News

Research funding for chronobiologist Maria Robles

26 Feb 2024

Maria Robles and an international collaboration partner receive "Collaborative Pairs Pilot Project Award" from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative for a research project in neurobiology.

Portrait Maria Robles

For a research project in the field of neurobiology, Maria Robles receives funding from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. | © J. Greune / LMU

Chronobiologist Professor Maria Robles has been successful in obtaining funding from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI). Its "Collaborative Pairs Pilot Project Award" supports research duos in innovative and interdisciplinary projects in the field of neurodegenerative diseases and basic neurological research.

As a chronobiologist, Maria Robles investigates processes of the "internal clock" of living beings and the associated dynamics of the sleep-wake rhythm. In the project funded by CZI, she is working with Angel L. Barco Guerrero, head of the Institute of Neuroscience at the Miguel Hernández University in Elche near Alicante, Spain. Together they are analyzing which molecular mechanisms in the nuclei of neurons underlie the control of sleep. Using a mouse model, they are investigating the harmful effects of sleep deprivation on transcription processes in brain cells and thus on memory, ability to learn and susceptibility to neurodegeneration.

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is a charity organization of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan. The funding amount of the CZI Award is 200,000 US dollars per cooperation pair for an initial period of 18 months.

Text: translated from LMU.de