Universität Heidelberg Garners Two Approvals for Collaborative Research Centres
22. November 2014
Funding for new medical research collaboration and existing astronomy CRC 881
Heidelberg University succeeded in gaining support from the German Research Foundation (DFG) in the latest approval round for both the establishment of a new collaborative research centre at the Medical Faculty Heidelberg as well as the continuation of CRC 881 at Heidelberg University’s Centre for Astronomy. Total DFG funding for the two consortia is approximately 19 million euros. The new collaborative research centre, set up for an initial four-year period, is called “Functional ensembles: cellular components, patterned activity and plasticity of co-active neurons in local networks”. The CRC “The Milky Way System” is beginning its second four-year funding period.
Researchers of the newly approved CRC, “Functional ensembles: cellular components, patterned activity and plasticity of co-active neurons in local networks”, will study the complex interaction of nerve cells and investigate recurring patterns that underlie movement, thought and perception. Its spokesperson is Prof. Dr. Andreas Draguhn, director of the Department of Neuro- and Sensory Physiology at the Institute of Physiology and Pathophysiology of the Medical Faculty Heidelberg. The CRC will have approx. 9.5 million euros at its disposal. It will be joined by researchers from the Medical Faculty Mannheim, the Faculty of Biosciences and the Heidelberg Collaboratory for Image Processing of Heidelberg University, the German Cancer Research Center as well as the Central Institute of Mental Health Mannheim.
CRC 881 is focussed on our home galaxy, the Milky Way, a typical spiral galaxy that belongs to the most common class of high-mass galaxies in the universe. The researchers of CRC 881 are channelling their over 9 million euros of funding to exploring the origin and development of the Milky Way to uncover the basic principles of galaxy formation. Their research is also aimed at testing the predictions of cosmological models on galaxy formation in detail and investigating the small-scale distribution of dark matter. The spokesperson for the collaboration research centre is Prof. Dr. Eva Grebel of the Institute for Astronomical Computing, which is part of Heidelberg University’s Centre for Astronomy. Non-university research institutions involved are the Max Planck Institute of Astronomy and the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies (HITS).
