Synapse-Brain-Cognition

Extracellular matrix and cognitive flexibility
We want to investigate the importance of the extracellular matrix in the frontal cortex as a neural resource for cognitive flexibility and the potential transfer of this power from one task to another. In particular, we focus on the proteoglycans neurocan and brevican and the complex carbohydrate polysialic acid (PSA). In human subjects, we measure brain waves using EEG while solving tasks that require cognitive flexibility. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we determine the networks involved in the brain and model their interaction using "dynamic causal modelling".

Synaptogenetics of human learning and memory
Synaptic plasticity mechanisms, which constitute the cellular basis of learning and memory processes, depend on a multitude of adapter and signaling proteins that are the core research subject of the Department of Neurochemistry and Molecular Biology. In our research group, we focus on the role of naturally occurring genetic variations of these proteins in human learning and memory (Barman et al., 2014; Schott et al., 2014)

Dopaminergic modulation of implicit and explicit learning
Action and valence are commonly confounded in studies of motivated learning, but they are, in fact, not independent. For example, it is much harder to suppress an action in order to obtain a reward, than to avoid a punishment. We could demonstrate that the difficulty in learning the association of response suppression and reward is particularly pronounced in carriers of a gene variant of the dopamine D2 receptor (DRD2) that has previously been associated with risk for addiction (Richter et al., 2014; Samochowiec et al., 2014). Furthermore, gene variants associated with lower DRD2 expression could also be linked to individual variability of reward-related explicit memory formation (Richter et al., 2017).

MemAgIn: Age-related memory decline and chronic inflammation
We are part of the research alliance “Autonomy in Old Age” funded by the State of Saxony-Anhalt and the European Union. In our project “Immune Factors and Aging”, we collaborate with the Institute of Molecular and Clinical Immunology (Prof. Dr. B. Schraven, Prof. Dr. D. Reinhold) in an interdisciplinary attempt to elucidate the effects of chronic subclinical inflammation on cognitive decline in the elderly. We have further established a collaboration with the Institute of Inflammation and Neurodegeneration (Prof. Dr. I. R. Dunay), in which we use Toxoplasma gondii as a model for inflammation-dependent synaptic pathology (Lang et al., 2018).

COSEN-Co-Senescence of cognitive functions and immune mechanisms
We are part of the research alliance “Autonomy in Old Age” funded by the State of Saxony-Anhalt and the European Union. In our project antigen structure of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), in particular human CD14+CD16+ monocytes, and the function of hippocampus-dependent memory in ageing and older healthy volunteers. We want to characterise this in the mouse model and record correlating factors of the subjects' microbiome.

Midline brain structures and human long-term memory
Midline brain structures like the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and the precuneus are considered core regions of the so-called Default Mode Network (DMN), which is typically more active during resting conditions (“mind wandering”) than during attention-demanding tasks. It is well known, that the DMN plays an important role in social cognition (Barman et al., 2015), and we could demonstrate that the information flow to the DMN during social cognitive tasks is primarily regulated via inhibitory processes (Soch et al., 2017). Recently, we could further identify a parietal midline region, the dorsal precuneus, as a key structure in spatial long-term memory formation (Schott et al., 2018).