Neurophysiologie und Neuroinfektiologie

My lab tries to understand mechanistically how neurons in well-defined circuits generate output that underlies the representations of a sensory percept. We therefore study synaptic evoked input output functions from the presynaptic release mechanisms via EPSC to EPSP transformation, postsynaptic integration of excitation and inhibition to the finally generated action potential. We compare these results with sensory evoked, neuronal activity patterns. With this approach we are able to determine the mechanisms of information transfer at specified junctions within a neuronal network or pathway and understand its functional meaning.

Or lab focuses on neurons in the auditory brainstem pathways, as the well documented structure-function relationship is a key feature to understand the interactions between different neuronal populations. Auditory brainstem pathways are also amazing in their biophysical properties, as they need to extract from only amplitude- and frequency modulated air pressure waves and binaural cues the required information to generate the wonderful auditory space of our everyday life. To accomplish this task it appears that neurons in the auditory brainstem are highly adapted to a specific computational feature. These adaptations generate various biophysical models, such as fast or slow integrators, rapid synaptic transmission or well-defined neuromodulations that we investigate in detail with neurophysiological techniques to finally understand how our brain generates our auditory space.