Priority Programme “Local and Peripheral Drivers of Microglial Diversity and Function” (SPP 2395)
Deadline: 1. Oktober 2024
In 2022, the Senate of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) established the Priority Programme “Local and Peripheral Drivers of Microglial Diversity and Function” (SPP 2395). The programme is designed to run for six years. The present call invites proposals for the second three-year funding period.
Microglia, the resident macrophages of the central nervous system (CNS), play a crucial role in maintaining CNS homeostasis and mounting immune responses during pathological events. Over the past two decades, the heterogeneity of microglia has been extensively studied, leading to several proposed concepts. Microglia exhibit sexually dimorphic profiles and regional variability in the brain throughout their lifespan under both physiological and pathological conditions. Future research will move beyond the simple dichotomy of homeostatic and disease-associated microglia to explore the cellular communication and spatiotemporal localisation of microglia in the CNS.
Several key aspects of microglial diversity, particularly those driven by local and peripheral cues and their roles in the human CNS, remain largely unexplored. This programme aims to address the following fundamental questions:
- Which local cues determine the microglial state?
- How does the immune status (e.g. viral infections or CNS autoimmunity) modulate the microglial state, function and phenotype?
- Which findings from pre-clinical animal models of CNS disorders are reflected in human tissue and how can these models be improved to enhance translatability and therapeutic targeting of microglia?
To address these questions, a variety of technologies and experimental approaches will be utilised, including:
- development and application of novel (humanised) disease-mimicking animal models
- use of human post-mortem tissue
- iPSC-derived human microglia
- single-cell transcriptomic and proteomic technologies
- cutting-edge in vivo imaging methods
- big data analysis
- novel tools for visualising and manipulating microglia in vivo
Interdisciplinary teams with expertise in these areas, interacting with other groups within this Priority Programme, will create a synergistic platform for successful basic and translational research. The inclusion of researchers in early career phases is strongly encouraged.
