Concept of the ZSN

Objectives

The Center for Systems Neuroscience (ZSN) is a virtual cooperative center established in September, 2002, by the Hannover Medical School (MHH), the School of Veterinary Medicine Hannover (TiHo), the University of Hannover, and the Hannover University of Music and Theatre. Its primary objectives are:

To concentrate research in the field of systems (systems-related) neuroscience and to optimize synergies.

To strengthen research in areas of overlap between basic research in neurosciences and clinical research by combining applied clinical research, neurobiological basic research, and neurotechnology in order to develop new impulses and strategies for the restoration of nervous system functions.

To establish coordinated areas of research specialization in the neurosciences with special consideration of the specific areas of excellence in the neurosciences represented in Hannover.

To provide well-structured training of young scientists by offering an independent doctoral (Ph.D.) program for students of biology, veterinary medicine, human medicine, biochemistry, and affiliated natural sciences.

The Future of the Neurosciences

It has now become clear that the neurosciences will be among the leading twenty-first-century disciplines in basic biomedical research and in applied clinical research. Just as the past ten years were declared the “decade of the brain“ by the U.S. Congress in recognition of the significance of research on the brain in the USA, the first ten years of this century have been declared the “decade of the brain“ in Germany. This is in part a response to the challenge to develop therapies to treat the underlying causes of neurological and mental disorders.

This challenge can only be met by integrative cooperation between interdisciplinary basic research and clinical research. Increased life-expectation and changing living conditions are accompanied by a drastic increase in neurological and mental disorders, for which at present there are only limited satisfactory treatment options available. There is a parallel development in veterinary medicine, with comparable neurological and mental disorders of domestic animals such as dogs and cats. In order to understand complex brain functions and disorders, and to improve clinical and therapeutic options for treating disorders of the brain, it is necessary that the fundamental knowledge of molecular biology achieved over the past decades be integrated into cellular and systemic physiology. In the decades to come, completely new research challenges will have to be met, and this will require systematic training of young scientists in the neurosciences.

Systems neuroscience, which considers entire systems, will play a major role in these developments. This area of the neurosciences will investigate the physiology and pathophysiology of complex integrative neurobiological systems, such as the auditory and visual system and other sensory systems; motor systems; and the emotional-cognitive system.

Hannover: A Center of Research in the Neurosciences

A broad spectrum of the neurosciences is represented in the university city of Hannover. The systems and behavioral neurosciences benefit from an array of advantages of this location. Among these are departments and research groups at the School of Veterinary Medicine Hannover (TiHo), the Hannover Medical School (MHH), the University of Hannover,  the Hannover University of Music and Theatre and the Max Planck Institute for Experimental Endocrinology, which have been involved since 1994 in the informal “Study Group for Experimental and Clinical Neurosciences“. Here, about twenty research groups cooperated to present joint lectures and to establish various types of scientific collaboration. In 2001, the neurosciences were defined as a central research area (Center of Excellence) at the TiHo by its Senate in recognition of the scientific achievements of those departments engaged in the neurosciences, which together with other research fields, make up the TiHo’s unique research profile.

The involvement of neuroscientists working on animal systems models in combination with the clinical expertise available in Hannover has resulted in the development of systems neuroscience as a major field of interdisciplinary research in this city. The study of the functions of complex neuronal systems and the restoration of those functions have become essential points of common interest in the research programs of the collaborating research institutes. Cooperation between neuroscientific groups involved in basic research and clinical work has been mutually beneficial and has led to the development of new research approaches with a focus on applied research. In view of the increasing importance of neurological disorders, the analysis of complex system functions and their restoration will be of vital significance in clinical work and for public health. This research area represents an interdisciplinary challenge which requires cooperation between groups working on basic research and in clinical applications.

Establishment of the ZSN and the Ph.D. Program in Systems Neuroscience

Teaching and research in the field of biology in Hannover were evaluated several years ago by the Scientific Committee of the Lower Saxony Ministry for Science and Culture (MWK), which employed a Committee on Structure composed of eminent scientists from universities and Max Planck Institutes outside Lower Saxony. This Committee developed recommendations to improve cooperation among the institutions that jointly offer the diploma in biology: the University of Hannover, the School of Veterinary Medicine Hannover (TiHo), and the Hannover Medical School (MHH). It was recommended to restructure teaching and research, to develop a specific program identity, and to establish research fields of specialization. In January, 2002, after three years of evaluation, the Committee on Structure, headed by Professor Dieter Oesterhelt of the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry in Munich, presented its recommendations to the universities under review. On the basis of its evaluation of research, the Committee recommended that the three universities establish a cooperative area of research specialization in systems neuroscience so as to focus and strengthen the existing major potential in this area, particularly at the MHH and the TiHo. The Committee placed particular emphasis on extending cooperation in this area by establishing and supporting a virtual, uniformly coordinated center. Among the tasks of this center would be to achieve greater competetiveness by the joint use of existant infrastructure, and particularly to promote the establishment of new, cost-intensive infrastructure in Hannover. The center would be characterised by joint lecture series, joint post-graduate training, interdisciplinary groups of young scientists, and professional marketing.

This recommendation was put into effect in September, 2002, when the universities established the Hannover Center for Systems Neuroscience (ZSN). (See Annex 1, ZSN Policy Statement.) Professor Wolfgang Löscher was elected chairman, and a scientific board advises the ZSN in all scientific and organizational matters.

Structure of the ZSN

The ZSN is organized into a core sector and an outer circle.

At present the ZSN core sector is comprised of twelve research groups, which were substantially involved in the establishment of the ZSN, its activities, and the Ph.D. course in systems neuroscience offered by the ZSN. The ZSN outer circle includes selected outstanding research groups and groups of young scientists working in neurosciences at the various departments at the universities, the Max-Planck-Institute and the International Neuroscience Institute (INI) in Hannover. Members of the outer circle groups interact with the core groups in research, participate in graduate teaching, and provide methods and technologies to the entire ZSN. Research emphases in the neuroscience groups of the core sector and outer circle cover a vast spectrum of modern neurosciences, particularly in systems and behavioral neurobiology, and include systems physiology of the nervous system, neurodegeneration and neuronal regeneration, neurotransplantation, neurogenetics, behavioral physiology, neuropharmacology, the physiology of music, and neurological and psychiatric cognitive research. The various research groups in the ZSN core sector and outer circle are described by their group leaders in the individual Research Profiles below.

Inclusion of new research groups or new young scientists into the ZSN is made on the basis of strict performance standards for the content and quality of neuroscientific research, publications, and the amount of grant funding acquired. New research groups and young scientists can join the ZSN only with the support of a member of the ZSN and with the approval of the board of directors. All new research groups are first assigned to the outer circle of the ZSN.

The combination of neurobiological basic research and clinical neurobiology and the strict application of performance standards can only be realised within a framework such as that offered by the structure of the ZSN. The establishment of the ZSN and the ensuing synergy effects will strengthen the structure and increase the effectivity of research on systems and behavioral neurosciences in Hannover.