New edition of the Big Brain Theory program for bold ideas (BBT4)

In 2024, the Paris Brain Institute launched the 4th edition of the Big Brain Theory Program (BBT), designed to foster new and bold projects addressing the next challenges in neuroscience.

Created in 2016 by the Paris Brain Institute, the BBT Program funds innovative, interdisciplinary, high-risk research projects between teams at the institute. After three successful editions, the Paris Brain Institute has opened this fourth edition to international partners: The Neuro (Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital), the Institut Pasteur, and Mission Lucidity (involving the VIB, KU Leuven, UZ Leuven, imec). The Institut Pasteur participation in this 4th edition reflects its commitment to strengthening ties with leading foreign research centres and developing international collaborative projects to accelerate brain research and tackle neurological diseases.

Thinking outside the box

The BBT program aims to engage Principal Investigators (PIs) in synergistic collaborative efforts to broaden the impact of their research and foster pioneering projects with breakthrough potential in any domain of neuroscience.

Selected by a high-ranking international scientific committee, the Paris Brain Institute’s Scientific Advisory Board, the chosen projects explore original ideas and bold hypothesis at their earliest stages in basic and/or clinical neuroscience. The BBT program aims to provide seed funding for these projects to achieve initial proofs of concept, enabling them to secure further institutional funding and ultimately revolutionize the approaches to treating central nervous system disorders.

New collaborative projects

This year the Paris Brain Institute, The Neuro (Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital) and the Institut Pasteur have partnered to build on their strengths and encourage international scientific innovation, by funding 2 innovative collaborative projects:

•    The project “Deciphering molecular actors involved in glioblastoma-associated microglia phenotype triggered by the hormonal macroenvironment“ will be led by the Paris Brain Institute coordinators Ahmed Idbaih (PU-PH, Sorbonne Université, AP-HP)/Maite Verreault (Paris Brain Institute), Stefano Stifani (the Neuro coordinator), and Philippe Bousso (the Institut Pasteur coordinator). The project aims to understand how the hormones produced in our body influence the microglial genotype and phenotype in glioblastoma, a severe form of brain tumors

•    The second project “Evolutionary and developmental trajectories of primate brain areas involved in social relation“ led by Julia Sliwa (Paris Brain Institute coordinator, CNRS researcher), Justine Cléry (The Neuro coordinator), and Roberto Toro (The Institut Pasteur coordinator) aims to understand how neural circuits implement higher social skills and enable us to navigate in our societies smoothly.

•    These projects are funded by the RMF (Fonds recherche Neurosciences), for the Paris Brain Institute partner, through the generosity of donors at The Neuro, and by the Institut Pasteur’s own funds.