Peter Jonas
2006 Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize winner
Prof. Dr. Peter Jonas investigates the mechanisms of communication between neuronal cells in the brain. The brain consists of biollions of highly specialized neurons, each of which builds a multitude of connections, so-called synapses, which pass neuronal signals from one cell to the next. Although signal conduction always follows the same general principles, it varies in details depending on neuronal type and synapse.
Jonas studies the exact properties of different neurons and synapses with regard to the functional significance of this diversity for brain function. A detailed understanding of the function of individual cells and connections are a prerequisite for the development of models that explain the function of neuronal networks in the greater context of the brain.
After his studies of human medicine and his PhD thesis in Gießen, Peter Jonas joined the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg, where he received his habilitation in 1992. He became professor at the Technical University of Munich in 1994 and moved to the Institute of Physiology at the University of Freiburg in 1995. Amongst the many awards that Jonas has received are the DFG’s Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize and the Max Planck Research Prize. (Source: Bernstein Network Computational Neuroscience)
Further research awards: