News

Dear Minister,

I write to express my concern at what I understand is a proposal to cut the educational programmes and scientific output of Ilia State University. My colleagues and I at the University of Cambridge have a longstanding research collaboration with Professor R O Solomonia’s neuroscience research programme at Ilia State University. I am concerned that there is a risk of serious damage to Georgia’s scientific output if Masters and PhD programmes at the University are curtailed.

The publications resulting from our collaboration with Professor Solomonia are listed below. This research, much of it associated with Masters and PhD programmes at Ilia State University, has contributed to the professional training of many Georgian scientists and has been supported financially by the Georgian Academy of Sciences, Ilia State University, the Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation, the European Union's Horizon Research and Innovation Program, the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, the University of Cambridge, the Biotechnology and Biological Research Council, the Wellcome Trust, the Leverhume Foundation, Trinity College Cambridge, Robinson College Cambridge and the Royal Society of Great Britain.

Expenditure on scientific training and the maintenance of a scientific base is an investment that no modern country can avoid if it is to prosper. Indeed, as demonstrated above, a high-quality scientific base has the potential to generate income from abroad and thus, at least in part, pay for itself. Professor Solomonia’s research and graduate programmes in neuroscience continue to make a major contribution of this nature.

References

• Chitadze, L., Meparishvili, M., Lagani, V., Khuchua, Z., McCabe, B.J., Solomonia, R., 2024.
• Src-NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 complex and recognition memory of imprinting in domestic chicks. PLoS ONE 19, e0297166. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0297166
• Chitadze, L., Tevdoradze, E., Kiguradze, T., McCabe, B., Solomonia, R., 2023. Filial imprinting in domestic chicks; cytoplasmic polyadenylation element binding protein 3, predispositions and learning. NEUROREPORT 34, 144–149. https://doi.org/10.1097/WNR.0000000000001872
• Chitadze, L., Margvelani, G., Meparishvili, M., Tsverava, L., Mikautadze, E., Kikvidze, M., Lagani, V., McCabe, B.J., Solomonia, R., 2020. Chicken cognin interactome and the memory of filial imprinting. NeuroReport 31, 399–405. https://doi.org/10.1097/WNR.0000000000001417
• Harvey, R.J., McCabe, B.J., Solomonia, R.O., Horn, G., Darlison, M.G., 1998. Expression of the GABA(A) receptor gamma 4-subunit gene: Anatomical distribution of the corresponding mRNA in the domestic chick forebrain and the effect of imprinting training. Eur. J. Neurosci. 10, 3024– 3028. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1460-9568.1998.00354.x
• Lagani, V., Chitadze, L., Gonzalez Alvarez, A.C., Bokuchava, T., Sansone, G., Bokuchava, V., Tsverava, L., Jones, A., Lisgo, S., Martinez De Morentin, X., Lehmann, R., Tegner, J., Ibrahim, L.A., McCabe, B.J., Khuchua, Z., Cabrero, D.G., Solomonia, R., 2025. Charting the single cell transcriptional landscape governing visual imprinting. bioRxiv 2025.06.23.660422. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.06.23.660422
• Margvelani, G., Meparishvili, M., Kiguradze, T., McCabe, B.J., Solomonia, R., 2018a. Micro- RNAs, their target proteins, predispositions and the memory of filial imprinting. Sci Rep 8. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-35097-w
• Margvelani, G., Meparishvili, M., Tevdoradze, E., McCabe, B.J., Solomonia, R., 2018b. Mitochondrial fusion and fission proteins and the recognition memory of imprinting in domestic chicks. Neuroreport 29, 128–133. https://doi.org/10.1097/WNR.0000000000000936
• Meparishvili, M., Chitadze, L., Lagani, V., McCabe, B., Solomonia, R., 2021. Src and Memory: A Study of Filial Imprinting and Predispositions in the Domestic Chick. Frontiers in Physiology 12, 1517. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2021.736999
• Meparishvili, M., Nozadze, M., Margvelani, G., McCabe, B.J., Solomonia, R.O., 2015. A proteomic study of memory after imprinting in the domestic chick. Front. Behav. Neurosci. 9,
• 319. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2015.00319
• Solomonia, R., Kiguradze, T., McCabe, B.J., Horn, G., 2000. Neural cell adhesion molecules, CaM kinase II and long-term memory in the chick. NeuroReport 11, 3139–3143.
• Solomonia, R., Margvelani, G., Meparishvili, M., McCabe, B.J., 2018. Micro-RNAs and the recognition memory of imprinting in domestic chicks. FEBS J. 283, 213.
• Solomonia, R.O., Apkhazava, D., Nozadze, M., Jackson, A.P., McCabe, B.J., Horn, G., 2008. Different forms of MARCKS protein are involved in memory formation in the learning process of imprinting. Experimental Brain Research 188, 323–330. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-008- 1428-3
• Solomonia, R.O., Kotorashvili, A., Kiguradze, T., McCabe, B.J., Horn, G., 2005. Ca2+/calmodulin protein kinase II and memory: learning-related changes in a localized region of the domestic chick brain. Journal of Physiology-London 569, 643–653. https://doi.org/10.1113/j.physiol.2005.098012
• Solomonia, R.O., Kunelauri, N., Mikautadze, E., Apkhazava, D., McCabe, B.J., Horn, G., 2011. Mitochondrial proteins, learning and memory: biochemical specialization of a memory system. Neuroscience 194, 112–123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroscience.2011.07.053
• Solomonia, R.O., McCabe, B.J., 2015. Molecular mechanisms of memory in imprinting. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews 50, 56–69. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2014.09.013
• Solomonia, R.O., McCabe, B.J., Horn, G., 1998. Neural cell adhesion molecules, learning and memory. Behavioral Neuroscience 112, 646–655. https://doi.org/10.1037/0735-7044.112.3.646
• Solomonia, R.O., McCabe, B.J., Jackson, A.P., Horn, G., 1997. Clathrin proteins and recognition memory. Neuroscience 80, 59–67. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0306-4522(97)00123-1
• Solomonia, R.O., Meparishvili, M., Mikautadze, E., Kunelauri, N., Apkhazava, D., McCabe, B.J., 2013. AMPA receptor phosphorylation and recognition memory: learning-related, time- dependent changes in the chick brain following filial imprinting. Experimental Brain Research 226, 297–308. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-013-3435-2
• Solomonia, R.O., Morgan, K., Kotorashvili, A., McCabe, B.J., Jackson, A.P., Horn, G., 2003. Analysis of differential gene expression supports a role for amyloid precursor protein and a protein kinase C substrate (MARCKS) in long-term memory. European Journal of Neuroscience 17, 1073–1081. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1460-9568.2003.02539.x
• Van der Zee, E.A., Bolhuis, J.J., Solomonia, R.O., Horn, G., Luiten, P.G.M., 1995. Differential distribution of protein kinase C (PKCαβ and PKCγ) isoenzyme immunoreactivity in the chick brain. Brain Research 676, 41–52. https://doi.org/10.1016/0006-8993(95)00084-4