Detailseite
Projekt
Koordinationsfonds
Antragstellerin
Professorin Dr. Ileana L. Hanganu-Opatz
Fachliche Zuordnung
Kognitive, systemische und Verhaltensneurobiologie
Förderung
Förderung von 2013 bis 2017
Projektkennung
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Projektnummer 237845977
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 organize 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 behavioral 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 single neurons and neuronal networks. 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 behavior? What are the mechanisms by which neurons are recruited for assembling into networks that generate behaviorally relevant output? How does the activity of developing networks contribute to network refinement and maturation of cognitive abilities? What is the behavioral impact of abnormal network activation?Until very recently, appropriate methods to monitor and selectively manipulate the activity of single or groups of neurons in behaving animals were lacking. The impressive development of new recording and imaging techniques as well as of electrical nanostimulations and optogenetic tools during the last two-three years had a profound impact on neuroscience. Thus, time has now come to bind experimental systems physiology with neurotechnology and analysis/modeling of network dynamics in an interdisciplinary and seminal collaborative endeavor.The Priority Program 1665 aims at identifying causal relationships linking the activity of single neurons and networks to behavior. Emphasis will be laid on sensory-motor and cognitive processing. Investigations will be performed at different levels of network complexity, ranging from single neurons and microcircuits to large-scale corticosubcortical neuronal networks and both adult and developmental aspects will be covered. Specifically, it is aimed at monitoring and manipulating the neuronal activity using new experimental tools, which will be developed and validated in collaborative efforts centered on behavioral/functional readout. Analysis of network dynamics and modeling will allow functional evaluation of mechanistic hypotheses and will back-up the links to behavior.Each project of the Priority Program 1665 will network within troikas the “experimenters”, i.e. groups resolving or manipulating neuronal activity, the “toolmakers”, i.e. groups developing and validating the recording and manipulation methods, and the “analysts”, i.e. groups analyzing network dynamics or dissecting the functional readout. Moreover, exchange between affiliated troikas will be promoted at retreats, workshops and lab rotations. As a result, novel technologies and analysis algorithms in systems neuroscience will be developed and dissiminated within the consortium.Through a number of measures the Priority Program aims at promoting young researchers. They will receive a solid background in the core topics of the Priority Program 1665, methodological expertise and training of the skills relevant for the scientific career. The consortium will take all efforts to integrate female researchers by implementing an equal opportunity program. We will strive to recruit male and female doctoral candidates in a proportion that reflects the gender ratio of graduating students and to offer tailored support, mentoring and coaching for female researchers.
DFG-Verfahren
Schwerpunktprogramme
