The Adaptive Mind
Several ICNF Members are involved in "The Adaptive Mind" Excellence Cluster (EXC 3066) funded by the DFG for 7 years starting in 2026.
In The Adaptive Mind, researchers measure and model how people see, think and act adaptively in open-ended conditions, and study the consequences for mental health when adaptive processes fail. This will not only transform our scientific understanding of how the mind works, but also help develop safe, robust and human-aligned AI and robotics systems.
Reasonable Artificial Intelligence (RAI)
The RAI Cluster of Excellence (EXC 3057), led by TU Darmstadt and with several ICNF members participating, is dedicated to developing a new generation of AI systems.
Multidisciplinary teams are working to shape the future of AI. Over the past ten years, deep learning has enabled significant advances in artificial intelligence. Nevertheless, current AI systems have weaknesses, including a lack of logical thinking, difficulties in dealing with new situations, and the need for continuous adjustments. Last but not least, current AI systems require extensive resources. The Cluster of Excellence therefore aims to develop the next generation of AI, the “Reasonable Artificial Intelligence” (RAI).
CRC 1080 “Molecular and cellular mechanisms of neural homeostasis”
How does the brain manage to maintain a balanced and stable internal state (homeostasis) while constantly having to deal with a changing environment?
In the CRC “Molecular and cellular mechanisms of neural homeostasis”, the Goethe University cooperates with the University of Mainz and the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt as well as the Institute for Molecular Biology in Mainz as part of the rhine-main neuroscience network = rmn². The aim is to gain a better understanding of the importance of homeostatic mechanisms for the human organism and in particular for the diseased nervous system. Folllowing two succesful funding periods, the German Research Foundation has approved a third funding period, starting in 2021, and is providing € eight million for another four years of research. The spokesperson is Prof. Amparo Acker-Palmer.
TRR 379 Neuropsychobiology of Aggression
What role do cognitive, environmental, and biological factors, as well as disease symptoms, play in understanding and the occurrence of aggressive behavior?
How can we treat aggressive behavior in patients with mental disorders better? A team of researchers from various universities, with a substantial contribution from ICNF researchers involved, is addressing these questions through a longitudinal, developmental, multidimensional, transdiagnostic approach in the Collaborative Research Center / Transregio 379: Neuropsychobiology of Aggression, funded by the DFG. They aim at identifying transdiagnostic biosignatures to enable a more specific prevention and treatment.
DYNAMIC
The LOEWE Research Center DYNAMIC is part of the Hessian LOEWE program for funding cutting-edge research.
At DYNAMIC, ICNF scientists working in the fields of psychology, psychiatry, statistics, and machine learning collaborate with partners from other Hessian Universities with the shared vision of better understanding mental illness. To this end, they use multimodal, dynamic data to characterize mental health problems on an individual basis. Dynamic network and machine learning models are primarily used for this purpose, and corresponding methods are being further developed.
ARENA
How does the brain recognize an orange? And could artificial intelligence learn that?
Psychologists and computer scientists from the ICNF are investigating how abstract knowledge is stored in the brain in the DFG research group “Abstract Representations in Neural Architectures” =ARENA (FOR 5368). The findings should in turn contribute to making artificial intelligence (AI) systems more efficient and flexible.
SPP 2041 “Computational Connectomics”
The brain is a complex network of billions of nerve cells giving rise to our cognitive abilities.Understanding the structure of this network is an important step in understanding how it functions.
The field of neuroscience has now entered the age of connectomics, whose ultimate goal is to obtain a comprehensive description of the interconnections between all components of the brain. The priority program led by Prof. Dr. Jochen Triesch aims to strengthen this new field from a mathematical perspective. The focus is on developing computational models and theories to describe and explain the measurement data. How exactly do the connections in the brain work? Which nerve cells and which areas of the brain communicate with each other? Other areas of focus include the development of automated analysis techniques that facilitate the collection of such data, as well as the management and exchange of data.
SPP 1926 “Next Generation Optogentics”
The DFG Priority Program SPP1926 aims to develop novel optogenetic tools for use in neurobiology and cell biology.
The spokesperson for the program is Prof. Alexander Gottschalk, Frankfurt. Thirteen projects, most of which are collaborative, comprise a total of 27 laboratories that will jointly form SPP 1926 for the next few years. The team’s goal is to introduce genetically encoded or addressable, light-controlled proteins or molecules into heterologous cells, tissues, or entire animals to enable precise and largely non-invasive control of molecular, cellular, or network activities.
SPP 1926 was funded by the German Research Foundation from 2016 to 2024.
LOEWE Schwerpunkt CePTER “Center for Personalized Translational Epilepsy Research”
The state government of Hesse is funding the “LOEWE Schwerpunkt,” led by the Epilepsy Centre at the University Hospital Frankfurt, with 4.7 million euros between 2018 and 2021.
Epilepsies represent a pathogenetically and clinically heterogeneous group of diseases for which only relatively non-specific and symptomatically effective therapies are available. Many patients do not become seizure-free or suffer from treatment-related side effects. In order to improve the success of therapy, a personalized and, if possible, disease-modifying, instead of only symptomatic treatment is necessary.
In the coming years, the goals of the scientists involved are the identification and validation of epileptic-relevant disease factors, their therapeutic modification and the identification and validation of biomarkers of epilepsy and epileptogenesis. These goals are to be achieved with state-of-the-art molecular biological, clinical and experimental neuroscientific methods available to the LOEWE research network “CePTER”.
CRC 1193 “Neurobiology of Resilience”
The Collaborative Research Centre 1193 “Neurobiology of Resilience” was established in July 2016 and funded with 12.1 million euros for an initial period of 4 years.
As part of the rhine-main neuroscience network, neuroscientists from Frankfurt and Mainz are jointly investigating which processes in the brain enable protection against the harmful effects of stress and stressful life events. Specifically, the scientists involved want to investigate and understand the mechanisms of resilience – a kind of “mental power to resist”.