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.
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.
JARA-BRAIN scientist PD Dr. Stefan Heim was presented his certificate of appointment as adjunct professor at RWTH Aachen University on 11 February 2014.
Prof. Dr. Dirk Feldmeyer has recently been appointed a member in the Wellcome Trust Peer Review College. The JARA-BRAIN scientist will act as a reviewer for the Wellcome Trust, initially for a period of three years.
On 17 January 2013, an event was held to officially mark the foundation of the new JARA-FAME (Forces and Matter Experiments). JARA-FAME is concerned with basic physical research in the field of nuclear and particle physics, and aims to investigate and improve our understanding of matter-antimatter asymmetry in the universe. This asymmetry ultimately holds the key to our existence.
