Research projects

The human migration out of Africa started more than 70,000 years ago. The journey of our predecessors into new lands was probably prompted by sophisticated brain mechanisms for spatial navigation, combined with a genetically-based tendency for social cooperation. Much later, with the invention of agriculture and farming, the geographic settlement of humans laid the foundations for today’s territories, a piece of land, which we claim as our own and defend from others. Territorial behaviour has not subsided in the course of human evolution, rather it still strongly shapes our perception of space partitioned into private, public or neutral (‘no man’s land’).

Neural basis to process space geometry

A team of researchers aims to understand the neural basis of people's ability to process space geometry along the sense of space ownership, utilities and social hierarchies, leading to the perception of territoriality. The team coordinated by Prof. Dr. Valery Grinevich (Central Institute of Mental Health/Germany) is composed by his group and the labs led by Angela Sirigu (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique CNRS/France), Dori Derdikman (Technion – Israel Institute of Technology/Israel), and David Omer (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem/Israel). Their common research project has now received major grants from the European Research Council (ERC), namely synergy ERC grant (10 Mio Euros for 6 years), to address this challenging multidisciplinary research problem.

Oxytocin modulates neural activity in the hippocampus

Our brain is endowed with a core system, centred in the hippocampus, rich in spatially-selective neurons that respond to space metrics such as distances, landmarks, borders. Yet when it comes to navigating our surroundings, our brain also maps space into socially meaningful territories. How does our brain integrate geometry and territory?

This newly formed research team proposes that this process is regulated by the Oxytocin system. Oxytocin, a neurohormone, known to act in the brain to increase social activity in mammals, has recently been found to modulate neural activity also in the hippocampus. But its potential role in territorial representation has not yet been studied. Here, experts in complementary fields – social behaviour, spatial navigation, neurophysiology, anatomy, and cell signalling – will study brain similarities and differences of socio-territorial strategies in five mammalian species: bats, mice, rats, marmosets, and macaques.

Their central goal is to investigate how neurons coding for space geometry (e.g. place cells, boundary cells, and grid cells) respond also to socially-dependent territorial parameters, such as ownership, utility, and hierarchies. Their new cross-species perspective will be the first to provide insight into the neural circuitry that governs ancestral and still contemporary mammalian territoriality behaviour. Furthermore, this joined effort of four teams will be highly relevant for human mental health as this work will provide background for potential oxytocin treatment of alterations in individual territorial positioning occurred in patients with autism spectrum disorders, borderline personality disorder, major depression, and other psychiatric illnesses.

29 winning projects involve researchers in 19 countries across Europe and beyond

Almost 360 proposals were submitted for the ERC Synergy Grants under the EU's Horizon Europe programme. The funding, worth in total 295 million euro, will be awarded to 29 winning projects, with a total of 105 principal investigators from 19 countries in Europe and beyond, mainly from Germany, France and Israel. The funded projects will receive grants of around 10 million euros each.

On this occasion, Mariya Gabriel, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, said: “The ERC’s trademark is long-term funding to individual top researchers. But some problems are too big for the most outstanding minds to address alone. These new grants will enable scientists to join forces and follow their curiosity together across disciplinary boundaries.”

The President of the ERC, Professor Maria Leptin, said: “I’m happy to see more pioneering researchers funded to focus on ambitious and complex scientific problems that require innovative ways to advance our knowledge. It takes the best researchers, each with unique expertise and approaches, to jointly tackle such challenges. The Synergy Grants help to tap into international talent both in Europe and around the world.”