Major boost for the Research Unit Translational Neurosciences
28.11.2012
The University Medical Center at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany and the renowned School of Medicine at Yale University, USA have agreed upon a future collaboration. This strategic partnership promises to provide an innovative stimulus for the Research Unit Translational Neurosciences at the Mainz University Medical Center. The resulting regular exchange will benefit both basic research and the training of young researchers.
"Our aim is to arrive at a better understanding of brain development and functioning by working closely with the neuroscientists at Yale University. This should provide us with the necessary insight to develop new medications and diagnostic tests for treating neurological and psychiatric illnesses such as stroke, depression, or schizophrenia," says the Chief Scientific Officer of the Mainz University Medical Center, Professor Dr. Dr. Reinhard Urban. Urban is convinced that the work being done in the Research Unit Translational Neurosciences (FTN) can be significantly advanced through access to the existing expertise at Yale University. The Yale Kavli Institute for Neuroscience, like the Research Unit Translational Neurosciences in Mainz, employs a multidisciplinary research strategy covering fields ranging from molecular genetics to behavioral research. The aim of this joint project is to explore – at both locations – the development, cellular organization, and function of the nervous system in controlling cognition, memory, language, and thought.
"The transfer of knowledge resulting from the intensive exchange of established scientists, doctoral candidates, and postdoctoral researchers from Yale and Mainz will increase the opportunities for making cutting-edge discoveries in basic research. These research findings can then be incorporated into new diagnostic and therapeutic procedures in accordance with the 'from bench to bedside' principle," explains Professor Dr. Robert Nitsch, spokesman of the Research Unit Translational Neurosciences and Director of the Institute of Microscopic Anatomy and Neurobiology. "The collaboration with Yale means that the world's leading neuroscientists are now pooling their resources," says Nitsch, welcoming the positive effect that the partnership with the elite US university located in New Haven, Connecticut will have for the Mainz research center.
The Mainz University Medical Center now hopes to further extend the collaboration, initiated by Dr. Robert Nitsch, to other research units. "We are confident that our Research Units for Immunology and for Vascular Prevention as well as our BiomaTICS Research Group will also soon be working hand-in-hand with the Yale School of Medicine," emphasizes Professor Dr. Dr. Reinhard Urban, Chief Scientific Officer of the University Medical Center. Initial projects are already in the planning stages.