In his "Membrane Theory" of 1902, the German physiologist Julius Bernstein gave the earliest biophysical explanation of propagating action potentials and thereby provided the first truly quantitative theory in electrophysiology.

Since then, Neuroscience has become a vast and growing area in natural sciences devoted to unraveling the function of the brain as one of the most complex results of biological evolution. A thorough analysis of brain function still continues to be an outstanding scientific challenge.

Today a big step in the process of advancing our understanding is expected from the highly dynamic and interdisciplinary research line of Computational Neuroscience. This discipline combines experiments with mathematical models, computer simulation and data analysis on the basis of well-defined theoretical concepts. It makes available a scientific language and methodology that can be used across disciplines ranging from neurobiology, cognitive science, systems biology to information technology. This task requires focussed interdisciplinary cooperation between experimental and clinical neuroscientists, physicists, mathematicians and computer scientists.

In 2004 the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in Germany has started an initiative to create a "National Bernstein Network Computational Neuroscience" now consisting of the four Bernstein Centers for Computational Neuroscience in Berlin, Freiburg, Goettingen and Munich, five Bernstein Groups, eleven Bernstein Collaborations, several Bernstein Awards, and last but not least four Bernstein Focus Neurotechnology in the regions Berlin, Frankfurt/Main, Freiburg/Tuebingen and Goettingen.

The BMBF has bestowed the title of "Bernstein Network Computational Neuroscience" to honour Bernstein's scientific achievements.

The Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience (BCCN) Goettingen integrates research groups at the

Georg-August Universitaet Goettingen
Max Planck Institute for biophysical Chemistry (incl. BiomedNMR)
Max Planck Institute for experimental Medicine
Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (Dept. of Nonlinear Dynamics)
German Primate Center
Otto-Bock HealthCare

and aims at finding the desired new routes to the understanding of brain function. The coordinator of the BCCN Goettingen is Prof Geisel, director at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization and Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Goettingen.

Prof. Dr. Theo Geisel
Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization
Bunsenstrasse 10
D - 37073 Goettingen
Tel.: 0551 - 5176 - 400/401
geisel @ nld.ds.mpg.de
www.nld.ds.mpg.de

_{(Grant numbers: 01GQ0430 [Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization], 01GQ0431 [Max Planck Institute for biophysical Chemistry], 01GQ0432 [Georg-August-University Goettingen], 01GQ0433 [German Primate Center]).}