European Research Council Advanced Grants awarded to Vienna BioCenter Researchers
Institute of Molecular Biotechnology (IMBA)
Jürgen Knoblich
CASCO – Connectivity and Activity in Self-Organizing Cortical Organoid Networks
The five-year project will investigate how the human cortex assembles diverse neuronal cell types into functional networks and how disturbances in these processes contribute to neurological disorders such as epilepsy and autism.
The CASCO project will investigate one of the central questions in neuroscience: how diverse neuronal cell types self-organize into functional cortical networks. A particular focus will be on understanding how different types of neurons work together to establish the delicate balance between excitation and inhibition that allows brain networks to function properly—a fundamental feature of brain circuits that is frequently disrupted in neurodevelopmental disorders.
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Faculty of Life Sciences - University of Vienna
Tecumseh Fitch
METRA - Metrical Hierarchy in Music and Language
METRA's central proposal is that metrical rhythms, as found in speech, music, and dance, represent a simpler kind of hierarchical tree than in syntax: trees built in time. This simpler structure is likely to have parallels in animal cognition and communication.
In his project, cognitive biologist Tecumseh Fitch combines theoretical approaches from music, metrical phonology, and evolutionary biology in a comparative context, and studies not just humans but birds, primates and sea lions.
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