News

The chronic exhaustion syndrome "fatigue" occurs as a consequence of surviving a COVID-19 infection. By studying a total of 100 patients, researchers from three scientific institutions in Baden-Württemberg want to gain new insights into fatigue to identify new targets for the therapy of fatigue associated with long-COVID. read more …

Prof. Simon Wiegert has been appointed by the University of Heidelberg to the W3 professorship in neurophysiology and heads the Department of Neurophysiology, since October 2022. He and his team will study the relationship between neuromodulation, neuronal plasticity and long-lasting changes in neuronal networks, with a particular focus on the plasticity of synaptic connections. read more …

Prof. Rolf-Detlef Treede, head of the Department of Neurophysiology has been awarded the John J. Bonica Prize at the World Congress of the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP). The professional society awards the prize every two years to a person who has made major contribution to pain research or therapy. read more …

For her outstanding dissertation in neuroanatomy, Dr. Nora Jamann was awarded the science prize of the ZONTA Club Heidelberg during a small ceremony in the Bel Etage of the Rectorate of Heidelberg University. read more …

Lucas Schirmer, neuroscientist and professor of Translational Neurobiology at the Mannheim Medical Faculty, was awarded the Sobek Young Investigator Award 2022 on July 29. This prize honors scientific work considered to be groundbreaking in the research of multiple sclerosis. Lucas Schirmer received the award for his work using high-throughput single-cell sequencing methods to investigate changes in the genome of individual cells that are relevant to multiple sclerosis. read more …

Since July 1, 2022, a Heisenberg Professorship for "Translational Neurobiology" is part of the core area of the MCTN. Professor Lucas Schirmer, MD, has successfully obtained the professorship, initially financed by the German Research Foundation (DFG) within the framework of his Heisenberg programme. Lucas Schirmer focuses on neurological diseases caused by immune system dysfunctions. read more …

Scientist and neurologist Dr. Dr. Lukas Bunse received the Hella Bühler Award, which is endowed with €100,000. The award aims at young researchers at Heidelberg University with outstanding scientific engagement in cancer research. Lukas Bunse is conducting research in the field of brain tumor immunology. read more …

Researchers at the Hector Institute for Translational Brain Research (HITBR) at the Central Institute of Mental Health investigate how cellular fate decisions in dividing human neural stem cells are regulated. read more …

For the eighth year in a row, researcher and CEO Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg from the Central Institute of Mental Health, as well as holder of a professorship at the Mannheim Medical Faculty of the University of Heidelberg is listed among the world's most cited scientists. read more …

Doctors and scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and from Heidelberg University's Medical Faculty Mannheim have successfully tested a neoantigen-specific transgenic immune cell therapy for malignant brain tumors for the first time using an experimental model in mice. read more …

The interdisciplinary research group "Translational Pruritus Research" (FOR 2690) to continue successful research: Funding through the German Research Foundation (DFG) has been secured until 2024. The research group formed in 2018 to uncover the fundamental mechanisms of itching and thus develop more effective therapies against chronic pruritus. read more …

The Department of Neurology is involved with two projects in the new Research Training Group GRK2727 InCheck: “Innate Immune Checkpoints in Cancer and Tissue Damage” funded by the German Research Foundation. read more …

Single cell sequencing deciphers pathogenic immune cell interaction in inflammatory pseudotumors of the brain. A platform developed at the Department of Neurology at the University Medical Centre Mannheim and the German Cancer Research Center now provides surprising insights into the pathology of IgG4-associated diseases. read more …

From 7^th to 10^th June Ph.D. and M.D. candidates immersed themselves in a virtual event at the final symposium and spring school 2021 of the research training group 2350 on the Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences on Psychosocial and Somatic Conditions across the Lifespan. read more …

Researchers discovered, that brain tumor cells carrying a certain but common mutation, reprogram invading immune cells and thereby suppress the body’s immune defense against the tumor. The research team also identified a way of reactivating the paralyzed immune system to fight the tumor and provide evidence that therapeutic vaccines or immunotherapies against brain tumors are more effective, if the suppressed immune system is simultaneously treated and thereby supported by pharmacological substances. read more …

To process information in our brains, neurons produce brief electrical impulses, called action potentials, triggered from one highly specialized region at the cell’s axon, called the axon initial segment (AIS). Scientists from the Institute of Neuroanatomy at the Mannheim Center for Translational Neuroscience (MCTN), together with researchers from the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience in Amsterdam and the University of Göttingen now show that the AIS surprisingly changes with experience: It shrinks with increasing experience and, vice versa, elongates when less input arrives in the brain. This reversible effect could contribute to balancing all neuronal activity generated within a distinct functional network in the brain. read more …