Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

11/18/2009

The DFG has approved the establishment of 17 new Collaborative Research Centres as of 1 January 2010. This decision was made recently by the relevant Grants Committee in Bonn. The new centres will initially be funded for four years with a total of EUR132 million. In addition, 20 percent overhead funding for indirect costs will also be provided for each project. The centres' research topics range from modern prostheses to political reforms to marine bacteria. The new projects will address, among other topics, communication processes within and between cells on a molecular level, new perspectives on material systems with electronic interactions, and the significance of Roseobacter clade bacteria for the carbon balance of the world's oceans.  (...)

How are molecular and cellular mechanisms in nerve cells translated, via neuronal circuits, into higher-level brain functions?

CRC 870, "Assembly and Function of Neuronal Circuits in Sensory Processing", addresses this question. The scientists in Munich plan to study neuronal circuits of various model organisms and thereby enhance the understanding of information processing in sensory systems with respect to development and plasticity. Their long-term goal is to better understand complex sensory-processing mechanisms at a neuronal-circuit level.  (...)