Ehemalige Labs
Ehemalige ESI-Forschungsgruppen
Group Leader
Prof. Dr. Pascal Fries
Research statement
Networks of neurons typically engage in rhythmic, synchronized activity. Neuronal synchronization likely affects neuronal processing. If so, evolution has probably selected functional synchronization and mechanisms for its adaptive modulation. I study neuronal synchronization’s mechanisms, its consequences and its cognitive functions.
Group Leader
Prof. Dr. Ilka Diester
Research Statement
We investigate the interaction between brain areas involved in tactile perception (somatosensory input), cognitive processing, and movement generation (motor output) in order to understand basic principles of the brain and ultimately to advance the design of neural prostheses. We address these research goals with behavioral tests and electrophysiological and optogenetic tools in the mammalian brain.
Current affiliation
Group Leader
Dr. Michael C. Schmid
Research Statement
Work in the Schmid lab is centered on investigating the fundamental brain principles that lead to visual perception. We are particularly interested in understanding how visibility arises from the communication of neurons in different brain areas, how processes that occur during attention might support it and how it is affected after neural injury. Our aim is to describe these functions with a specific focus on the thalamus, one of the brain’s major relay systems. To delineate the dynamics by which thalamus and cortex interact with each other we combine parallel electrophysiological recording methods in the mammalian brain with complementary techniques ranging from psychophysics and fMRI to pharmacology and optogenetics.