SFB936 – Multi-Site Communication in the Brain
This Collaborative Research Center 936 (CRC 936, in German SFB 936) has been established by the DFG in 2011, has been funded for three project periods and has run until June 2023.
Cognitive processes, such as perception, memory, attentional control, emotion, decision making, action planning or conscious awareness, are based on the activation of highly distributed networks involving numerous interacting neuronal assemblies in multiple regions of the central nervous system. The essence of a normally functioning brain is proper connectivity. Neurological and psychiatric disorders causing disturbances in any of these cognitive domains, accordingly, involve malfunctions in distributed networks. Prior to the launch of the CRC 936, concepts of brain function were still largely based on the notion of local processing and specialization of brain areas. The overarching hypothesis that has been pursued by the CRC 936 was that the crucial determinant of behavior is neuronal network interaction and not local processing.
In the first funding period, the CRC has successfully applied a multi-level approach for the analysis of large-scale networks, combining different methods such as psychophysics, electro-/magnetoencephalography, functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging, multi-site microelectrode recordings, morphological-structural analyses and computational modeling. In the second funding period, the CRC has extended its activities by complementing network investigation and analysis with approaches for modulation of networks, such as optogenetics, electrical stimulation, magnetic stimulation, pharmacology, and behavioral training interventions. Furthermore, computational modeling of networks has been strengthened in the second funding period. In the third funding period, the CRC 936 has moved from analyzing, modulating and modeling networks towards functional and behavioral relevance of distinct network components and their spatiotemporal dynamics in health, development, and disease.
The CRC has involved scientists from theoretical and clinical departments at the UKE and the University of Hamburg, as well as groups from the universities of Lübeck, Berlin, and Gießen. Research of the CRC has been structured in three thematic areas: A. Multi-site communication as a basis of cognition; B. Multi-site interactions during development, plasticity and learning; C. Altered multi-site communication in brain disorders. In all thematic areas, the CRC has leveraged with great success the interdisciplinary cooperation between neuroimaging, neurophysiology from the macroscopic to the microscopic scale, neuropsychology, neurology, psychiatry, and computational neuroscience.
Using synergies between these domains, a continuous and highly productive workflow in the consortium has produced a wealth of results on dynamics of large-scale brain networks, on structural and functional connectivity, on network modulation and on network models throughout the three funding periods. Furthermore, the CRC has catalyzed structural innovations with regard to new professorships and institutes as well as teaching and training, including the implementation of the Hamburg Brain School as an integrated neuroscience graduate school. The excellent publication output and manifold dissemination activities of the CRC have led to very high national and international visibility and have established Hamburg as a leading center in network neuroscience.
