Optimizing Stimulation of Input-Deprived Networks to Restore and Maintain Their Function (A07)

• Subject Area: Experimental and Theoretical Network Neuroscience ; Experimental Models for the Understanding of Nervous System Diseases ; Molecular and Cellular Neurology and Neuropathology
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 528760423

The dynamics of neuronal networks changes on various timescales following plasticity rules that we only begin to understand. Models show that after trauma or deafferentation, the same plasticity mechanisms that normally augment function, may lead to pathological activity, e.g. phantom sensations or bursty activity. Our goal is to study the effect of input deprivation in silico and in vitro, and to understand how to harness plasticity and input jointly to rescue systems from their isolation, thereby paving the way to making in vitro assays more natural, and to inform treatment of in vivo pathologies caused by lack or disbalance of input.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 1690: Disease Mechanisms and Functional Restoration of Sensory and Motor Systems
• Applicant Institution: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
• Project Heads: Dr. Andreas Neef; Professorin Dr. Viola Priesemann