GRK 2174: Neurobiology of Social and Emotional Dysfunctions

Psychopathologies such as anxiety disorder and depression are associated withemotional and social dysfunctions and represent a high personal and socio‐economic burden.Although intense research efforts during the last 20 years yielded in‐depth insights into molecular,neuronal and neuroendocrine aspects of socio‐emotional dysfunctions, the complexity of underlyingmechanisms often forces researchers to focus on narrow neurobiological aspects, and researchprojects often lack an overarching and interdisciplinary view. Thus, in the increasingly translationalscientific world projects are needed, which place the growing knowledge at molecular/cellular levelsinto a more systemic (physiological, neuroendocrine, behavioural) context. We apply for theprolongation of our Graduate Programme “Neurobiology of Social and Emotional Dysfunctions”(GRK.2) to provide outstanding German and international doctoral students with a specialized and,moreover, interdisciplinary and translational programme at the highest conceptual andmethodological level possible. The students will perform focused experimental projects in eitherrodents or humans aimed to reveal multiple aspects of socio‐emotional behaviours in health anddisease across molecular, neuronal, neuroendocrine and behavioural levels. They will be trained tocombine various state‐of‐the‐art neurobiological techniques. A main feature of the GRK is tandemsupervision of students by two established PIs, complemented by a third mentor selected by thedoctoral students themselves. Supervisors and mentors should represent complementary fields andmethodologies (e.g., electrophysiology and behaviour, experimental psychology and psychiatry,child psychiatry and molecular neuroendocrinology). The pool of supervisors reflects the vibrancy ofthe research environment with both established and junior male and female group leaders. Thus,GRK.2 will provide the students with relevant skills for a future career in neuroscience includingscientific management. Thus, in addition to the performance and management of their own project,they will be involved in the organisation of research seminars, journal clubs, annual weekendretreats, symposia or summer schools, and will receive specific soft skills training. A 3 to 4 ‐monthsresearch stay in an international collaborative lab and the active participations in internationalcongresses should further support their integration into the scientific community.