GRK 361:  Neural Plasticity: Molecules, Structures, Functions

• Subject Area: Basic Research in Biology and Medicine
• Term: from 1997 to 2006
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 272061

The research training group aims at bringing together within an interdisciplinary program various scientific and methodological approaches of brain research. Research and educational programs focus on the mechanisms underlying structural and functional plasticity in the nervous system. The study of neural plasticity involves methods and concepts reaching from molecular biology and biophysics to structural analysis and the analysis of complex brain functions. Students are given the opportunity to become exposed to techniques and ideas that are applied and developed outside their home laboratory. Regular seminars serve the exchange of information between students and provide in depth views of the various methodological and conceptual approaches. The additional education includes methodological training in the form of workshops, lectures and seminars to combine the various disciplines or excursions to industrial companies to familiarize students with professional activities in the field of neuroscience outside academic institutions.

• DFG Programme: Research Training Groups
• Applicant Institution: Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main
• Participating Institution: Max-Planck-Institut für Hirnforschung
• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Herbert Zimmermann
• Participating Researchers: Professor Dr. Kurt Harald Backus (†); Professor Dr. Heinrich Betz; Professor Dr. Johann Helmut Brandstätter; Professor Dr. Thomas Deller; Professor Dr. Jens-Karl Eilers; Professor Dr. Rainer Klinke (†); Professor Dr. Horst-Werner Korf; Professor Dr. Manfred Kössl; Professor Dr. Frank Nürnberger; Professor Dr. Hermann Rohrer; Professor Dr. Wolf Singer; Privatdozent Dr. Jean W.Th. Smolders; Professor Dr. Walter Volknandt; Professor Dr. Heinz Wässle