Researchers at the Champalimaud Foundation, in Lisbon, have for the first time managed to identify, with an imaging technique, whether nervous impulses in the brain of rats are flowing in a “bottom-up” (feedforward), carrying information about visual input, or a “top-down” (feedback) direction, carrying information about expectations or predictions on a given task or about the perception of the world around us.

Driven by a fascination for science, behaviour and biology –  and shaped by his social environment – Marcelo Mendonça’s path to medicine stems from curiosity and was galvanized by a single, transformative clinical moment. 

Albino J. Oliveira-Maia is the Director of the Neuropsychiatry Unit at the Champalimaud Foundation and Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience at NOVA Medical School in Lisbon. He is also President-Elect of the Portuguese Society of Psychiatry and Mental Health, President of the Scientific Council for the Portuguese OCD Foundation and President of the Ethics Committee at the Institute for Addictive Behaviours and Addictions.

The three-year grant, worth $1 million, is part of the largest-ever grant programme launched by the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), which aims to support promising scientists at critical junctures in their careers. Correia was one of 15 researchers selected to share a total of $15 million to pursue paradigm-shifting ideas in cancer biology, with the ultimate aim of improving patient outcomes. 

She is the only awardee based in Portugal and one of a small number of researchers selected outside the United States.

Led by the Francis Crick Institute in the UK, the team brings together clinicians, scientists and patient advocates, with researchers spanning eight institutions across four countries. The award is funded jointly by Cancer Research UK and the National Cancer Institute in the US, two of the world’s largest cancer research funders, through the global Cancer Grand Challenges initiative. It marks the first time this prestigious international award has been granted to a Portuguese institution.

The Champalimaud Foundation (CF) and Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) have established a five-year strategic partnership to create a Neurorobotics Laboratory within the CF Neurotechnology Warehouse. Signed on 18 February, the agreement brings together two of Portugal’s leading research institutions with the goal of advancing the understanding of intelligence - both biological and artificial - at the convergence of brain science, robotics and artificial intelligence.

The visual system is hierarchically organised into different areas. The lower visual areas see small parts of the visual field, and they are sensitive to very simple features, such as edges and their orientation. Higher up the hierarchy, the visual areas start encoding more abstract representations of the world, expanding their visual field to respond to stimuli such as objects and faces.  

Oxidative stress is a direct consequence of an excess in the body of so-called “free radicals” – reactive, unstable molecules that contain oxygen. Free radicals are normal metabolic by-products and also help to relay signals in the body. In turn, oxidative stress (an overload of these molecules) can be caused by lifestyle, environmental and biological factors such as smoking, high alcohol consumption, poor diet, stress, pollution, radiation, industrial chemicals, and chronic inflammation.

Today, the European Research Council (ERC) announced the results of its latest Consolidator Grants call, the second level of this type of funding, for researchers with consolidated work in their fields. Two new life science projects in Portugal secured a combined total of €4.1M. These grants were awarded to Juan Álvaro Gallego, who recently joined the CF, and Ricardo Araújo from Instituto Superior Técnico / Centro de Recursos Naturais e Ambiente (CERENA) .

The Champalimaud Foundation installed a new 18-Tesla horizontal-bore MRI scanner, custom-built in Germany at the Pre-Clinical MRI Lab, a team led by Principal Investigator Noam Shemesh. The system is the strongest horizontal-bore MRI scanner constructed to date and is currently the only one of its kind.

“This is the most powerful system in the world for in-vivo imaging,” says Shemesh. “By combining an exceptionally strong magnetic field with signal-boosting cryogenic coils, this equipment enables capabilities that have not been available before.”