Research News
The three-dimensional imaging technique with polarised light developed at Jülich allows for the spatial representation of nerve fibre connections within the human brain at a resolution of up to one thousandth of a millimetre. Photo: Research Centre Jülich
Brain Research News
Spatial Orientation
A team around the DKFZ researcher Prof. Dr Hannah Monyer has discovered that the brain regions responsible for spatial orientation and location memory are directly connected to each other by long branched projections of inhibiting neurons. It is assumed that this connection contributes to synchronising these two brain regions and thus processing spatial information. "So far, only stimulating nerve fibres between the two regions were known to exist", explains Monyer.
Order in the Brain Cortex Jungle
Some 20 billion neurons in approximately 200 different regions of the brain work together in the cerebral cortex, communicating via synapses, transmitters, receptors and nerve fibres. In order to understand the complex organisation of this part of the brain, the basic rules governing the jungle that is the brain structure need to be discovered. The Jülich-based neuroscientists Prof. Dr Katrin Amunts and Prof. Dr Karl Zilles now have submitted a proposal: To this end, they employ the latest research results supporting the notion of a geometrically ordered and hierarchically operating "control centre". The neuroscientists from Jülich work on a threedimensional model of the brain.
EU NeuroCare Project Launch
In future, neuronal implants could contribute towards substituting damaged sensory cells in the eye or ear. One of the greatest challenges in effecting this, is designing the interface between technology and human tissue. In the context of the EU NeuroCare project launched in March, scientists from the Research Centre Jülich and from eleven other institutes develop innovative carbon-based bio-interfaces. "We develop bio-interfaces that are even better accepted by live tissue and which cause fewer problems as regards contamination", reports Prof. Dr Andreas Offenhäusser, Head of the Bioelectronics Department at the Research Centre Jülich. The carbon-based materials can be produced at low cost, are robust, biologically inert and feature a broad range of electronic characteristics, ranging from metallike conductors over semi-conductors to insulators. Within the coming three years, the project coordinated by the French CEA is to produce prototypes for retinal, cortex and cochlea implants, which then can be further developed to marketability over the course of the subsequent ten years.
