GRK 843:  Mechanisms of neuronal signal transduction - from protein to network

• Subject Area: Basic Research in Biology and Medicine
• Term: from 2003 to 2009
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 273559

The Research Training Group is dedicated to one of the most central challenges in modern bio-medical research - understanding the mechanisms and development of the brain and its unique functions, the organisation of consciousness, learning and memory. In order to reach for this most complex goal the 15 labs that participate in the Research Training Group use an interdisciplinary approach to investigate the mechanisms of signal transmission and processing on different levels: on the level of single molecules and molecular complexes, on the level of single cells and cell-to-cell connections, and finally on the level of "in vivo" and "in vitro" networks. A wide range of methods including all essential techniques of molecular and systemic neurobiology is used, such as electrophysiological recording techniques (in brain slices and cell cultures), proteom-analysis of multiprotein complexes, molecular biology as well as genetic techniques and model systems (Zebrafish and Drosophila), structure analysis of proteins using NMR spectroscopy, immunocytochemistry, confocal laser-scanning- and electron microscopy, functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) "in vivo", and methods from network analysis and network modelling (computational neuroscience).

• DFG Programme: Research Training Groups
• Applicant Institution: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg
• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Bernd Fakler
• Participating Researchers: Professor Dr. Adrianus Aertsen; Professor Dr. Ralf Baumeister; Dr. Detlef Bentrop; Professor Dr. Wolfgang Driever; Professor Dr. Karl-Friedrich Fischbach; Professor Dr. Michael Frotscher (†); Professor Dr. Manfred Heckmann; Professor Dr. Michael Häusser; Professor Dr. Peter Jonas; Professor Dr. Nikolaj Klöcker; Professor Dr. Dieter Klaus Meyer; Professor Dr. Guido Nikkhah; Privatdozentin Dr. Paola Pedarzani; Professor Dr. Andreas Schulze-Bonhage; Professor Dr. Cornelius Weiller