The Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) is funding the joint research project CABLE (Cortico-cortical evoked potentials for Assessing Brain Language Engagement) led by Prof. Kathleen Seidel (Neurosurgery, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital) and Prof. Riki Matsumoto (Neurology, Kyoto University Hospital) with CHF 298,000. This highly competitive grant is part of the bilateral SNSF–JSPS program and supports groundbreaking research into mapping language networks in the human brain.
Of a total of 181 eligible applications, only ten projects were approved—a success rate of just 5.52 percent. The applications were evaluated by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS).
The CABLE project investigates corticocortical evoked potentials (CCEPs) as an innovative tool for better understanding the representation and networking of language functions in the brain. By combining clinical neurophysiology with modern neurosurgical research, the aim is to better map language networks and thus increase the safety and precision of neurosurgical procedures.
Led by Prof. Seidel in Bern and co-led by Prof. Matsumoto in Kyoto, the project brings together a multidisciplinary team, including Prof. Maxime Baud (Neurology, Inselspital) and Prof. Benjamin Victor Ineichen (Department of Clinical Research, University of Bern). As part of the project, Dr. Jonathan Wermelinger (Neurosurgery, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital) will travel to Kyoto for a one-year research stay to learn specialized signal analysis of CCEPs from Prof. Matsumoto, the pioneer of the method.