The goal of the research group "Architecture and Brain Function" is to gain a new understanding of the organisational principles of the human brain and to better understand how brain structure is related to function and behavior.
We analyze architectonics at the cellular level, the cytoarchitecture, using state-of-the-art methods of image analysis, statistics and deep learning. For this purpose, we have made tissue sections over many years, reconstructed them three-dimensionally, integrated them into an atlas and developed methods to evaluate them quantitatively.
Our goal is the mapping and analysis of areas of the cerebral cortex as well as deeper core areas.
We investigate the relationship between architectonics and genetic, molecular, functional classification principles and the connection structure.
We analyze the relationships between macroscopic brain structure and microstructural organization using deformation-based morphometry, e.g. during aging and in brain diseases
We explore the differences in architectonics between brains - the interindividual variability. This variability is recorded in so-called probability maps, which show differences in size and location of areas. They form the basis for our three-dimensional brain atlas, Julich-Brain.
These brain maps are the basis for many applications and are provided by the following atlases and tools:
- They are reference data in the Human Brain Atlas of the Human Brain Project and its infrastructure EBRAINS
- Using the Anatomy toolbox, they can be directly linked to findings from functional imaging.