The Team is growing!

In February, the Translational Neuroimaging Team whole-heartedly welcomes two new members: Hannah, a medical student from Greifswald, who will do an internship, and Markus, a medical student from Bonn, who will start his medical thesis work.

"My medical studies further helped strengthen my interest in neurology and made me want to understand how our brain works.

Neurological imaging technologies help us to understand just that, therefore bringing us a whole lot closer to developing methods to cure neurological diseases.

I am incredibly grateful to be working with the “Translational-Neuroimaging-Group”. Through this internship I hope to gain more experience in this field of work, preparing for my own MD.

In this context, I am currently supporting a project aimed at researching the Piriform Cortex and its role in the treatment of temporal lobe epilepsy.

I am particularly fascinated by the multidisciplinary research approaches and the direct applicability of the research. The immediate impact that the methods and algorithms developed within the research group have on a patient’s current treatment options, makes the work incredibly exciting and tangible." ~ Hannah

"Fascinated by the dream of overcoming our organic suit, I always wondered to what extent the mind can adapt to altered brain architecture. Back in my philosophy classes at school, I was confronted with the mind-body problem. Since then, the topic has not left me and with physics and computer science, I hope to find a new perspective on the issue.

Yes, it was science fiction at the beginning but now the ground of reality seems to change: While the idea of a connectome evolves, companies like Neuralink have already started to work on brain-machine interfaces, which could unlock unknown potentials. Still, one question remains: How do consciousness and personal identity change after deep invasive interventions?

In January 2022 I joined the Translational Neuroimaging Group to approach this problem. Interestingly, a special group of patients with hemispherotomy reminds of the brain in a vat scenario. With the help of fMRI, we could gain hidden insights into the isolated hemisphere. It seems promising that with the great and highly motivated team I jumped in, we can insert a new piece of the puzzle and challenge current opinions in neuroscience." ~ Markus

The Colors of our Mind

Art is a source of inspiration. Therefore, the Translational Neuroimaging Group decided to visit the new exhibition "The Brain in Art & Science" in the Bundeskunsthalle in Bonn. Apart from beautiful anatomical brain models the exhibition presents how various artists interpret concepts like identity, consciousness or neuroenhancement (e.g. "My Body Is A Boundary" by George J Harding). Not only paintings but also the fascinating works and studies of Andreas Vesalius or René Descartes are shown there. All in all, it was a great chance for our team to have a new insight into current challenges in neuroscience.

Annual Meeting of the American Epilepsy Society (AES)

From December 2th until December 6th Tobias and Johannes attended the 2021 Annual Meeting of the American Epilepsy Society (AES) in Chicago. During their stay, they gained a deep impression of the whole spectrum of epilepsy-related research both on a fundamental and clinical level. Within the scope of various neuroimaging sessions highlighting the latest research findings and advances in methodologies, they directly got inspired for their research in the translational imaging group and met up with international colleagues and potential collaborators. Furthermore, they obtained the opportunity to present their own findings on a poster to the community and received valuable feedback. Tobias and Johannes are grateful for the opportunity to participate at AES and look forward to applying what they have learned in the upcoming months.