Digital cerebellar twin to predict the MOVEment rescue (NEAT-MOVE) ( Neuromodulazione cerebellare nelle atassie: simulazioni computazionali per predire il riapprendimento motorio)
NEAT-MOVE is the first project to couple multiple experimental paradigms with data-driven cerebellar models to investigate transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in Spinocerebellar ataxias (SCA). It aims at a deeper understanding of the effects of cerebellar TMS at the neural level, and at predicting the optimal TMS protocols necessary to improve ataxic motor symptoms. The project is in collaboration with Politecnico di Milano and University of Rome “La Sapienza”.
A multimodal dataset will be collected to unveil the functional relationships between neural activity, behavior and TMS effects. Two sets of experiments will be performed in ataxic and wild-type mice, before and after cerebellar repetitive TMS: (i) in vitro electrophysiological recordings, to characterize neuronal properties, (ii) behavioral recordings on mice performing an accelerated rotarod test, to quantify cerebellar motor learning. The dataset will be used to generate data-driven computational models (multicompartmental neuron networks and spiking networks) of the ataxic mouse cerebellum and to simulate the effects of TMS.
