Timeline - SFB Transregio 384

July 2026

Event I Symposium

FENS Symposia accepted

06.-10.07.2025 Barcelona

Three proposed FENS Symposium got accepted:

“Connectomics and Memory” by Matthias Haberl

“Network activity and interneurons in Alzheimer’s” by Silvia Viana da Silva

“Interneurons shape cortical population codes in dependence of
experience” by Marlene Bartos and Jörg Geiger (Speakers: Letzkus, Spiegel, Barth, Ibrahim)

More infos on the FENS 2026 here: https://fensforum.org/

26.02.2026

Workshop

Marlene Bartos invited to speak about Building and Leading a Research Initiative

FRIAS Workshop: What it takes to build and lead successful interdisciplinary research initiatives

Date: February 26, 2026
Time: 15:00 – 18:00
Location: FRIAS Seminar Room, FRIAS, Albertstr. 19, 79104 Freiburg

Speakers:

Harald Binder – CRC 1597 Small Data

Marlene Bartos – CRC/TRR 384 IN-CODE

Robert Zeiser – CRC 1497 OncoEscape

Christiane Werner – CRC 1537 EcoSense

Anna Köttgen – CRC 1453 NephGen

Are you a senior researcher interested in shaping collaborative research initiatives, such as Collaborative Research Centers (CRCs), in particular with respect to interdisciplinary collaboration?

More infos about SmallData events.

Activities

December 2025

Event I Xmas

Holiday Celebration Across IN-CODE Featuring a Picture Contest

IN-CODE celebrated its festive Xmas get-together with participants in Berlin and Freiburg connected via Zoom, joined by members from Bremen, Homburg, and Heidelberg. A highlight of the evening was the picture contest, with Zhengzheng He (Berlin) winning for “Creation of the Universe” and Giulia Turri (Freiburg) for “Winterherz”—selected from 24 wonderful submissions. The program was complemented by engaging science talks from Henning Sprekeler and Andreas Vlachos, humorously interwoven with the history of the interneuron consortium in a Lord of the Rings–inspired analogy. We wish everyone in the IN-CODE network a Merry Christmas and a happy holiday season.

November 2025

Outreach

Gamze Güney engages public at Berlin Science Week

As part of the Berlin Science Week programme, Gamze Güney (Poulet Lab) contributed to the outreach format “Diverse Minds, Shared Future,” an interactive event fostering dialogue between science and society. In the talk “Cold snow and hot chocolate: How our brains recognize temperature,” Gamze explained complex neuroscience concepts in a clear and engaging manner, reaching a broad audience and strengthening inclusive science communication.

December 2025

Award

Dr. Nora Jamann received prestigious EMBO Fellowship

We are pleased to announce that Nora Jamann has been awarded a prestigious EMBO Postdoctoral Fellowship, recognizing outstanding scientific excellence and potential in life sciences research. The highly competitive fellowship supports early-career researchers in conducting innovative research and provides access to EMBO’s international training and professional development network. Congratulations to Nora Jamann on this well-deserved achievement.

23. -25.10.2025

Outreach

Science Days – Europa-Park Rust

Mission Brain: Auf Schatzsuche im Kopf!

Wir sind Neurowissenschaftler der Uniklinik Freiburg und Teil von IN-CODE – wir erforschen, wie spezielle Nervenzellen (Interneurone) die Arbeitsweise unseres Gehirns beim Erinnern beeinflussen. Begib dich mit uns auf eine spannende Schnitzeljagd durchs Gehirn: Entdecke, die Vielfalt von Nervenzellen! Erlebe, wie hemmende Nervenzellen für Ordnung und Rhythmus im Kopf sorgen (Hirnstromwellen) und wie Nervenzellen als Team arbeiten, um Informationen zu speichern. Bei unseren Mitmach-Stationen brauchst du Forscherdrang und Cleverness! Komm vorbei und finde heraus, wie dein Gehirn wirklich denkt und lernt!

October 2025

Award

Reinhart Koselleck Project Grant for Marlene Bartos

Congratulations to Prof. Dr. Marlene Bartos, who has been awarded a Reinhart Koselleck Project Grant from the German Research Foundation (DFG) to study “The role of the inputs and outputs of the dentate gyrus in the formation of memory traces and the control of behavior”.

The German Research Foundation (DFG) runs the Reinhart Koselleck Program to back only those researchers who have demonstrated exceptional achievements in their fields. This funding scheme provides them with the freedom to undertake pioneering projects that carry a constructive level of risk, encouraging courage and unconventional thinking. Named after Reinhart Koselleck, a leading German historian of the twentieth century renowned for his role in shaping modern social history and for his independent, questioning mindset, the program honors his legacy following his death in 2006.

6.-7.10.2025

Workshop

IN-CODE Workshop on Scientific Communication

IN-CODE hosted Dr. Matthias Mayer from ysa (http://www.youngscientistsacademy.com/) for a great 2-days Scientific Communication workshop at IMBIT, Freiburg.

19.-21.09.2025

Event I Retreat

Female Scientist Retreat in Fulda

Our IN-CODE Female Scientist Retreat gathered neuroscientists for workshops, talks and discussions at the Kloster Frauenberg in Fulda and its serene garden. Many thanks to our speakers Silvia Viana da Silva, Silvana Valtcheva, Marlene Bartos, SeongHee Cho and Rahel Ehret for sharing knowledge and inspiration!

November 2025

Event I Symposium

SFN Symposium accepted

15.-19. November 2025 San Diego

SFN Symposium accepted titled: Experience-Driven Dynamics in Cortical Inhibition for Learning and Memory

Chair: Marlene Bartos, PhD
Co-Chair: Jörg Geiger, PhD

Date: Wednesday, November 19, 9:30
Location: SDCC Rm 6CF

Speakers: Losonczy, Topolnik, Fan, Sahay, Bartos, Da Silva

December 2025

Outreach

ZDF Films Marlene Bartos Team for 3sat nano

A film crew from ZDF recently visited our lab to document the work of Marlene Bartos and her team on memory research focusing on interneurons.

The footage is featured in an episode of the 3sat science program nano, offering viewers an inside look at our experiments and scientific insights. The episode can be found here:

https://www.zdf.de/video/magazine/nano-722/251208-sendung-hirnforschung-zwei-zelltypen-entscheiden-ueber-unsere-erinnerung-nano-100

26th -29th March, 2025

Conference Prize

Rina Patel received 2nd place for Best Talk Prize at NWG

Congrats to Rina Patel, PhD student in Silvia Viana da Silvas lab (B02). She presented at the NWG on the section “Breaking News” and received the 2nd prize for “Best Talk” for “Optogenetic control of mitochondria of PV+ interneurons alters CA1 function”.

14.07.-17.07.2025

Workshop

IN-CODE Workshop: AI in Science

Prof. Dr. Daniel Mertens presented in-depth knowledge on AI in 5 modules.

Next Level Productivity in Science using AI Assistants.

More infos here: https://www.schillermertens.de/

Module 1: Foundations of AI for Scientific Research

Module 2: Advanced Scientific Writing and Storytelling

Module 3: Objectifying Exploratory Data Analysis and Intuitive Visualization

Module 4: Networking, Collaboration, and Negotiation using Data-Protected
Local LLMs

Module 5: Decision-Making, Interviewing and Coding for Beginners with
LLMs

6th -11th July 2025

Conference

Gordon Research Conference – Inhibition in the CNS

The Inhibition in the CNS GRC is a premier, international scientific conference focused on advancing the frontiers of science through the presentation of cutting-edge and unpublished research, prioritizing time for discussion after each talk and fostering informal interactions among scientists of all career stages.

The 2025 GRC Inhibition in the CNS will explore how inhibition shapes neural circuits in health and disease—spanning interneuron identity, synapse organization, sensory and memory pathways, computational dynamics, adult neurogenesis across models, and neuropsychiatric dysfunction.

16th – 21st May 2025

Conference

Spring Hippocampal Research Conference in Verona

The Spring Hippocampal Research Conference is devoted to all aspects of hippocampal structure and function, and its malfunction in neurological and psychiatric disorders. It has been held every other year since 1988.

12.05.2025

FORUM IN-CODE

Nelson Rebola

Location
CCO Auditorium
Virchowweg 4 | Berlin

–

Please join us for the lecture, either in person or via Zoom.

Cortical GABAergic interneurons (INs) exhibit remarkable diversity, enabling finely tuned inhibitory control of cortical neural circuits. These INs primarily receive input through dendritic synapses. Yet, whether and how dendritic processing shapes their distinct functional roles remains unclear. In this last years we obtained evidence that two major cortical IN subtypes—somatostatin-expressing (SST) and parvalbumin-expressing (PV) interneurons—exhibit fundamentally different strategies to distribute and integrate synaptic inputs along their dendrites. SST-INs display NMDAR-dependent supralinear integration and a uniform distribution of excitatory synapses. In contrast, PV-INs show sublinear integration and a higher density of synapses on proximal dendrites, with low NMDAR expression. I will present experimental as well as modeling data suggesting that while both dendritic integration strategies enhance effective synaptic efficacy in thin dendrites, they enable the extraction of distinct temporal features from input dynamics. Overall, our findings highlight how specialized dendritic processing across interneuron subtypes critically shapes the strength and timing of cortical inhibition.

May 2025

Conference

2nd Engrams and Ensembles at Trinity College, Dublin, with Viana da Silva and Haberl labs

During the 2nd Engrams and Ensembles Conference at Trinity College Dublin in May 2025, the Viana da Silva and Haberl labs presented their findings on hippocampal engram recruitment by sharp-wave ripples. Their talks sparked lively discussions with leading experts and led to new collaborations with computational neuroscientists modeling the inhibitory engram.

23th April 2025

FORUM IN-CODE

Jessica Cardin

Location

Institute of Physiology
5th Floor
Hermann-Herder-Str 7 | Freiburg

–

Please join us for the lecture, either in person or via Zoom.

Link and passcode distributed by email from Dagmar Sonntag.

24th/ 25th April 2025

PhD Lecture

Human brain anatomy for Neuroscience graduate students

This course is a collaborative effort between the Neuroanatomical Departments of the University of Basel and the University of Freiburg. Many graduate students do their thesis projects in the field of Neuroscience, some even in close relation to human neurological diseases. As most of the graduate students do not have a training in human medicine they were never exposed to human neuroanatomy. The aim of this course is to give these students an opportunity to study human anatomy in a lab course with human specimens and learn about the structures of the human brain which are mostly affected by neurological diseases. The course offers an opportunity to learn human neuroanatomy in a group of graduate students from both the University of Basel and the University of Freiburg.

26th -29th March, 2025

Event I Conference

NWG Meeting 2025 I Symposia

26.-29.3.2025 Göttingen

More infos here: https://www.nwg-goettingen.de/2025/default.asp?id=0

“Dendritic Inhibition – Role in Network Dynamics, Memory and Behavior”

organized by
Marlene Bartos (Freiburg, Germany) and
Jörg Geiger (Charité, Berlin, Germany).

presentations by
Marlene Bartos, Johannes Letzkus, Matthew Larkum and Panayiota Poirazi.

———

“Building blocks of the brain: Insights into CNS circuits and ultrastructure”

organized by
Matthias Haberl (Charité, Berlin, Germany) and
Martina Schifferer (DNZE, Munich, Germany).

13th March 2025

Outreach

BrAInWorlds: Die Welt in unserem Kopf

BrainLinks-BrainTools und NEXUS Experiments invite

Donnerstag, 13.03.2025

5:30 pm – 9:00 pm

IMBIT-Gebäude, Campus Flugplatz

background: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2024.06.019

„BrAInWorlds: Die Welt in unserem Kopf“ ist eine öffentliche Veranstaltung im Rahmen der Brain Awareness Week, einer internationalen Initiative der Dana Foundation. Organisiert wird die Veranstaltung von NEXUS Experiments, der Plattform für Wissenschaftsvermittlung und partizipative Forschung am Zentrum BrainLinks-BrainTools der Universität Freiburg.

2025

Prizes

IN-CODE Fellows Prizes

We are pleased to announce that four outstanding researchers have been awarded fellowships of 15.000 Euro each as part of the IN-CODE initiative. These awards recognize the exceptional quality and potential impact of their proposed research projects. The following fellows and their respective projects have been selected for this honor:

Chotima Böttcher: Regional heterogeneity of human interneurons

Claudia Böhm: The role of GABAergic interneuroons in the lasting impact of early life adversity

Antje Kilias: Enhancer-mediated chemogenetic activation of interneurons in the medial septum as a potential anti-epileptic stimulation (EMStim)

Anna Schröder: Mapping neuronal diversity in the inhibitory zona incerta using spatial transcriptomics

03.02.2025

Forum IN-CODE

Francesco Ferraguti

Location
Institute of Physiology
5th Floor
Hermann-Herder-Str 7 | Freiburg

–

Please join us for the lecture, either in person or via Zoom.

Link and passcode distributed by email from Dagmar Sonntag.

2024

Outreach

Exploring AI and Neuroscience: Dr. Matthias Haberl’s Thought-Provoking Article in Neuroforum

Dr. Matthias Haberl dives into the fascinating intersections between artificial intelligence and neuroscience in their latest piece for the NWG Journal Neuroforum. Discover the insights and ideas on page 19—link below.

https://nwg-info.de/sites/nwg-info.de/files/media/pdf/neuroforum/Neuroforum_02-2024.pdf

Dec 2024 / Jan 2025

Outreach

IN-CODE Members Bring Science to Schools and Stars in Berlin

Gamze Güney and Dr. Svenja Steinfelder (Poulet lab) captivated young minds at the Heinrich-Schliemann-Gymnasium and Kurt-Tucholsky-Oberschule in Berlin, sharing the wonders of their science (Dec 2024 & Jan 2025). They also illuminated their research for a wide audience at the Planetarium Berlin, inspiring curiosity for science in the community (Dec 2024).

https://www.mdc-berlin.de/de/news/events/svenja-steinfelder-gamze-guney-kalter-schnee-heisse-schokolade-wie-unser-korper

December 2024

Book Contribution

The Hippocampus Book, 2nd Edition

We are proud to announce that the second edition of

The Hippocampus Book

edited by Richard Morris, David Amaral, Tim Bliss, Karen Duff and John O’Keefe is now in print.

This second edition has been thoroughly revised and rewritten, bringing together recent work on the hippocampus and related structures, and features twenty detailed chapters, including a contribution by Marlene Bartos and Mark Eyre summarizing Inhibitory Interneurons, which can be found in Chapter 5: Cell Properties.

18.12.2024

Forum IN-CODE

Monique Havermans

Speaker Monique Havermans

Location
Institute of Physiology
5th Floor
Hermann-Herder-Str 7 | Freiburg

–

Please join us for the lecture, either in person or via Zoom.

Link and passcode distributed by email from Dagmar Sonntag.

–

More about EARA (European Animal Research Association): https://www.eara.eu/?lang=de

11.12.2024

Forum IN-CODE

Andreas Lüthi

Speaker
Andreas Lüthi (Home Institute: FMI, Basel, Switzerland)

Location
Institute of Physiology
5th Floor
Hermann-Herder-Str 7 | Freiburg

–

Please join us for the lecture, either in person or via Zoom.

Link and passcode distributed by email from Dagmar Sonntag.

–

More about Andreas’ research: https://www.fmi.ch/research-groups/groupleader.html?group=35

06. November 2024

Forum IN-CODE

Leena Ibrahim

Speaker
Leena Ibrahim (Home Institute: KAUST)

Location
Institute of Physiology
5th Floor
Hermann-Herder-Str 7 | Freiburg

–

Please join us for the lecture, either in person or via Zoom.

Link and passcode distributed by email from Dagmar Sonntag.

–

More about Leena’s research: https://faculty.kaust.edu.sa/en/persons/leena.ibrahim

October 2024

Sabbatical

Prof. Bartos’ sabbatical in Boston to strengthen international collaborations in Interneuron Research

In October 2024, Prof. Bartos undertook a one-month sabbatical in Boston to deepen collaborations with researchers known for their outstanding contribution in areas of interneuron development, interneuron-glia interactions, and the structural and functional dynamics of cortical interneurons. At Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Brandeis University, Prof. Bartos met with Prof. Gina Turringano, Prof. Elly Nevidi, Prof. Eve Marder and Prof. Amar Sahay (to name a few) sharing insights on recent advancements in the field and cutting-edge methodologies. Prof. Bartos also attended the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in Chicago.

30. October 2024

Forum IN-CODE

Johannes Gräf

Speaker
Johannes Gräf (Home Institute: EPFL, Lausanne)

Location
Institute of Physiology
5th Floor
Hermann-Herder-Str 7 | Freiburg

–

Please join us for the lecture, either in person or via Zoom.

Link and passcode distributed by email from Dagmar Sonntag.

–

More about Johanne’s research: https://www.epfl.ch/labs/graefflab/

25th October 2024

Event I Lecture

ONWAR Swammerdam Lecture by Marlene Bartos

The neuroscience community in Amsterdam invited Marlene Bartos to present in the prestigious ONWAR Swammerdam Lecture Series and afterwards hold a Masterclass with neuroscience PhD students.

https://www.onwar.nl/swammerdam-lectures/

10.-11. October 2024

Event I Conference

Berlin Neuroscience Meeting

Organizer: Silvia Viana da Silva

One of the keynote speakers: Marlene Bartos

at BNM24 on October 10 and 11, 2024.

More details here: www.ecn-berlin.de/program

06.09.2024

News

Anna Schroeder is awarded an ERC Starting Grant.

Dr. Anna Schroeder, a neuroscientist and postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Prof. Dr. Johannes Letzkus at the Institute of Physiology, Dept. I, was awarded an ERC starting grant for her project CERTASTATES. In this project, she will investigate how internal states drive behavioral flexibility with a focus on the neural circuits of the subthalamic zona incerta. Motivated by the fact that this little studied brain region is one of few established targets for deep brain stimulation in humans, the project also aims to explore how clinically-applied neuromodulation can transform state-driven computations with the aim to develop new therapeutic directions for psychiatric disease. To achieve these goals, Dr. Schroeder will employ cutting-edge molecular, cellular and circuit-level technologies in mouse models together with diverse behavioral paradigms and advanced machine learning techniques. CERTASTATES will be carried out at the Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) of Munich, where, as of April 2025, Dr. Schroeder will be a tenure-track W2 Professor of Systemic Neuroscience.

For the official ERC press releases, click here and here.

Wednesday 3rd of July 2024 | 12:00

Forum IN-CODE

Sheena Josselyn

Speaker
Sheena Josselyn (Home Institute: University of Toronto)

Location
Institute of Physiology
5th Floor
Hermann-Herder-Str 7 | Freiburg

–

Please join us for the lecture, either in person or via Zoom.

Link and passcode distributed by email from Dagmar Sonntag.

–

More about Josselyn’s research: https://jflab.ca/

25.-29. June 2024

Event I Conference

IN-CODERs successfully presented at FENS

The FENS Forum 2024 was held in Vienna this June and a number of IN-CODERs went to successfully present their research.

June 2024

Network

IN-CODE is now part of METIS

The METIS network provides advice on how to promote gender equality, diversity and family friendliness in academic work environments in accordance to DFG guidelines.

You can browse the METIS page to see what other research associations did in terms of Gender and Diversity measures and approach the IN-CODE Gender and Diversity (GD) representatives with your inquiry.

METIS: https://www.metis.hu-berlin.de/

June 2024

Network

IN-CODE is now member of the Network of Neurocenters Germany

We are now part of the Network of Neurocenters Germany and as such got presented at FENS.

The Network of German Neurocenters is a group of research centers and funding institutions in the neurosciences, distributed all over Germany, who share the structual aim to strenghten Germany as a neuroscience research location.

More infos here: http://www.neurocenters-germany.de/

25.-29. June 2024

Event | Symposium

FENS Forum in Vienna

Silvia Viana da Silva (DZNE Berlin), in collaboration with Mark Brandon (McGill University), will host a symposium on ‘Mazed and confused: The Neuronal Basis for Spatial Impairments in Alzheimer’s Disease’ on June 29th at the FENS Forum 2024 in Vienna.

More infos on Symposium S53 here: fens2024.abstractserver.com/program/#/details/sessions/202

Mai 2024

General News

IN-CODE on YouTube

The SFB Transregio 384 focuses on the study of inhibitory neurons to understand their role in information processing and coding in the brain. We are a consortium of 23 principle investigators (PIs) leading 19 teams of 75 researchers in Freiburg, Heidelberg and Berlin.

Welcome to our page that will gradually be filled with our research.

More information is also available on our website, sfb-trr384.de.

Check it out:

youtube.com/@science-at-sfb-trr384

Mai 2024