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2007-2009

Bauer, Kathrin Maria

City and country of origin:
Burglengenfeld, Germany

Educational background:
Bachelor of Science in Biology at the University of Regensburg

International Master's Programme:
Experimental and Clinical Neurosciences

Main scientific interest:
Genetics, Molecular mechanism of different diseases

Project Internships

Functional Interaction between frataxin and glial lazarillo
Supervisors: Dr. Juan Navarro, Prof. Dr. Stephan Schneuwly

Regulation spannungsabhängiger Ca2+-Kanäle durch Bestrophin-1
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Strauß

Comparative assessment of vigilance
Supervisor: Dr. Roland Popp

Bär, Julia

City and Country of origin:
Leipzig, Germany

Educational background:

• Bachelor of Science in Molecular Biotechnology, University of Dresden
• International Master's Programme in Experimental and Clinical Neurosciences
  

Main scientific interests

• Higher cognitive functions (learning, memory)
• Neurodegenerative diseases
• neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders and underlying molecular mechanisms
• Project Internships

1. Molecular imaging of TGF-beta mediated effects on adult neurogenesis
Supervisors: Dr. Sebastien Couillard-Despres, Prof. Ludwig Aigner
2. Characterization of genes that are causally involved in anxiety-related behavior
Supervisors: Ludwig Czibere, Prof. Dr. Rainer Landgraf, MPI, Munich
3. Assessment of a gene polymorphism using transfected neurons
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Maurizio Popoli, University of Milan, Italy

Master project

Influence of chronic psychosocial stress on anxiety-related behaviour and molecular parameters of the brain
Thesis advisors: Prof Inga Neumann (Regensburg) and Prof Maurizio Popoli (Milan)

Future Plans and objectives
PhD in Neuroscience or related subject

Brockmann, Marisa

City and Country of origin:
Braunschweig, Germany

Educational background:

• Bachelor of Science in Molecular Medicine
  University of Dresden, Germany
• International Master's Programme in Experimental
  and Clinical Neurosciences
  

Main scientific interests

Neurodegenerative processes; higher brain functions like memory

Project Practicums

Effects of Acute and Chronic Oxytocin treatment on anxiety-related behaviour
Supervisors: Dr. David Slattery, Prof. Dr. Inga Neumann

LPHN-3 a novel candidate gene for ADHD
Supervisors: Dr. Angelika Schmitt, Prof. Dr. Klaus-Peter Lesch, Würzburg

Einfluss von verhaltenssteuernden Neuropeptiden auf die elektrophysiologische Aktivität hypothalamischer Neurone
Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Olaf Strauß

Finger, Beate Christina

City and Country of origin:
Munich, Germany

Educational background:

• Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience,
  University of Cologne, Germany
• International Master's Programme in Experimental
  and Clinical Neurosciences
  

Project Internships

1. Effects of neuropeptide S (NPS) injected in the medial amygdala on affective behaviours
Supervisors: Dr. David Slattery, Prof. Inga Neumann

2. Anxiolytic and antidepressant effects of NPS in Flinders sensitive line rats
Supervisors: Dr. Gregers Wegener, Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark

3. Molecular characterization of NPS
Supervisors: Dr. David Slattery, Prof. Inga Neumann
Master project

Publications

Cassaday HJ, Finger BC & Horsley RR. Methylphenidate and nicotine focus responding to an informative discrete CS over successive sessions of appetitive conditioning. Journal of Psychopharmacology 2007, in press

Ishiyama, Shimpei

City and Country of origin:
Saitama, Japan

Educational background:

• Bachelor of Engineering (Applied Chemistry)
• Synthetic Studies on Bioactive Natural Substances
  Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan
• International Master's Programme in Experimental
  and Clinical Neurosciences
  

Main scientific interests

• Neural correlations of higher brain functions including perceptions, cognitions and emotions.
• Neural processing and network of sensory perceptions.
• Electrophysiological mechanisms of visual hallucinations.
• In vivo whole-cell patch clamp recordings combined with two-photon microscope.

Project Internships

Modulation of voltage-gated calcium channels by Rab27a
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Olaf Strauß

Considering some methodological problems in social neuroscience
Supervisors: Dr. Monika Sommer, Katrin Döhnel

Electrophysiological characterization of cerebellar NG2 glia in TgH (NG2-EYFP) mice
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Kirchhoff, Goettingen

Master project

Regulatory interaction between voltage-dependent Ca2+ channels and Rab-GTPase in RPE

Future Plans and objectives

Master of Science in Neurosciences PhD in Neurosciences

Kiem, Sara Alessia

City and Country of origin:
Munich, Germany

Educational background:

• Bachelor of Science in Cell Biology and Physiology
• University of Salzburg, Austria
• International Master's Programme in Experimental
  and Clinical Neurosciences
  

Main scientific interests

• Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• metabolic dysfunctions of the brain and the impact on behavior and health
• emotion processing and social neuroscience
• development of psychopathologies
• sleep and effects of higher cognitive functions and health

Project Internships

1. Neural correlates associated with Theory of Mind and Inhibition
Department of Psychiatry, MedBo GmbH Regensburg, Supervisor: Dr. Monika Sommer, Prof. Dr. Göran
Hajak

2. Simultaneous EEG/fMRI recording of neural responses to passive oddball stimulation while shifting tone probabilities
MPI for Psychiatry Munich Supervisor: Dr. Michael Czisch

3. MR-spectroscopic testing of cerebral metabolic changes after sleep deprivation
MPI for Psychiatry Munich Supervisor: Dr. Michael Czisch

Master project

Neural Correlates of Belief Attribution and Inhibition
Department of Psychiatry, MedBo GmbH Regensburg
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Göran Hajak , Dr Monika Sommer, Dipl.psych. Katrin Döhnel

Summary: The concept of having a Theory of Mind (ToM) originally comes from the field of developmental psychology, referring to the ability to represent false beliefs, which is the ability to recognize that others can have beliefs about the world that are not corresponding to reality. The acid test for investigating the ability to attribute beliefs is the true belief/false belief task (FB/TB task). During this task the participants have to select among interfering responses concerning true or false mental representations of the reality. Interestingly, in children the ability to understand false belief develops to the same time as inhibitory control. This issue has been intensively studied in behavioural and, during the last decade, also neuroimaging studies and raised the question, if belief attribution (as the crucial part of Theory of Mind) and cortical inhibition, needed to suppress a prepotent response, are supported by overlapping brain areas. Possible candidate regions seem to be the dorsal medial prefrontal cortex (including the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex) and the right temporo-parietal junction. But so far, only one experiment was performed investigating belief attribution and inhibition in the same session using equal stimuli (Rothmayr, Dissertation). The present functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) study used the same complex social stimuli to compare activation in the following two tasks: 1) 14 volunteers performed a modified Theory of Mind task, originally known from developmental psychology studies (Sally-Anne-Paradigm; Baron-Cohen et al., 1985), tapping belief attribution by comparing stories involving another person’s false belief with stories involving another person’s true belief; 2) A Simon task, originally invented to study response-based conflicts caused by interfering response possibilities. For this latter experiment a total of 28 volunteers participated out of which 16 performed the task while being in the MRI scanner.

False belief over true belief revealed activation in the medial prefrontal cortex (BA 8; including the dorsal anterior cingulated cortex; BA 32), the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (BA 9) and the temporo-parietal junction bilaterally (BA39/40). Resolution of the response-based conflict (incompatible trials > compatible trials) was distinguished by activity in the frontal eye field (BA 8), the visual cortex (BA 18/19), the right temporo-parietal junction (BA 39), as well as in parts of the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (BA 38/47). The graphical overlap of the results revealed non-overlapping regions for false belief and inhibition in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (BA 8/32) and in the right temporo-parietal junction (BA 39).
Present results suggest that the inhibition mechanism necessary to decouple mental states from reality is not exactly the same inhibitory mechanism recruited by the response-based conflict during incompatible trials in the Simon task. This suggests for further developmental psychology research to accurately distinguish between different inhibitory mechanism and even more important to focus on more basal processes in search of a common core mechanism between belief attribution and inhibition.

Future Plans and objectives

Find an interesting PhD Project at the intersection between biology and psychology

Marek, Roger

City and Country of origin:
Switzerland

Educational background:

• Study in Chemistry at the University of Applied Sciences Winterthur, Switzerland
• Diploma for Graduates in Neuroscience University of Dunedin, New Zealand
• International Master's Programme in Experimental and Clinical Neurosciences

Main scientific interests

Neurodegenerative diseases, Neurochemistry

Project Practicums

Cortical Excitation by Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) and the Association to Allelic Variants of the 5-HT Transporter
Supervisors: Dr. Berthold Langguth, Prof. Dr. Peter Eichhammer

Effect of chronic stress on circadian rhythmicity versus effects of diurnal rhythmicity on stress outcome
Supervisors: Dr. Stefan Reber, Prof. Dr. Inga Neumann, Dr. Corinna Wülbeck, Prof. Dr. Charlotte Förster

Coupling within SCN neurones and K-current recordings in Kv-KO mice
Supervisor. Prof. Dr. Michel, Leiden, the Netherlands

Regensburger, Martin

City and Country of origin:
Neumarkt, Germany

Educational background:

• Medical studies, University of Regensburg (since 2004)
• International Master's Programme in Experimental
  and Clinical Neurosciences
  

Main scientific interests

Use of stem cells to model and cure neural diseases

Project Internships

1. Comprehensive characterization of polyclonal antibody anti-best1, specific to the N-terminal region of bestrophin1
Supervisors: Dr. T. Loenhardt, Prof. Dr. B. Weber

2. Cloning of Disabled-2 into a mammalian expression vector
Supervisors: Dr. S. Couillard-Després, Prof. Dr. L. Aigner

3. Adult neurogenesis in transgenic animal models of hereditary DYT1 dystonia
Supervisors: Dr. Z. Kohl, Prof. Dr. J. Winkler

Master project

The cell-autonomous effects of alpha-synuclein on adult neuronal development.
Supervisors: Dr. B. Winner, Prof. Dr. J. Winkler

Future Plans and objectives
Finishing med-school and the Master degree and starting a residency in neurology

Santos, Edgar Marcial

City and Country of origin:
Veracruz, Mexico

Educational background:

• Medicine (2000-2007)
• International Master's Programme in Experimental and Clinical Neurosciences
  

Main scientific interests

• Molecular mechanisms of neurodegenerative diseases
• Brain tumors
• Epilepsy
• Neurosurgery

Project Internships

1. Cellular responses of adult neural progenitors to Conective Tissue Growth Factor
Supervisors: Monika Krampert, Prof. Dr. Ludwig Aigner

2. Neuropsychological screening and biomarkers in neurodegenerative disorder
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Klünemann

3. Regulation of T cell differentiation to encephalitogenic phenotypes by Smad7
Supervisors: Dr. Ingo Kleiter, Dr. Andreas Steinbrecher

Future Plans and objectives
Study a neurosurgery residency program; PhD

Publications

Calva-Rodriguez R, Luna-Alcantara JJ, Lagunes-Yannelli B, Rivera-Dominguez ME, Calva-Cerqueira D, Santos-Marcial E. Prevalence and risk factors of Helicobacter pylori infection in three populations of children in Puebla, Mexico. Rev Gastroenterol Mex. 2006; 71(4):440-5. Spanish.

Fernandez-Tamayo N, Flores-Villa R, Blanco-Aguilar J, Duenas-Arau Mde L, Pena-Flores Mdel P, Rubio-Calva C, Santos-Marcial E. Crusted scabies (Norwegian scabies) a case report. Gac Med Mex. 2006; 142(6):507-10. Spanish.

Steffenhagen, Carolin

City and Country of origin:
Waldsassen, Germany

Educational background:

• Bachelor of Science in Biology
• International Master's Programme in Experimental and Clinical Neurosciences

Main scientific interests

Neuroscience, especially the neurobiological mechanisms which underlie human behaviour, Genetics

Project Internships

1. Loss of function analysis of genes related to frataxin in drosophila
Supervisors: Dr. Juan Navarro, Prof. Dr. Stephan Schneuwly

2. Mesenchymal stem cells and fetal neural progenitors interactions: Oligodendrogenesis?
Supervisors: Dr. Rivera, Prof. Dr. Ludwig Aigner

3. Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for measuring and modulating neuronal cortical activit
Supervisors: Dr. Peter Eichhammer, Dr. Berthold Langguth, Dr. Elmar Frank

Tembei, Forkwa Kieran

City and Country of origin:
Bamenda, Cameroon

Educational background:

• Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry and Medical Laboratory Sciences
  University of Buea (2001-2004)
• Postgraduate Studies in Biochemistry
  University of Buea (2006-2007)
• International Master's Programme in Experimental and Clinical Neurosciences
  

Main scientific interests

I am very much interested in the use of advanced molecular biology techniques in research. Using them to elucidate the cellular/molecular basis of disease and behaviour are my main interest.

Project Internships

1. Cognitive impairments related to driving ability after partial sleep deprivation
Supervisors: Dr. Roland Popp, Johanna Schwarz

2. Does oxytocin regulate social behaviours in male rats?
Supervisors: Dr. Alexa Veenema, Prof. Dr. Inga Neumann

3. Effects of chronic psycho-social stress on light sensitivity and retinal atrophy
Supervisors: Dr. Stefan Reber, Prof. Dr. Ernst Tamm, Prof. Dr. Inga Neumann

Future Plans and objectives
I will like to contribute to the flow of information from molecules in the laboratories to therapies in the clinic.

Toth, Iulia

City and Country of origin:
Timisoara, Romania

Educational background:

• Bachelor of Science in Biology at Western
  University of Timisoara, Romania
• International Master's Programme in Experimental and Clinical Neurosciences

Main scientific interests

Clinical disorders involving social functioning deficits

Project Internships

1. Effects of chronic psycho-social stress on light sensitivity and retinal atrophy
Supervisors: Dr. S.O. Reber, Dr. A. Ohlmann, Prof. Dr. E. Tamm, Prof. Dr. I.D. Neumann

2. Behavioral differences in the forced swim test and passive avoidance extinction in two substrains of C57BL/6 mice
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Oliver Stiedl, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

3. Role of the neuropeptide oxytocin in social behaviours
Supervisors: Dr. Alexa Veenema, Prof. Dr. Inga Neumann

Tse, Mei Ling Ada

City and Country of origin:
Hong Kong, China

Educational background:

• Bachelor of Science in Food and Nutricial Sciences (Major) and in Psychology (Minor)
  The Chinese University of Hong Kong
• International Master's Programme in Experimental and Clinical Neurosciences
  

Main scientific interests

Molecular & Cellular basis of perception & higher cognitive functions, Neurogenesis & Neurodevelopment

Project Internships

During the ECN Programme:
1. Ectopic expression of the neuropeptide pigment-dispersing factor alters the free-running period and activity level of Drosophila melanogaster
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Charlotte Förster

2. Neurocorrelates of auditory aftereffect – zwicker tone
Supervisors: Dr. Anton Beer, Dr. Katharina Rosengarth, Prof. Dr. Mark Greenlee

3. Auditory Event-Related Potentials of Brief Sound Bursts During Zwicker Tone Perception
Supervisors: Dr. Anton Beer, Dr. Katharina Rosengarth, Prof. Dr. Greenlee

At the Chinese University of Hong Kong:
1. Cytochrome deficiency in psychiatric drug metabolism
2. Calcium changes in glial cells after brain injury
3. Cloning of Dehalogenase IVa from Burkholderia cepacia MBA4
4. Genetics of Myopia
5. Clinical studies, viral studies & human polymorphism studies of Hepatitis B, Hepatic fibrosis & cirrhosis, Hepatocellular
Carcinoma, Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis and Irritated Bowel’s Syndrome
Master project

Functional MRI correlates of the Zwicker tone – an auditory aftereffect
Supervisors: Dr Anton Beer, Dr Katharina Rosengarth and Prof Dr Mark Greenlee

Future Plans and objectives:
After graduated, I will go forward to PhD study in one of my interested areas and target career at a renowned neuroscience research institute

Publications

1. “Hepatitis B virus genotype has no impact on hepatitis B e antigen seroconversion after lamivudine treatment.” World Journal of Gastroenterology 9 (12): 2695-2697 DEC 2003

2. “Genotype C Hepatitis B Virus Infection is associated with increased risk of Hepatocellular Carcinoma.” GUT 53(10): 1494-1498 OCT 2004

3. “Genetic Polymorphisms of Interleukin-1-Beta in Association with Sustained Response to Anti-viral Treatment in Chronic Hepatitis B in Chinese.” Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics 23 (12): 1703-1711 JUN 15 2006

4. “Metabolic and adipokine profile of Chinese patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.” Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology 4(9):1154-1161 SEP 2006

5. “RNA Interference Targeting X protein of Hepatitis B Virus Suppresses Tumor Growth and Enhances the Cisplatin Chemosensitivity in Human Hepatocellular Carcinoma.” Cancer Letters 2007 Aug 8;253(1):43-52.

6. “Serum hepatitis B surface antigen quantitation can reflect hepatitis B virus in the liver and predict treatment response.” Clinical Gastroenterology & Hepatology. 2007 Dec;5(12):1462-8

7. “Association of cytokine gene polymorphisms and liver fibrosis in chronic hepatitis B.” Journal of Gastroenterology & Hepatology. 2008 May;23(5):783-

8. “Genetic polymorphisms of adiponectin and tumor necrosis factor-alpha and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in Chinese.” Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology. 2008 Jun;23(6):914-21

9. “Validation of the NAFLD fibrosis score in a Chinese population with low prevalence of advanced fibrosis.” American Journal of Gastroenterology. 2008 Jul;103(7):1682-8

Highlights 2007-2009:

Weekendseminar Feb 15 - 17, 2008:
Organized by Dr. Alexa Veenema
and Prof. Inga Neumann and held in
the Bavarian Forest.
See Report by Edgar Santos.

» 2008-2010

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