Peter Bedner studied biology at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität in Bonn. He received a Ph.D. at the Institute of Genetics, Univerity of Bonn, on the functional analysis of the permeability of gap junction channels for second messengers. Subsequently he spent one year in the Calcium Signals Lab at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore where he worked on the cell type-specificity of intracellular distribution and diffusion of calmodulin. Since 2006 he is a post-doctoral fellow at the Institute of Cellular Neurosciences, University of Bonn. His main field of research is the analysis of the impact of glial cells on signal processing in the healthy and diseased brain. Peter Bedner: Institute of Cellular Neurosciences, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Sigmund-Freud Str. 25, 53105 Bonn, phone: 022828713140, fax: 022828719121, email: peter.bedner@ukb.uni-bonn.de. Christian Steinhäuser studied physics at the Friedrich-Schiller Universität in Jena. He received a Ph.D. at the Institute for Neurobiology and Brain Research, Academy of Sciences, Magdeburg and the Faculty of Biology, University of Jena on the functional analysis of Na+ channels in pyramidal neurons freshly isolated from the hippocampus. After habilitation in physiology at University of Jena, in 1997 he moved to Bonn as a professor for Experimental Neurobiology at the Medical Faculty of the Rheinische Friedrich- Wilhelms-Universität. In 2007, he founded the Institute of Cellular Neurosciences at University of Bonn that he chairs since. He employs molecular, electrophysiological, and imaging techniques to investigate the role of glial cells in information processing in the normal and epileptic brain. Christian Steinhäuser: Institute of Cellular Neurosciences, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Sigmund-Freud Str. 25, 53105 Bonn, phone: 022828714669, fax: 022828719121, email: christian.steinhaeuser@ukb.uni-bonn.de.