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JARA | BRAIN

Animals communicate via pheromones, mysterious signaling substances that are released in various bodily fluids and automatically trigger predetermined behavioral patterns in the recipient. These range from aggression to mating behavior. Although it is known that pheromones are recognized by a separate sensory organ, the vomeronasal organ, it was unclear how they get there. Researchers led by Christoph Hamacher and Professor Marc Spehr (JARA-BRAIN) have now elucidated this mechanism.

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JARA | BRAIN

The European Commission has signed a grant agreement to fund EBRAINS with €38 million until 2026. Over the next three years, the infrastructure will continue to develop tools and services to widely serve research communities in neurosciences, brain medicine, and brain-inspired technologies. JARA-BRAIN scientist Prof. Katrin Amunts is significantly involved in the project.

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JARA | BRAIN

Prof. Katrin Amunts received a special award for her outstanding commitment to neuroscience on Wednesday, March 16, 2022. North Rhine-Westphalia's Science Minister Isabel Pfeiffer-Poensgen presented the 59-year-old with the Cross of Merit 1st Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany at the Ministry of Culture and Science in Düsseldorf.

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JARA | BRAIN

Glutamate, the salt of glutamic acid, can be found in many different dishes and provides a hearty, spicy taste. Glutamine is also an amino acid that is released from astrocytes, non-neuronal cells in the brain, into the extracellular space and perceives important functions in the brain. A team of scientists around JARA-BRAIN member Prof. Joachim Lübke has now investigated the role of astroglial glutamine in synaptic activity.

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JARA | BRAIN

Prof. Katrin Amunts, a brain researcher from Jülich and JARA-BRAIN member, has been awarded the prestigious Hector Science Prize 2021. The Hector Foundation awards the prize, which is endowed with 150,000 euros, to German scientists for outstanding research achievements and commitment to promoting young scientists. A festive award ceremony is planned for May 2022 in Heidelberg.

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Oxytocin and Autism

Oxytocin is known as the "love hormone". It strengthens social bonding and promotes trust and empathy. These behavioral traits are caused by the binding of the hormone to the oxytocin receptor in the brain. A study involving JARA-BRAIN scientist Paolo Carloni has taken a closer look at the mechanisms behind this. Their findings provide a better understanding why nasal sprays with oxytocin are not always helpful to treat autistic patients and they point to alternative strategies that could lead to new therapies in the long term. 

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In a new study, scientists have now demonstrated for the first time that dysfunctional protein formation is linked to the development of certain psychiatric disorders. The investigations focused on the disrupted in schizophrenia 1 (DISC1) protein. The investigations, in which JARA-BRAIN and SOFT member Prof. Dieter Willbold was involved, focused on the protein DISC1 (Disrupted in Schizophrenia 1). The study has now been published in the journal Translational Psychiatry.

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JARA | BRAIN

A study by an international scientific team, in which JARA-BRAIN member Prof. Marc Spehr played a major role, surprisingly found a link between the activation and deactivation of OT-D3 neurons in the Calleja Islands and the performance, frequency and duration of grooming in rodents. The study was recently published in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

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JARA | BRAIN

In their study of how neurons communicate with each other, a team from the Theory of multi-scale neuronal networks research group, led by JARA-BRAIN scientist Prof. Moritz Helias, has now presented recent findings. The results indicate that the communication of biological neurons is both chaotic and ordered, and that the two states partially favor each other.

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This summer, JARA-BRAIN Professor Paolo Carloni's institute will host autism researcher Dr. Silvia De Rubeis from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. Dr. De Rubeis received the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation's Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award, worth 45,000 euros, for her research on autism spectrum disorders (ASD). She was nominated by Prof. Carloni. The JARA-BRAIN Institute for Molecular Neuroscience and Neuroimaging also offers the young scientist the opportunity to work with experts from RWTH Aachen University.

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For many years, rare diseases have been a research focus of JARA-BRAIN member Prof. Jörg B. Schulz. Now the physician is also involved in the project "Collaboration on Rare Diseases (CORD)", which is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research with several million euros as part of the Medical Informatics Initiative. The new project offers the opportunity to collaborate across disciplines with numerous partners in this field to improve the quality of life of patients with rare diseases.

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JARA | BRAIN

For several years, Prof. Beate Herpertz-Dahlmann has been working on optimizing a therapy concept for young patients with anorexia nervosa. In the past, the JARA-BRAIN scientist achieved positive results with her pilot project "Home Treatment", which focuses primarily on treatment in the patient's familiar home. Based on the pilot project, the therapy concept is now supplemented by the "HoT" project and the associated home care of patients by specially trained, multiprofessional caregivers.

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JARA | BRAIN

Using simulations on the JURECA supercomputer and X-ray crystallography, Jülich researchers have clarified how sodium ions drive the transport of glutamate in the brain. The so-called excitatory amino acid transporters, EAATs for short, are responsible for this, which remove the messenger substance glutamate from the synaptic cleft between nerve cells. The article was published in the current issue of the renowned journal "Science Advances". The institute of Prof. Christoph Fahlke, a member of JARA-BRAIN and JARA-SOFT, was significantly involved in the research.

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Anorexia nervosa affects numerous patients every year. Especially young girls and women are affected by anorexia. Despite extensive research and different therapeutic approaches, a complete recovery of the patients is often impossible. In order to better understand the disease and its mechanisms, a European research team led by JARA-BRAIN scientist Prof. Beate Herpertz-Dahlmann has been investigating the interaction between the intestine and the brain and its influence on a possible anorexia disease since 2019.

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JARA | BRAIN

Synapses are neural connections that enable the transmission of signals from one nerve cell to another. The human brain is well networked by approximately 100 trillion of these tiny connections. So far, a large part of the knowledge about synapses in the human brain has been based on investigations in animal models; it is questionable to what extent these can actually be transmitted. Now a team around JARA-BRAIN member Prof. Joachim Lübke has published the first quantifiable 3D model of human synapses in the cerebral cortex. The model opens up completely new possibilities and insights.

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A few days ago, the German Research Foundation (DFG) announced the newly selected priority programmes for 2019. From the 53 submitted initiatives, the Senate selected 14 projects for funding as priority programmes. One of the selected priority programmes, entitled " Auditive Kognition in interaktiven virtuellen Umgebungen – AUDICTIVE", is coordinated by JARA-BRAIN scientist Prof. Janina Fels.

Further information in German.

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A new imaging technique enables scientists to obtain structural information about brain tissue that was previously difficult to access. Diattenuation imaging (DI) can be used to distinguish brain areas with many thin nerve fibres from regions with few thick nerve fibres. Until now, this separation was not easily possible with other imaging methods.

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What happens in the brain when we are not doing anything in particular? In other words, what is going on when the human brain is ‘at rest’? One might think the brain’s functional activity decreases to a low-maintenance baseline – similar to the screen saver of a computer. In the early 2000s, neuroscientist noticed for the first time a coherent set of brain regions that systematically increased (not decreased!) in idling humans. In contrast to the computer screen saver, in the baseline of the brain, some regions remain highly active and potentially never really “stop working”. Together these energy-hungry regions subserve a yet-to-be-uncovered baseline function of the human brain - which became known as the ‘default mode network’ (DMN).

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JARA | BRAIN

In its developmental history, man has gone through many stages until he became the complex creature he is. We have known this since Darwin's theory of evolution at least. However, the fact that some of today's creatures, which are normally not seen in a close relationship to humans, share characteristics with us is always surprising. A team of scientists from the Israel Institute of Technology (Technion) and RWTH Aachen University recently discovered that the perception of barn owls has certain similarities with the perception and information processing of primates. Prof. Hermann Wagner, member of JARA-BRAIN and head of the Institute of Biology II (Zoology) RWTH Aachen, was significantly involved in the study.

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The human brain is an organ of incredible complexity, composed of a hundred billion interconnected nerve cells. However, even with the help of the most powerful supercomputers available, it is currently impossible to simulate the exchange of neuronal signals in networks of this size. Researchers of Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany, RIKEN, Kobe and Wako, Japan, and the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm Sweden, have made a decisive step towards creating the technology to achieve simulations of brain-scale networks on future supercomputers of the exascale class. Simultaneously, the new algorithm significantly speeds up brain simulations on existing supercomputers.

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JARA | BRAIN

Dr. Danilo Bzdok (JARA-BRAIN), who holds a professorship for social and affective neuroscience at the Clinic for Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, was the only German scientist to receive the renowned award for' Rising Star' of the Association for Psychological Science (APS) in the USA.

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JARA | BRAIN

German Federal Minister of Education and Research Johanna Wanka paid a visit to University Hospital Aachen on 28 July, making RWTH Aachen University the first stop of her summer tour. As part of her visit, minister Wanka therefore spoke in particular with the young scientists involved in the research alliance. In three separate sessions, the minister learned about current research being conducted.

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JARA | BRAIN

The results of a meta-analysis conducted by JARA-BRAIN scientist Prof. Dr. Thomas Nickl-Jockschat and Dr. Claudia Eickhoff show: A COMT gene variant does not necessarily influence brain performance in people with schizophrenia. Past imaging studies indicated a correlation between this gene defect and brain activity patterns.

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JARA | BRAIN

Around 800,000 people in Germany suffer from schizophrenia. Nevertheless, this mental illness is not as well researched as depression or dementia. A new, large-scale research project is set to change this. On 12 May 2015 at the specialized clinic for psychiatry and psychotherapy “LVR-Klinik” in Düren, Parliamentary State Secretary Thomas Rachel together with representatives of the brain research alliance JARA-BRAIN officially launched the research project “APIC – Antipsychotic-induced structural and functional changes in the brain”. The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is providing APIC with funding worth € 4 million.

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JARA | BRAIN

Schizophrenia is a serious mental illness which can manifest itself in many different forms. This makes accurate diagnostics even more important: it is the only way for the best possible, individually defined therapies to be selected for each patient. But according to JARA-BRAIN scientist PD Dr. Irene Neuner, there is still some room for improvement: “Around 30 % of therapies are currently ineffective.” TRIMAGE, which the psychiatrist is involved with, will help change this.

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A joint meeting of the Search Committees will be held on 10 April 2015 at Forschungszentrum Jülich to discuss the appointment of the future JARA directors. On this occasion, the JARA-BRAIN scientists and candidates for the posts of director Prof. Ute Habel, Prof. Kerstin Konrad, Prof. Frank Schneider, and Prof. Jörg B. Schulz will present the research priorities of the future institutes as well as insights into their own research work.

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JARA | BRAIN

Pause for Thought

The acoustic CR neuromodulation method developed by JARA-BRAIN scientist Prof. Peter Tass is a promising treatment. This method disturbs the synchronous firing of the neurons by using electrical stimulation. Recent research work has now shown that this therapeutic approach can be improved by incorporating sufficiently long pauses between the stimulation of the neurons even if very weak stimulations are used.

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At the end of January 2015, this year’s Winter School of the International Research Training Group (IRTG) “Schizophrenia and Autism” took place at the RWTH Aachen University’s guest house. The IRTG is part of the JARA-BRAIN section. Over 50 current and former PhD students from Philadelphia, Jülich, and Aachen took part in presentations and discussions at the three-day event. The Winter School was opened by Sabine Mönkemöller, Programme Director at the German Research Foundation with responsibility for IRTG 1328, and Prof. Dr. Ernst Schmachtenberg, rector of RWTH Aachen University.

In IRTG 1328, PhD students from various disciplines conduct research on scientific issues concerning the psychiatric disorders of schizophrenia and autism. The researchers work in the specialist departments of University Hospital Aachen as well as at Forschungszentrum Jülich and the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia (USA). IRTG 1328 is currently in its second funding period.

Further information: http://www.irtg-schizophrenia-autism.de

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This month, the European research collaboration European Friedreich’s Ataxia Consortium for Translational Studies (EFACTS) published its research findings in The Lancet Neurology. JARA-BRAIN scientist Prof. Dr. Jörg B. Schulz, director of the Department of Neurology in University Hospital Aachen and spokesperson for the Aachen centre for rare diseases (ZSEA), heads the patient registry and a study on the natural course of the disease. Together with his senior physician Prof. Dr. Kathrin Reetz (JARA-BRAIN) and an expert team from University Hospital Aachen, he published the data from a prospective cross-sectional study.

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Successful translation: the amino acid 18F-fluoroethyl tyrosine (FET), which was developed by JARA-BRAIN scientists, has been licensed for the first time as a radiopharmaceutical agent for the diagnosis of brain diseases in humans by the Swiss Agency for Therapeutic Products.

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The JARA-BRAIN scientist Dr. Irene Neuner received the German Association for Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics’s (DGPPN) 2014 research award for her outstanding research achievements in the area of innovative imaging. The award was presented for the first time to three scientists at the DGPPN Annual Congress in Berlin and is endowed with € 5,000 for each winner.

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JARA | BRAIN

Mental illness is one of the most frequent illnesses of children and young people. This is also reflected in the number of patients treated at University Hospital Aachen's Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy. The number of patients here has increased by over 70 % in the past few years. This is why the hospital is extending its premises. In an interview, JARA-BRAIN scientist and head of department, Prof. Beate Herpertz-Dahlmann, outlines the new facilities available at the child and adolescent psychiatry department.

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JARA | BRAIN

A gift voucher for the cinema, praise from your parents, or nothing at all: rewards are regarded as desirable to a different extent. In a study by University Hospital Aachen's Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, JARA-BRAIN scientists recently investigated which incentives had an effect on healthy test subjects, as well as on patients with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism. The findings will help to tailor treatment as closely as possible to the needs of certain groups of patients.

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JARA | BRAIN

Children with reading difficulties benefit from targeted training programmes. As a result, their brain activity increases in the area of the brain known as the visual word form area. This was shown by a study with primary school pupils conducted by JARA-BRAIN scientist Prof. Dr. Stefan Heim and his team. The findings were recently published in the journal Brain Structure & Function.

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JARA | BRAIN

Autists may be able to recite bus timetables and movie showtimes. However, they find it difficult to recognize feelings such as happiness or sadness in other people. JARA-BRAIN junior professor Prof. Dr. Thomas Nickl-Jockschat and a team of researchers recently discovered that an anomaly in the visual centre is partly responsible for this deficit.

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JARA-BRAIN scientists have discovered that respiration and brain function correspond more closely with each other than previously believed. The results of their research have been published in the internationally respected journal Nature Communications.

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JARA | BRAIN

Patients suffering from brain tumours benefit particularly from state-of-the-art hybrid devices that combine positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). These hybrid devices provide information on numerous aspects of the disease in a single examination. This has been shown in a study recently published in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine.

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JARA | BRAIN

The urine of mice contains major urinary proteins (MUPs). These proteins convey important information about the animal, for example about its aggressive or mating behaviour. Together with international cooperation partners, JARA-BRAIN scientist Prof. Marc Spehr has now shown for the first time how these different types of information are produced and recognized. The research findings have been published in the highly respected journal Cell.

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JARA | BRAIN

According to MIT Technology Review, brain mapping is one of the ten most influential technologies of 2014. The Jülich neuroscientist Prof. Katrin Amunts is one of the most important actors worldwide in this field. This is why in its recently published list of 10 Breakthrough Technologies 2014, the science magazine named the JARA-BRAIN scientist as a key player.

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A new 3-tesla MRI scanner is currently being installed at University Hospital Aachen’s Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics. The Magnetom Prisma’s gradient field strength and gradient slew rate are unrivalled by any other 3-tesla system currently on the market.

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JARA | BRAIN

Prof. Kathrin Reetz, senior physician at the Department of Neurology, was appointed professor (grade W2) of imaging for neurodegenerative diseases at University Hospital Aachen. The neurologist had previously been working as a JARA-BRAIN junior professor at both Forschungszentrum Jülich and the Department of Neurology at University Hospital Aachen.

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JARA | BRAIN

Researchers have investigated the interaction between astrocytes – non-neuronal cells – and excitatory neurons. The membrane protein connexin 30, which is found in astrocytes, appears to play a crucial role in signal transduction in the hippocampus, a region of the brain connected with learning and memory processes. JARA-BRAIN scientists were involved in the research project, whose findings have been published in the high-impact journal Nature Neuroscience.

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JARA | BRAIN

The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) will support a new research network for mental illness from summer 2014. One of the nine collaborative projects selected, which were presented by Federal Research Minister Prof. Dr. Johanna Wanka in Berlin, is the research collaboration entitled “APIC – Antipsychotic-induced structural and functional changes in the brain” coordinated by JARA-BRAIN scientists.

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