MUNICH CENTER FOR NEUROSCIENCES Munich Center for Neurosciences – Brain & Mind LMU Biocenter Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich (LMU) Grosshaderner Straße 2 www.mcn.lmu.de EUROSCIENCES 82152 Planegg-Martinsried +49 (0)89 / 2180-74303 N [email protected] ENTER FOR C MUNICH 4 | 5 The Free State of Bavaria is a first-rate location for science and research, All these results are both promising and encouraging. With innovative where life sciences play an eminent role. They find one of their strongest projects like the “Munich Center for Neurosciences“, we can successfully bases in Munich. The Bavarian capital is home to two great research advance the further development of our research landscape and maintain our universities – both winners of the Germany- wide Initiative for Excellence – as leading position in the life sciences. well as numerous highly-specialized and well-known non-university research institutions. It is no wonder that Munich is the ideal place for committed I am sure that the great work of the scientists at the “Munich Center for scientists to deliver prime scientific results at the highest international level. Neurosciences“ will continue its success and wish the centre all the best for the future. Today, top science demands close co-operation – beyond the limits of institutes and disciplines. The “Munich Center for Neurosciences“ provides the integrative platform to take the strong interdisciplinary approach the Munich, August 2011 complexity of the different fields of neurosciences asks for. Its being open to integrating perspectives and findings from neighbouring fields of research Dr. Wolfgang Heubisch even allows a holistic reflection of burning neuroscientific questions. Bavarian State Minister of Sciences, Research and the Arts Through various teaching programmes – above all, the Graduate School for Systemic Neurosciences – young scientists are integrated in this excellent Dr. Wolfgang Heubisch research environment and can fully develop their potential. The fact that the Graduate School for Systemic Neurosciences was successful in the first round of the Initiative for Excellence emphasizes that it can serve as a superb role model. Its brilliant concept has established the “Munich Center for Neurosciences“ as a beacon of science in Munich‘s research environment. The list of its distinguished members, the great amount of third-party funding as well as the high demand for its teaching programmes clearly prove the centre‘s great success. Bavarian State Minister of Sciences, Research and the Arts Bavarian State Minister of Sciences, Research 6 | 7 Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München is one of the leading research One essential requirement for the success of the MCNLMU is the intense intensive universities worldwide, with a more than 500-year-long tradition. cooperation with its partners, the Technische Universität München, different It is LMU’s mission to combine excellent research with outstanding teaching, Max Planck Institutes, the Helmholtz Zentrum München and the Bernstein to conduct basic research and tackle the grand challenges of our time. The Center for Computational Neuroscience. It also maintains close ties to extraordinary research output of the university is based on the exceptional renowned international partners in Europe, the United States and Australia achievements of our researchers and scientists. This is proved by our success and thus creates an important global network for the exchange of knowledge. in the first round of the Excellence Initiative in 2006. In addition to that, This brochure offers interesting insights into the Munich Center for LMU also offers the best possible education for its 46,000 students with Neurosciences – Brain and Mind, its research projects and teaching programs degree programs in 150 subjects and thus ideally preparing young people as well as an overview on the excellent researchers who are working at the for a career in academia or outside university. MCNLMU. The multiplicity, interdisciplinarity and internationality of this top- class institution strongly contributes to LMU’s vision to address the key areas One of LMU’s very successful institutions is the “Munich Center for of research and innovation of the 21 century. Neurosciences – Brain and Mind (MCNLMU)” which contributes essentially Prof. Dr. Bernd Huber to LMU’s top position within the life sciences. MCNLMU aims towards President building up a network of groups and disciplines with interest in questions Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität of neurobiology, cognition, and “brain and mind”. With its interdisciplinary München approach, MCNLMU combines various research fields at LMU ranging from the natural sciences to the humanities. Scientists from the field of experimental and theoretical neurosciences, philosophy and psychology do research and teach in the numerous projects and programs within the MCNLMU. Prof. Dr. Bernd Huber The Center is an excellent example for transferring new and broad knowledge in an emerging field of science to the new student generations: The two specialized Master programs in Neurosciences and Neuro-Cognitive Psychology, funded by the Elite Network of Bavaria, are the successful teaching institutions at MCNLMU. The Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences which is funded within the German Excellence Initiative promotes young scientists by offering them the best possible framework for doing their first independent research. President Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität President 8 | 9 Dear Reader, Modern sciences increasingly depend on the ability of crossing disciplinary In Munich, research related to the neurosciences spans a wide spectrum boarders as well as collaborations that allow sharing expertise and of current areas of investigation, ranging from neural stem cells and the infrastructure. This holds particularly true for an area like the neurosciences. molecular mechanisms of early brain development, via cellular and systems The structure and function of the human brain and the question of how neurobiology (including neurology), neurocognition and behavior (including its activity relates to our concepts of the mind cannot be studied in “theory of mind”), to epistemology, philosophy of science, logic, and isolation, but only through extensive networking. The “Munich Center ethics. It involves numerous research groups working in various institutes for Neurosciences – Brain and Mind (MCNLMU)” was founded in 2005 to and departments of the LMU (in particular, biology, medicine, philosophy, create a local network in and around Munich that connects all groups and psychology), most of them in close collaboration with the Max Planck disciplines with interests related to questions of neurobiology, cognition, and Institutes of Neurobiology, Psychiatry, and Ornithology, the institutes of “brain and mind”. It provides a platform for interdisciplinary interactions, the HelmholtzCenter Munich (HMGU), several institutes at the Technical supports the establishment of new collaborative research programs and has University of Munich (TUM; electrical engineering, medicine, physics, life Prof. Dr. Benedikt Grothe developed a teaching concept that attracts excellent students at all levels sciences) as well as with the computer industry. MCNLMU Chair of the Board of training. The program M.Sc. Neurosciences, generously funded by the of Directors Elite Network of Bavaria and the Ph.D. program of the Graduate School of MCNLMU was implemented to make Munich, with its multitude of expertise, Systemic Neurosciences GSNLMU, funded by the German Excellence Initiative, not only one of the real “hot spots” in the neurosciences, but also one of the are offspring of the MCNLMU Teaching Concept (see page 88). The SFB 870: few neuroscience hubs where the bridge from experimental neurobiology to Assembly and Function of Neuronal Circuits in Sensory Processing is a the philosophy of brain and mind can be competently spanned. new collaborative research center that resulted from scientific interactions of many members of the MCNLMU, and several other research and training networks such as the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience (BCCN) Munich or the Research Training Group 1091 Orientation and Motion in Space have profited greatly from established networks within MCNLMU and also from its teaching concept. This only begins to exemplify how MCNLMU fosters Munich as an internationally attractive site for training and research in the neurosciences. Prof. Dr. Benedikt Grothe Chair of the Board of Directors 10 | 11 to an extensive group of excellent researchers who have been brought the agenda for the future. A major aim of the Center will be the creation of together within the framework of the MCNLMU and associated research an efficient communication structure to promote scientific interaction within entities. Significant amounts of research funding were drawn from federal the MCNLMU. Additionally, MCNLMU internal research grants help to set up sources (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, Deutsche collaborative interactions between members. Forschungsgemeinschaft), Bavarian-wide initiatives (Elite Network of Bavaria), as well as private organisations and industry (AMGEN). Successful The beauty of the Center is that it combines elaborate efforts in research research initiatives that were substantially supported by the Center range from world-class scientists with a wide range of teaching measures that from fundamental research on neuronal circuits