Eight of the 16 new Collaborative Research Centres established by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) as of 1 July 2005 are primarily focussed on the life sciences. As well as studying memory formation during sleep, the projects also focus on impaired development of the nervous system and immune system therapy. Two Collaborative Research Centres working in engineering aim to develop components with new physical properties, including components made from a single, solid piece. The Collaborative Research Centres that deal primarily with the natural sciences will deal with aspects such as molecular switching, spectral structures in mathematics and studies of quantum matter. Following the decision taken by the Grants Committee responsible for Collaborative Research Centres at its session on 23 and 24 May 2005 the DFG will now fund a total of 269 Collaborative Research Centres at 59 universities, including 23 Transregional Collaborative Research Centres, which are Collaborative Research Centres located at more than one site, as well as 16 Transfer Units, which convert the findings of basic research into practical applications through cooperation between scientists and end users. Additionally, funding for 26 Collaborative Research Centres was extended for a further funding period, including 4 from the humanities and social sciences and engineering, 8 from the natural sciences and 10 from life sciences. The funding for 2005 amounts to approximately 370 million.

Life Sciences

Humans spend approximately a third of the time asleep. Studies to date have shown that sleep plays an important role in memory formation. The new Collaborative Research Centre "Plasticity and sleep" aims to investigate the plastic processes of memory formation during sleep which not only play a role for our c
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Contact: Dr. Jutta Rateike
jutta.rateike@dfg.de
49-228-885-2665
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
2-Jun-2005