At this years Science Slam of the Medical School, University of Cologne, there were 8 great presentations by young researchers in the medical field. Verena Dzialas took 1st place (easily, we say) with her fantastic presentation on “Motor Reserve”. Julia Pfeil came in 3rd with a very impressive talk on “Amyloid, the protein that makes us forget”.
Julia Pfeil, MSc
Julia Pfeil completed her master’s thesis on the predictability of regional amyloid burden for the progression to preclinical and clinical Alzheimer’s disease in 2020 at the MMNI group. She has recently joined the group and will investigate molecular and functional mechanisms underlying Alzheimer’s disease, such as tau and amyloid accumulation in the brain. Her research interests further extend into the domain of cognitive reserve as well as the effects of lifestyle factors in regard to the development of neuropathology in Alzheimer’s disease.
Verena Dzialas, MSc
Verena Dzialas is interested in reserve mechanisms in Parkinson’s disease patients. While the concept of reserve mechanisms is already well-established in Alzheimer’s disease, not much is known about factors mitigating the association between neurodegeneration and motor disability in Parkinson’s disease. Therefore, Verena Dzialas focuses on the investigation of neurobiological (e.g. gray matter volume (GMV) differences) and lifetime factors (e.g. physical activity) contributing to motor reserve capacity in Parkinson’s disease using multimodal imaging, voxel-vise GMV comparison and graph theoretical analysis. Moreover, she is interested in disease progression depending on the level of motor reserve, which is investigated with multilevel models.
Philipp Schlüter, BSc
Philipp Schlüter is a research fellow at the INM-2 at the Research Center Jülich and a researcher in the Multimodal Imaging Group.
He investigates the molecular mechanism in Alzheimer’s disease, such as production and transport of tau in the brain, using numerical models.
His research interest is in machine learning and AI methodologies.
Kathrin Giehl received a PhD
Kathrin Giehl received a PhD for her work entitled: Antagonizing Cognitive Impairment in Parkinson’s Disease: Neural & Behavioural Effects of Home-based Working Memory Training.
– Congratulations!
Image of the Year award for the second time after 2016
The work of Dr. Merle Hönig on “Resistance to Tau and Amyloid Pathology Facilitates Super-Aging” was selected as the Image of the Year 2020 by the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI).
Our group receives this prestigious international award for the second time after 2016, when the work of Dr. Gérard Bischof has been awarded.
Merle Hönig receives Brain Imaging Council Young Investigator Award
Dr. Merle Hönig received the Brain Imaging Council Young Investigator Award 2020 at this year’s international conference of the Society for Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) for her presentation “Resistance to Tau and Amyloid Pathology Facilitates Super-Aging”.
As part of her presentation, Dr. Hoenig presented the results of a series of PET images that show that older adults who maintained peak cognitive skills exhibited greater resistance to build-up of Alzheimer’s disease-typical proteinopathies, namely tau and amyloid pathology.
Elena Doering, MSc
Elena Doering completed her master’s thesis on the effects of vibrotactile cueing on freezing of gait in Parkinson’s disease in 2019. She has recently joined the MMNI group as a PhD candidate, where she will investigate molecular and neuronal mechanisms underlying neurodegeneration in Alzheimer’s disease, such as for example tau and amyloid accumulation in the brain. Her research interest further extends into the domain of machine learning and artificial intelligence methodologies.
See me on linkedin.
See me on Researchgate.
Publications:
Doering, E., Pukropski, A., Krumnack, U., Schaffland, A. Automatic Detection and Counting of Malaria Parasite-Infected Blood Cells. Proceedings of MICAD2020 (in print). Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering.
Merle Hoenig receives price for best abstract
During the European Conference on Clinical Neuroimaging (ECCN) held in Paris, Merle Hönig was awarded the 1st price for her work on Super Agers.
see full programme here
Merle Hoenig received PhD
Merle Hoenig received a PhD
Her thesis:
„The Spatial Evolution of Tau Pathology in Alzheimer’s Disease: Influence of Functional Connectivity and Education“
received the highest possible distinction!