Research for a life without cancer

Since their discovery in 2004, the grid cells in the brain, which are important for our orientation, have been regarded as a kind of “GPS in the head.” However, scientists at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and Heidelberg University Hospital have now shown that grid cells work much more flexibly than previously assumed. In experiments with mice, the researchers found that the cells adapt their activity to different reference points depending on the situation. Instead of providing a rigid global grid, they switch dynamically between different reference frames.