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SPP 1665:  Resolving and Manipulating Neuronal Networks in the Mammalian Brain - From Correlative to Causal Analysis

Subject Area Medicine
Term from 2013 to 2020
Project identifier Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 220176618
 
The mammalian brain accounts for complex sensory, motor, and cognitive abilities by processing environmental and internal information within neuronal networks. These dynamically assembled groups of neurons organise the brain at different levels of spatial complexity ranging from microcircuits to large-scale networks. Their patterns of activity, such as oscillatory rhythms, create a precise temporal order within the brain by timing the neuronal firing. It is thought that the spatiotemporal orchestration of neuronal activity in neuronal networks is essential for generating defined behavioural outputs. A fundamental aim of systems neuroscience is to decipher the mechanisms by which sensory perception and cognitive abilities are encoded onto activity patterns of neuronal networks and in this way, to link physiological and psychological processes. However, experimental achievement of this aim has proven notoriously difficult and mostly descriptive and correlative evidences accumulated during the last decades. Thus, several crucial questions remain to be addressed: What is the contribution of single neurons or neuronal networks of different complexity to a specific behaviour? What are the mechanisms by which neurons are recruited for assembling into networks that generate behaviourally relevant output? The Priority Programme aims at identifying such causal relationships linking the activity of single neurons and networks to behaviour. Investigations are performed at different levels of network complexity, ranging from single neurons and microcircuits to large-scale cortico-subcortical neuronal networks and both adult and developmental aspects will be covered. Specifically, we monitor and manipulate neuronal activity using new experimental tools, which are developed and validated in collaborative efforts centred on behavioural/functional readout. Analysis of network dynamics and modelling allow functional evaluation of mechanistic hypotheses and back-up the links to behaviour. Practically, "troika collaborations" have been initiated. They include "experimenters", i.e. groups resolving or manipulating neuronal activity, "toolmakers", i.e. groups developing and validating the recording and manipulation methods, and "analysts", i.e. groups analysing network dynamics or dissecting the functional readout.
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