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Priority Programme Ultrafast and Temporally Precise Information Processing: Normal and Dysfunctional Hearing (SPP 1608)
Termin:
04.02.2015
Fördergeber:
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
The Senate of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) has established a Priority Programme entitled "Ultrafast and Temporally Precise Information Processing: Normal and Dysfunctional Hearing" (SPP 1608) in April 2012. The programme is designed to run for six years. This call invites proposals for the second three-year funding period.
Ultrafast signalling and an exquisitely high temporal precision down to the microsecond range are the major hallmarks of the auditory system that set it apart from virtually any other sensory system. Deficits in temporal pro-cessing can result from structural and functional abnormalities in the peripheral and the central auditory system. The exact causes of such sound-processing impairments in the cochlea, the auditory nerve, or the brain are largely unknown. Therefore, a better understanding of the physiology of ultrafast signalling and temporally precise information processing and their disturbances is indispensable for the development of effective treatment strategies for hearing disorders.
The Priority Programme aims to identify the substrates in the peripheral and the central auditory system that enable temporally precise information processing in the millisecond and sub-millisecond range. It addresses both normal and dysfunctional hearing, thus linking basic and disease-oriented research. Investigations shall be performed at various complexity levels, from single gene products via molecular machineries to the levels of cells and neuronal circuits. Work must focus on the inner ear, the auditory nerve, or the auditory brainstem up to the midbrain. Investigations should be performed via physiological, biophysical, histological, morphological, genetic, or behavioural approaches, optimally bridging several disciplines. Consequently, collaboration with other participating groups in the programme will be enforced. Projects should address questions of cellular physiology or functionality in clearly defined neural circuits, in adulthood or during development. The use of accessible genetically modified organisms, such as mice, is particularly encouraged. Modern imaging techniques, optical stimulation methods, and single cell RNA sequencing are highly appreciated. Studies involving the acquisition and analysis of ABR waveform data on humans and animals will also apt for the programme if they focus on the temporal pattern and the underlying mechanisms. Sequencing studies which aim at gene identification in humans and animals and are flanked by subsequent and complementary physiological investigations will be highly welcome. Modelling approaches (computational neuroscience) will complete the research initiative. Young researchers and women scientists are particularly encouraged to apply.
The following areas are explicitly excluded: Clinically-oriented projects without a focus on basic research; cognitive studies; EEG studies analysing auditory event-related cortical potentials; neuropsychological and neurolinguistic studies; studies involving multimodal neuroimaging to analyse perception; studies involving transcranial magnetic stimulation; genetic approaches without an involvement of complementary physiological analysis.
Contact:
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
Kennedyallee 40
53175 Bonn
Prof. Dr. Jutta Engel
Saarland University, Homburg
E-Mail: jutta.engel@mx.uni-saarland.de
Prof. Dr. Eckhard Friauf
TU Kaiserslautern
E-Mail: eckhard.friauf@biologie.uni-kl.de
Further Information:
http://www.dfg.de/foerderung/info_wissenschaft/info_wissenschaft_14_63/index.html
Ultrafast signalling and an exquisitely high temporal precision down to the microsecond range are the major hallmarks of the auditory system that set it apart from virtually any other sensory system. Deficits in temporal pro-cessing can result from structural and functional abnormalities in the peripheral and the central auditory system. The exact causes of such sound-processing impairments in the cochlea, the auditory nerve, or the brain are largely unknown. Therefore, a better understanding of the physiology of ultrafast signalling and temporally precise information processing and their disturbances is indispensable for the development of effective treatment strategies for hearing disorders.
The Priority Programme aims to identify the substrates in the peripheral and the central auditory system that enable temporally precise information processing in the millisecond and sub-millisecond range. It addresses both normal and dysfunctional hearing, thus linking basic and disease-oriented research. Investigations shall be performed at various complexity levels, from single gene products via molecular machineries to the levels of cells and neuronal circuits. Work must focus on the inner ear, the auditory nerve, or the auditory brainstem up to the midbrain. Investigations should be performed via physiological, biophysical, histological, morphological, genetic, or behavioural approaches, optimally bridging several disciplines. Consequently, collaboration with other participating groups in the programme will be enforced. Projects should address questions of cellular physiology or functionality in clearly defined neural circuits, in adulthood or during development. The use of accessible genetically modified organisms, such as mice, is particularly encouraged. Modern imaging techniques, optical stimulation methods, and single cell RNA sequencing are highly appreciated. Studies involving the acquisition and analysis of ABR waveform data on humans and animals will also apt for the programme if they focus on the temporal pattern and the underlying mechanisms. Sequencing studies which aim at gene identification in humans and animals and are flanked by subsequent and complementary physiological investigations will be highly welcome. Modelling approaches (computational neuroscience) will complete the research initiative. Young researchers and women scientists are particularly encouraged to apply.
The following areas are explicitly excluded: Clinically-oriented projects without a focus on basic research; cognitive studies; EEG studies analysing auditory event-related cortical potentials; neuropsychological and neurolinguistic studies; studies involving multimodal neuroimaging to analyse perception; studies involving transcranial magnetic stimulation; genetic approaches without an involvement of complementary physiological analysis.
Contact:
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
Kennedyallee 40
53175 Bonn
Prof. Dr. Jutta Engel
Saarland University, Homburg
E-Mail: jutta.engel@mx.uni-saarland.de
Prof. Dr. Eckhard Friauf
TU Kaiserslautern
E-Mail: eckhard.friauf@biologie.uni-kl.de
Further Information:
http://www.dfg.de/foerderung/info_wissenschaft/info_wissenschaft_14_63/index.html