JACOBS UNIVERSITY BREMEN

Research award for excellence
in research and cooperation in Bremen

   


On November 14, 2007, the association “unifreunde e. V.” awarded the Prize of the Sparkasse Bremen for the joint research project “Intrinsic and motion induced brain activation patterns” of Jacobs University and University of Bremen. The annual award, which is endowed with 5000 euros, acknowledges innovative co-operational research between scientists of the two Bremen universities in the fields of Mathematics, Natural and Technical Sciences.

[ Nov 14, 2007] 
This year’s laureates are the five Bremen cognition scientists
Prof. Ben Godde and Dr. Claudia Voelcker-Rehage from Jacobs University’s Jacobs Center on Lifelong Learning and Institutional Development, Dr. Ekkard Küstermann and Dr. Peter Erhard of the University of Bremen’s Center for Advanced Imaging & Chemistry, and the neurologist Dr. med. Markus Ebke of the clinical center Bremen-Mitte. The co-operational project aims at recognizing brain activation patterns altered by old age and diseases, which lead to motion coordination disorders. Based on the analytical results the scientists will develop therapeutic intervention methods for regenerating motion coordination.

The award recognizes the research topic as highly relevant for the everyday life of a large target group as many people aged 65 and older suffer from massive problems in motion coordination: About two thirds of all rest home residents in Germany on average take a fall once per year, which often results in injuries with grave consequential damage. Many of these falls happen while the people are walking. A disease that typically affects older people and amplifies motion coordination problems, especially walking problems, is the so-called “Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus”, which is also in the focus of the research project. As the main tool to visualize and analyze the areas of the brain, which are active while walking or imagined walking, the scientists use the functional magnetic resonance imaging tomograph at the University of Bremen.



unifreunde Bremen e.V.
The association »unifreunde Bremen e.V.« (Society of Friends of the Bremen Universities), which was established in 1961, aims at promoting research and teaching in the city state of Bremen. A special focus is on the cooperation between Jacobs University and the University of Bremen as an integral part of Bremen’s profile as an innovative science location in Germany. The endowment for the yearly prize acknowledging the innovative cooperation projects between the two universities is alternately provided by the Ernst A.C. Lange Foundation and the Sparkasse Bremen.

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Author: Kristin Beck. Last updated on 16.11.2007. © 2007 Jacobs University Bremen, Campus Ring 1, 28759 Bremen. All rights reserved. No unauthorized reproduction. http://www.jacobs-university.de. For all general inquiries, please call the university at +49 421 200-40 or mail to info@jacobs-university.de.