Coordination Funds

哺乳动物的大脑通过处理神经网络内的环境和内部信息来解释复杂的感觉、运动和认知能力。这些动态组装的神经元群以不同的空间复杂性水平组织大脑，从微电路到大规模网络。它们的活动模式，如振荡节律，通过定时神经元放电，在大脑中创造了一个精确的时间顺序。人们认为，神经元网络中神经元活动的时空协调对于产生定义的行为输出是必不可少的。系统神经科学的一个基本目标是破译感觉知觉和认知能力编码到单个神经元和神经元网络活动模式上的机制。然而，这一目标的实验成果已被证明是非常困难的，而且在过去几十年里积累的证据大多是描述性的和相关的。因此，仍有几个关键问题有待解决：单个神经元或不同复杂性的神经元网络对特定行为的贡献是什么？是什么机制使神经元聚集到产生行为相关输出的网络中？发展网络的活动如何促进网络的完善和认知能力的成熟？异常网络激活对行为的影响是什么？直到最近，还缺乏适当的方法来监测和选择性地操纵行为动物的单个或组神经元的活动。在过去的两三年里，新的记录和成像技术以及电纳米刺激和光遗传学工具的令人印象深刻的发展对神经科学产生了深远的影响。因此，现在是时候将实验系统生理学与神经技术和网络动力学的分析/建模结合起来，进行跨学科和开创性的合作努力。优先项目1665旨在确定单个神经元和网络活动与行为之间的因果关系。重点将放在感觉-运动和认知加工。研究将在不同的网络复杂性水平上进行，范围从单个神经元和微电路到大规模皮质-皮质下神经元网络，并涵盖成人和发育方面。具体来说，它旨在使用新的实验工具来监测和操纵神经元活动，这些工具将在以行为/功能读出为中心的协作努力中开发和验证。对网络动力学和建模的分析将允许对机制假设进行功能评估，并将支持与行为的联系。1665优先计划的每个项目都将在三驾车内建立网络：“实验者”，即解决或操纵神经元活动的小组，“工具制造者”，即开发和验证记录和操作方法的小组，以及“分析师”，即分析网络动态或剖析功能读数的小组。此外，将在静修、工作坊和实验室轮转中促进附属三驾船之间的交流。因此，系统神经科学的新技术和分析算法将在联盟内开发和传播。通过一系列措施，优先计划旨在促进青年研究人员。他们将获得1665优先计划核心主题的扎实背景知识，方法专业知识和与科学事业相关的技能培训。该财团将通过实施平等机会计划，尽一切努力使女性研究人员融入其中。争取按照毕业生性别比例招收男女博士研究生，并为女性研究人员提供量身定制的支持、指导和指导。

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.