Great success for research in Oldenburg: two clusters of excellence related to neurosensory technology have been approved.

"Hearing4all.connects: Innovative technologies for hearing health - from the ear to the brain to society" and "NaviSense: International cluster of excellence for the sensory foundations, mechanisms and effects of animal navigation" are funded by the Excellence Strategy of the federal and state governments. They will receive funding totalling over 100 million euros for the next 7 years.

Congratulations to all the researchers who have worked hard on the proposals over the past three years!!! The biggest thanks go to the two spokespersons, Prof. Christiane Thiel and Prof. Henrik Mouritsen, both long-standing members of the "Behavioural and Cognitive Neuroscience" section of the Research Centre Neurosensory Science. This is an outstanding success for the University of Oldenburg and paves the way for a proposal as a University of Excellence, which is being prepared jointly with the University of Bremen.

More information on this sensational success of the University of Oldenburg can be found in the university's current press release: https: //uol.de/aktuelles/artikel/exzellenzstrategie-universitaet-feiert-sensationellen-erfolg-11288

On 22 August 2024, the University of Oldenburg submitted the full proposals for three clusters of excellence to the German Research Foundation (DFG). Researchers from the fields of animal navigation research, marine sciences and hearing research formulated their detailed research concepts in the months beforehand and reviewed them hundreds of times so that they could convince the DFG's reviewers in the tough competition with other research projects. Two of the planned research projects will also focus on neurosensory issues.

More information on the research objectives of the three submitted clusters of excellence can be found in the university's current press release: https://uol.de/aktuelles/artikel/vollantraege-fuer-drei-exzellenzcluster-eingereicht-9760

The interview with co-founders Prof. Georg Klump and Prof. Reto Weiler, Managing Director Dr Nina Gaßmann and Managing Director Prof. Michael Winklhofer was conducted by Petra Wilts, Coordinator for External Relations at University Medicine Oldenburg.
Many thanks for the great article on the history of the research centre!

See: https: //uol.de/fk6/aktuelles/nachricht/20-jahre-forschungszentrum-neurosensorik-8172

The Collaborative Research Centre "Magnetoreception and Navigation in vertebrates" will receive DFG funding for a further four years from 01.01.2023.
The central aim of the Collaborative Research Centre is to gain a comprehensive understanding of the magnetic sense of vertebrates and their navigational abilities - starting with certain proteins that detect the magnetic signal, through signalling pathways within nerve cells and the transmission of the stimulus to the brain, to the behaviour and migratory routes of the animals.

See: https://www.presse.uni-oldenburg.de/mit/2022/234.html

Both at the slam evening and afterwards, the press was enthusiastic about the slam evening and printed a very positive and extensive report about it in the NWZ on 24 June 2022. Bringing the research of young scientists to the stage has been our main concern for 10 years and 35 young scientists have now taken to the stage as slammers at the Oldenburg Science Slam. Starting in the "Polyester" and for many years in co-operation with the State Theatre in the Exerzierhalle, the Science Slam remained at the university on the occasion of its 10th anniversary and experienced the highlight of its history so far in the "Aula" for 250 people - with live music, drum timer, power point karaoke and much more.

We would like to thank all Science Slam fans for their loyalty and all those who attended for the first time and never wanted to stop. After the slam is before the slam ;)

Our winner of the evening, Daniel Hölle, has already been nominated for the North German preliminary round in Hamburg and we are keeping our fingers crossed that he continues to rock everything and proudly represents Oldenburg.

Great joy for all involved: the Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) with the official title "Hearing Acoustics: Perceptive Principles, Algorithms and Applications" (HAPPAA) will be funded by the DFG for a further 4 years from 1 July 2022.

The Collaborative Research Centre with spokesperson Prof. Volker Hohmann has set itself ambitious goals for the second funding period. It thus perfectly complements the research of the Hearing4all cluster of excellence, which also works under Oldenburg's leadership. Good luck for the second funding period!

Further information can be found here:
https://uol.de/aktuelles/artikel/sonderforschungsbereich-wird-verlaengert-6211
uol.de/sfb1330

Under the title "Neuromodulation of motor and cognitive functions in the healthy and diseased brain", scientists will spend the next five years researching what exactly happens when the brain is stimulated electrically, magnetically or pharmacologically, for example, in a research training group funded by the German Research Foundation. They are also investigating what changes such treatment methods actually lead to in patients' everyday lives.

The focus is on the question of how and why different methods of brain stimulation, such as electrical current or medication, could be successful in neurological diseases.

The new year 2022 is kicked off in our science podcast "Hirn gehört: Oldenburger Wissensschnack" by Prof. Dr. Dirk A. Weyhe. Our guest is Professor of Visceral Surgery at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of Oldenburg and Director of the university clinic of the same name at the PIUS Hospital Oldenburg.
His job as a surgeon includes complicated abdominal operations - liver, gall bladder, pancreas and colon. His passion as a researcher has become modern technologies in the operating theatre - VR glasses, augmented reality, HoloLens and shared experience. Both are linked by the topic of patient safety.

In the podcast, he talks about his biggest fail as a young Assistant physician (our funniest story yet!) and then raves about the many possibilities that modern technologies open up in the operation room. Weyhe introduces tools for simulating and training for surgeries, develops a virtual anatomy atlas for students and aims for even more individualised surgical treatment overall.

Sometimes he feels like he's on "Star Trek" - especially when he has a hologram of the patient's liver hovering over the operating table or invites an outside expert into the operating theatre as an avatar. Scientifically, his projects can be chalked up as pioneering achievements. In recognition, his clinic was certified as a "Centre of Excellence in Holomedicine" by the Holomedicine Association - a great honour for Oldenburg to join London, Singapore and Miami.

All in all, our guest provides a good feeling in the stomach - for patients and surgeons.
The new podcast episode can be heard on all the usual podcast platforms as well as at: www.hirnvomhahn.de/podcast

The biochemist and sensory physiologist Prof. David Julius and the molecular biologist Prof. Ardem Patapoutian have closed an important gap in sensory research.  The two scientists have researched the mechanisms of how we perceive pain, temperature and touch. For this, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded them in 2021 with the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology. In announcing the two prize winners, the Nobel Committee spoke of "groundbreaking discoveries because the human ability to sense warmth, cold and touch is essential for survival and forms the basis for our interaction with the world around us".

The Board of the Research Centre for Neurosensory Science is very affected about the nomination of the Research Centre for the negative prize "Heart of Stone" of the association "Physicians against Animal Experiments" and would like to state the following: Our scientists behave ethically and make an important contribution to biomedical research at the University of Oldenburg. They do not deserve this "negative prize" and vehemently reject its acceptance.

All the facts about blackcap research can be found here (only in German): uol.de/fakten-moenchsgrasmuecke

An interdisciplinary team from the Universities of Oldenburg and Oxford (UK) has presented evidence that the magnetic sense of migratory birds, such as robins, is based on a specific light-sensitive protein in the eye. In the current issue of the journal Nature (Nature, Vol. 594, 24 June 2021), the researchers show that the protein cryptochrome 4, which is found in the retina of birds, is sensitive to magnetic fields and is thus most likely the magnetic sensor they are looking for.
First author Jingjing Xu, a PhD student in Prof. Dr. Henrik Mouritsen's research group at the University of Oldenburg, initially conducted all experiments in cell cultures; these could subsequently be confirmed by spectroscopic methods and simulations in collaborating research groups.

Read the full Nature article here: doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03618-9

"My best move was to come to the University of Oldenburg"

In the fifth episode of the science podcast "Hirn gehört: Oldenburger Wissensschnack", Prof. Dr. Anja U. Bräuer, Professor of Anatomy at the Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, is our guest. She tells us how she came to do a doctorate in anatomy as a biotechnologist and started her academic career in this way. Before she finally became Director of Anatomy and Vice Dean of the Medical Faculty at the University of Oldenburg, she was first Junior Professor of Molecular Neurobiology at the Charité in Berlin and Professor of Anatomy at the University of Rostock.

Anja Bräuer is a good example of how an academic career can only be planned to a certain extent. Thanks to her curiosity and open-mindedness, she has taken on new tasks during her professional career and is now creatively helping to shape the development of Oldenburg University Hospital.

After the recording, everyone involved in the production agreed - this podcast episode really feels like an authentic "Oldenburg Schnack" and, in connection with Anja Bräuer's field of research, lives up to our name: "Hirn gehört - Oldenburger Wissensschnack".

The working group led by Prof. Tania Zieschang, Professor of Geriatrics and Director of the University Clinic for Geriatrics at Oldenburg Hospital and Chief Physician of the Clinic for Geriatrics at the Oldenburg Rehabilitation Centre, has obtained funding from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) for a new major project. This involves the in-depth investigation of causes for falls in old age as well as the prediction of fall risks based on comprehensive data analysis of the statistical data of about 450 patients who are to be examined within the framework of the project and accompanied over several years.

The aim of the project is also to develop customised prevention programmes that can be tested in the future within the framework of a new falls clinic to be founded in Oldenburg.

In the fourth episode of the science podcast "Hirn gehört: Oldenburger Wissensschnack", Prof. Dr. Bernd T. Meyer, Professor of Communication Acoustics at the Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, will be the guest from 15 April 2021. He will talk about how he came to communication acoustics and automatic speech recognition as a physicist and computer scientist. He also discusses how complex and diverse language is as a research object. He also talks about the personal value of speech and speech signals in the era of Alexa, Siri and Ok Google. It's worth listening in again, because as a hearing researcher and member of the Neurosensorics Research Centre and the Cluster of Excellence "Hearing4all", Bernd Meyer is a particularly interesting guest for our audio podcast "Hirn gehört: Oldenburger Wissensschnack".

And here is the link to the official press release of the university: www.presse.uni-oldenburg.de/mit/2021/049.html

The Nordwest-Zeitung (NWZ) also reported on the podcast episode with Bernd Meyer in its local section on 13 April 2021.

Audio-Podcast „Hirn gehört: Oldenburger Wissensschnack“ startet
Erste Sendung am 21. Januar 2021

Am 21.01.2021 startet der neue Wissenschafts-Podcast „Hirn gehört: Oldenburger Wissensschnack“, in dem Wissenschaftler_innen aus der Region über ihre Projekte, ihre Motivation, ihre beste Story, den größten Misserfolg oder ihr verrücktestes Lieblings-Fachwort „schnacken“. Die Moderation des Podcasts übernehmen Dr. Bianca Brüggen und Jens-Steffen Scherer, die auch den Oldenburger Science Slam moderieren. Koordiniert wird das Ganze aus dem Projekt „ReKuTe - Partizipative Wissenschaft für Region, Kultur und Technik“ an der Jade Hochschule.

Der Podcast erscheint immer am dritten Donnerstag eines Monats und den Auftakt macht am 21. Januar Prof. Dr. Ira Diethelm aus der Informatikdidaktik der Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg. Sie erzählt wie sie als Schülerin vom Informatikunterricht enttäuscht war und sich trotzdem weiter mit Themen der Informatik beschäftigte, Lehrerin für Mathematik, Chemie und Informatik wurde und schließlich beschloss eine akademische Laufbahn einzuschlagen. Auch über aktuelle Themen wird in der Folge gesprochen, zum Beispiel über Digitalisierung in Schulen.

Der Podcast wird auf der Webseite hirnvomhahn.de, den Webseiten der beteiligten Institutionen und über viele Podcast-Anbieter (wie z.B. spotify, podcast.de, deezer, Tuneln, fyyd, player.fm) veröffentlicht. Er ist ein Produkt des Projekts „Partizipative Wissenschaft für Region, Kultur, Technik“ der Jade Hochschule, welches von der Europäischen Union über EFRE-Mittel und „Europa für Niedersachsen“ gefördert wird.

The 5th Career Day Neuroscience gathered more than 150 participants on 29.03.2019, who wanted to find out about career fields in neuroscience and listened to the exciting presentations of the invited speakers. The organisational team of the 5th Career Day Neuroscience was pleased about so much interest and would like to thank all those who attended and supported the event.

Prof. Henrik Mouritsen, expert in the field of magnetoreception and member of the Research Centre Neurosensory Science, together with Prof. Peter Hore (Oxford), has been awarded a prestigious ERC Synergy Grant totalling around 8.6 million euros for the "QuantumBirds" project. The two experts and their working groups want to clarify in detail how birds perceive the Earth's magnetic field and thus answer one of the most exciting unanswered questions in biology, namely how birds' magnetic sense works.

For more informations: uol.de/news-detail/dem-magnetsinn-auf-der-spur-2894/

The hearing researchers at the University of Oldenburg, many of whom are members of the Research Centre Neurosensory Science, will continue to receive funding for the next seven years as part of the Excellence Strategy. They have a total of 55 million Euros at their disposal, which they will use to realise the research projects in the Cluster of Excellence application "Hearing4all: Medicine, Basic Research and Engineering Solutions for Personalised Hearing Care".

For more informations: hearing4all.eu/DE/

At the New Year's Reception of the University and the University Society Oldenburg on January 19, 2017, three personalities who have rendered outstanding services to the establishment of the European Medical School Oldenburg-Groningen (EMS) were awarded the President's Honorary Badge:
Prof. Dr. Djordje Lazovic, Director of the University Clinic for Orthopedics and Traumatology at the Pius-Hospital Oldenburg, was dean of studies in the founding deanery from 2012 to 2015,
Prof. Dr. Hans-Rudolf Raab, Director of the Department of General and Visceral Surgery at the Klinikum Oldenburg, and Prof. Dr. med. Reto Weiler, Oldenburg neurobiologist and rector of the Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg Delmenhorst, were members of the founding committee and from 2012 to 2016 were deputies in the founding deanery of the Faculty VI.

In particular, Reto Weiler and Hans-Rudolf Raab have made a significant contribution to integrating the science professorships into the new Faculty of Medicine and - together with the three Oldenburg hospitals and the Karl Jaspers Clinic in Bad Zwischenahn - the "Medical Campus University of Oldenburg ", Said University President Prof. Dr. med. Dr. Hans Michael Piper.

The Minister of Science and Culture of Lower Saxony, Gabriele Heinen-Kljajić, honored 14 personalities from universities in Lower Saxony on November 17, 2016 in Hannover with the Lower Saxony 2016 Science Award.

The prize for junior researchers, endowed with 20,000 euros, went to Prof. Dr. med. Sarah Verhulst from the Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg. Prof. Verhulst holds a junior professorship at the Cluster of Excellence "Hearing4all" and is involved in the development of diagnostic methods for studying the function of the hearing system, among other things.

Find the official press release of the ministry for science and culture here.