Collaborative Research Center 1080

The Collaborative Research Center 1080 is a newly established, neuroscience research center set up by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG; English: German Research Foundation), Germany's largest research funding organization. It will receive 9.3 million euros in its first four years.

Title

Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms of Neural Homoeostasis.

Structure

The research center is made up of groups from the following universities and institutes:

  • Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz
  • Max Planck-Institute for Brain Research
  • Institute for Molecular Biology Mainz (IMB)

Connected Parties

The CRC 1080 also has research connections and associate memberships with universities and groups both internationally and domestically with many of the 1080 principal investigators ACTIVE across groups.

  • Interdisciplinary Center for Neuroscience Frankfurt (German: Interdisziplinären Zentrums für Neurowissenschaften Frankfurt)
  • Rhine-Main Neuroscience Network (rmn²)
  • Focus Program Translational Neurosciences (FTN)

Function

The CRC 1080 groups primarily conduct science that explores the fundamental molecular and cellular processes that lead to the capability of the nervous system:

  1. to acquire and maintain a homeostatic state during development
  2. to achieve homeostasis during adult life
  3. to adjust to new set-points in response to a harmful event.

Research

The following projects are currently operating at the CRC 1080:

  • Activity-Dependent Regulation of Apoptosis in Developing Rodent (Heiko Luhmann).
  • Bioactive Phospholipid Signaling in Homeostatic Regulation of Neuron Numbers and Connections (Robert Nitsch and Johannes Vogt).
  • EGFL7: A Novel Modulator of Neural Homeostasis in the Hippocampus (Mirko HH Schmidt and Stephan Schwarzacher).
  • Homeostasis of the Main Olfactory Epithelium in Mouse (Peter Mombaerts).
  • Defining the impact of newborn neurons in mouse olfactory bulb on neural homeostasis by combining optogenetics with in vivo imaging (Benedikt Berninger and Albrecht Stroh).
  • Epigenetic DNA Demethylation in Adaptation and Stability Processes of the Nervous System (Beat Lutz and Christoph Niehrs).
  • Functional Role of the Proteasome and Autophagic Protein Degradation System in Neuronal Homeostasis Following Traumatic Brain Injury (Christian Behl, Kristin Engelhard and Thomas Mittmann).
  • Stabilization of the Neuronal Homeostasis by Adaptation of Chaperone Activity to Long Term Proteotoxic Stress in vivo (Christian Behl and Albrecht Clement).
  • Progranulin in the Adaptive Response of the Nociceptive System to Damage (Irmgard Tegeder).
  • GDAP1 is a redox sensor that controls cellular redox homeostasis by altering mitochondrial shape and function (Axel Methner).
  • Decoding Neural Activity by Synaptic Proteome Remodeling (Erin Schuman).
  • Optogenetic and Ultrastructural Analysis of Synaptic Vesicle Homeostasis at Hyper-stimulated Synapses in Caenorhabditis elegans (Alexander Gottschalk).
  • Molecular Mechanisms of Synaptic Adaptation after Denervation (Thomas Deller and Andreas Vlachos).
  • Molecular Mechanisms of Dendritic Development and Maintenance (Amparo Acker-Palmer).
  • Plasticity Related Gene 1: Functional Role in Homeostasis of Synapse Formation and Maintenance (Robert Nitsch and Jisen Huai).
  • Molecular mechanisms of neuronal homeostasis during inflammatory processes in the CNS (Michael Schaefer and Frauke Zipp).
  • Mechanisms of Homeostatic and Allostatic Electrophysiological States of Dopaminergic Midbrain Neurons in Aging and Models of Parkinson’s Disease (Jochen Roeper).
  • Endocannabinoids in Negative Feedback Mechanisms: Involvement of Epigenetic Mechanisms Underlying Homeostasis and the Shift to Allostasis (Beat Lutz).

Integrated Research Training Group

The IRTG provides an interdisciplinary training program on molecular and cellular mechanisms of neural homeostasis in molecular biology, cell biology, histology, immunohistochemistry, genetics, electrophysiology, behavioral analyses, imaging techniques and clinical methods to MD-PhD and PhD students. The current executive committee of the IRTG consists of Profs. Acker-Palmer and Luhmann.

Steering Committee

Robert Nitsch (spokesperson): Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz

Amparo Acker-Palmer (deputy spokesperson): Goethe University Frankfurt

Heiko Luhmann: Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz

Jochen Roeper: Goethe University Frankfurt

Mirko HH Schmidt: Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz

Erin Schuman: Max Planck-Institute for Brain Research

Tom Kay (1080 Science Manager): Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz

Video

The Remarkable Neuron: Erin Schuman at TEDxCaltech.