* an individual animal, plant, piece of a mineral, etc. used as an example of its species or type for scientific study or display

With nearly 30 members, the Neurobiology of Action lab is among the largest of Champalimaud Research. In this short interview, Rui Costa, the lab’s Principal Investigator, shared with us the scientific questions he pursues with the team and his personal philosophy on how to help each one of the team members to achieve their goals.

Champalimaud Research has recently implemented cutting edge imaging technology. Find out in this interview with Dr. Noam Shemesh, head of the Neuroplasticity and Neural Activity lab, what new scientific and clinical developments this new technology will bring.

With a background in Agronomy, Nélia Varela soon discovered her enthusiasm for scientific research, which took her on a journey between Lerida and Versailles, to investigate how insect pests in the field can be controlled through olfaction. Following her interest in understanding how olfaction works in insects, after her PhD, she decided to join the Laboratory of Innate Behavior at Champalimaud Research, where she is now working as a postdoctoral fellow.

Want to find out about the daily-life, thoughts, frustrations and aspirations of a PhD student?

Patrícia, Niccolò, Rita and Ivo are PhD students from the Champalimaud Research (well, not all of them anymore – Patrícia and Rita graduated in the meantime. Congratulations!) and they joined us for an afternoon to tell us about the path of a graduate student.

Researchers discover the neural mechanism by which endocannabinoids influence the brain’s ability to form habits.

In our daily lives we constantly have to shift between habitual and goal-directed actions. For example, having to drive to a new place instead of driving home. Difficulties with stopping habits and shifting to goal-directed control underlie a number of neuropsychiatric disorders, including obsessive-compulsive disorder and addiction. How does the brain control this fundamental process?

TMS is, as its name suggests, a type of non-invasive brain stimulation using magnetic waves. In Portugal, its use in the clinic is still very limited.

A team of neuroscientists at the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown, in Lisbon, has been able to map single neural connections over long distances in the brain. “These are the first measurements of neural inputs between local circuits and faraway sites”, says Leopoldo Petreanu, who led the research.

For the first time we had the great opportunity of hosting a group of 10 high school students for Ocupação Científica dos Jovens nas Férias, a very successful program of “science in the summer” from Ciência Viva – National Agency for Scientific and Technological Culture.

The sheer size of the network of nervous cells that reside in the vertebrate gut has earned it that nickname in recent years. Now, judging by the research led by Henrique Veiga-Fernandes, at Instituto de Medicina Molecular, who is currently moving his lab to the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown in Lisbon, it appears that it is actually a well-deserved one. The results were published on July 13th in Nature magazine.

People who suffer from OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) are unable to stop performing certain motor tasks, such as washing their hands. They can literally spend hours stuck to the sink.

At the other end of the spectrum, people with ADHD (attention deficit-hyperactive disorder), are unable to pursue the same motor action for long: they sit, they get up, they walk around, always restless, constantly doing this or that for no apparent reason.