existing sequencing data, they can then determine which nerve cells are involved.
“I'm very happy. The grant will allow me to further develop my research and is a great help for my next career steps. I am also happy to have two ERC grants, the Starting Grant and the Consolidator Grant. This will allow me to continue my research at the same level,” says Henning Fenselau.
About Henning Fenselau
Henning Fenselau completed his master's degree in nutritional sciences at the University of Vienna and his doctorate in neuroscience at the Medical University of Vienna, where he was supported by a doctoral fellowship. His postdoctoral research was funded by the Austrian National Bank. From 2013 to 2017, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow with Professor Bradford Lowell at Harvard Medical School, where he studied neural circuits that regulate body weight and energy metabolism. In January 2018, he was appointed research group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Metabolism Research and principal investigator at the University of Cologne. His discovery of a population of hypothalamic neurons that control satiety was recognised by Web of Science as a 'Hot Paper' in the top 0.1% of his academic field.
European Research Council
The European Research Council, established by the European Union in 2007, is the premier European funding organisation for excellent frontier research. Each year, it selects and funds the best, most creative researchers of all nationalities and ages to carry out projects at the frontiers of knowledge in Europe. ERC Consolidator Grants are designed to support excellent research group leaders at a stage in their career when they may still be in the process of establishing their own independent research team or programme. When applying, researchers must demonstrate the pioneering character, ambition and feasibility of their project" (European Research Council). Funding (up to €2 million per grant) will be provided over a period of up to five years.
