Graduations & Awards

Johannes Waschke (HTWK Leipzig and Faculty for Mathematics and Computer Sciences, Leipzig University):
Trajectory data analysis in biomedical applications, Leipzig University

Maria Stuckenberg (née Erfort) (Institute of Psychology, Dept. of Cognitive incl. Biological Psychology, Leipzig University). Preceding visual information modulates auditory information processing: A crossmodal prediction view.
Leipzig University, 11 March.

Blazej Baczkowski: Inferring risk in the absence of threat: on the interaction of Pavlovian threat memory with preexisting knowledge of environmental structure
Leipzig University, 7 May.

Sabine Oligschlaeger: Gradients of connectivity distance in the primate cerebral cortex
Leipzig University, 14 May.

Richard Gast: Phase Transitions Between Asynchronous and Synchronous Neural Dynamics:
Theoretical Insight Into the Mechanisms Behind Neural Oscillations in Parkinson’s Disease.
Leipzig University, 20 October

For his paper on "Measuring the iron content of dopaminergic neurons in substantia nigra with MRI relaxometry" published in NeuroImage 239, IMPRS NeuroCom Phd student Malte Brammerloh from the Neurophysics department was awarded the third prize at this year's Gorter Awards.  The prizes go to the best current works of young scientists in the field of biomedical magnetic resonance and were awarded at the DSISMRM meeting in Zürich.

Congratulations!

Vincent Ka Ming Cheung (Dept. of Neuropsychology, MPI CBS). "The neurocognitive basis of musical expectancy and pleasure: A Computational modelling approach ".
Leipzig University, 10 December. Roman Linz (RG Stress and Family Health, MPI CBS). "Investigating mind-brain-body interactions within the multi­systemic phenomenon of stress".
Humboldt University Berlin, 30 October.

Lina Schaare (Dept. of Neurology, MPI CBS) .“Blood Pressure and Brain Structure in Early Adulthood”.
Leipzig University, 23 July .

Ting Qi (Dept. of Neuropsychology, MPI CBS): “The brain structure during language development. Neural correlates of sentence comprehension in preschool children”. 
Leipzig University, 04 June.

Miriam Langeloh (MPRG Early Social Cognition, MPI CBS ). “Why do infants imitate selectively? Neural correlates of infants' action understanding in the head-touch paradigm”. Heidelberg University, 03 April.

Shih-Cheng (Vincent) Chien (RG Brain Networks, MPI CBS). " Brain Network Dynamics in Deviance Response and Auditory Perception".  
Ilmenau University of Technology, 28 February.

Tommaso Ballarini (Dept. of Neurology, MPI CBS): "Magnetic Resonance Imaging Biomarkers for Clinical Symptoms and Therapy in Parkinson's disease”. 
Leipzig University, 24 February.

 
In the context of the New Year’s reception of the Research Academy Leipzig two IMPRS Alumna were awarded with prices for their doctoral dissertation:
Dr Caroline Beese received the dissertation award of the graduate center Life Sciences for her dissertation on “The Effects of Neurocognitive Aging on Sentence Processing”. Dr Maryna Polyakova received the Katharina Windscheid award for her dissertation “Searching for pathomechanisms of late life minor depression – a combined MRI, biomarker and meta-analytic study”. Congratulations!

 
Franziska Albrecht (Dept. of Neurology, MPI CBS) defended her dissertation " Neural Correlates of Parkinsonian Syndromes” at Leipzig University.

Caroline Beese (Dept. of Neuropsychology, Leipzig University) defended her thesis "The Effects of Neurocognitive Aging on Sentence Processing " at Leipzig University.
 
Leon Kroczek (Dept. of Neuropsychology, MPI CBS)
defended his dissertation ”The impact of speaker information on language processing” at Leipzig University.


Congratulations and all the best for your future careers!!!!

 
Samyogita Hardikar (Dept. of Neurology, MPI CBS) defended her dissertation "Taste perception in Obesity” at Leipzig University.

Maryna Polyakova (Dept. of Neurology, MPI CBS)
defended her dissertation "Searching for pathomechanisms of late life minor depression – a combined MRI, biomarker and meta-analytic study” at Leipzig University.

Mikaella Sarrou (Dept. of Neurobiologiy, Leipzig University) defended her thesis "Auditory motion: perception and cortical response" at Leipzig University.

Hanna Schleihauf (RG Early Social Cognition, MPI CBS)
defended her dissertation, "Why do we imitate nonsense? The underlying  motivations of overimitation" at Heidelberg University.

 
Congratulations to the four successful IMPRS alumni and all the best for your future careers!!!!

 
At the Annual General Meeting of the Max Planck Society on 13th June the Otto Hahn Medal  was awarded to IMPRS NeuroCom alumna Sofie Valk. Sofie also received the prestigious Otto Hahn Award. The Max Planck Society provides a small number of recipients of the Otto Hahn Medal each year with the opportunity, following on from a stay abroad, to head a small research group at a Max Planck Institute of their choice. Congratulations!

photograph: © Amac Garbe for Max Planck Society

 
As part of the Research Academy Leipzig’s Summer Festival, the doctoral prizes of the Graduate Centres were awarded. We are very pleased for Anna Marzecová, alumna of IMPRS NeuroCom, who was awarded the prize for the best doctoral dissertation in the field of life sciences. Congratulations!

 
Maria Guidi (NMR group) defended her dissertation "Depth-Dependent Physiological Modulators of the BOLD Response to the Human Motor Cortex” at Leipzig University.

Kathrin Lorenz (NMR group)
defended her dissertation, "Optimization of the labeling efficiency of pseudo-continuous arterial spin-labeling (pCASL) for the measurement of cerebral perfusion” at Leipzig University.

Anna-Lena Lumma (Dept. of Social Neuroscience) defended her thesis "The integration of first- and third-person methods in the context of meditation practices ond the self" at Leipzig University.

Riccardo Metere (NMR group)
defended his dissertation, "Investigating Brain Tissue Microstructure using Quantitative Magnetic Resonance Imaging" at Leipzig University.

Artyom Zinchenko (former research group “Subcortical Contributons to Understanding”) successfully defended his dissertation, "Prediction and control in multisensory emotion integration".
 
Congratulations!!!!

Dr Malte Wöstmann (Alumnus of IMPRS NeuroCom) was awarded the PhD prize from the Graduate Center for Life Sciences of the Research Academy, Leipzig. The award recognises outstanding dissertations created within the graduate centre classes. The award ceremony took place the the Annual Reception of the Research Academy.

 
Roberta Bianco (Dep. of Neurology and OHG "Intonation in Speech and Music" successfully defended her thesis "Principles of action planning in music production: evidence from fMRI and EEG studies" at the Medical Faculty of Leipzig University.

Ahmad Seif Kanaan (NMR group) successfully defended his dissertation "Elemental and neurochemical based analysis of the patophysiological mechanisms of Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome" at MH Hannover.

Congratulations!!!

 
On 26 September 2017 IMPRS NeuroCom’s spokesperson Prof. Arno Villringer welcomed 14 new PhD students to our graduate school. Before the official welcome our freshmen had a very interesting tour through the Wolfgang Koehler Research Centre at Leipzig Zoo. During the next three years they will now carry out their PhD projects at MPI CBS and Leipzig University.

Welcome to the Institute and to IMPRS NeuroCom!

In the first half of 2017 several former IMPRS NeuroCom PhD students successfully defended their PhDs:

Estrid Jacobsen (RG Connectivity): Sub-dividing Broca's region based on functional connectivity:
New methods for individual-level in vivo cortical parcellation

Seung-Goo Kim (MEG and Cortical Networks): Myeloarchitecture and Intrinsic Functional Connectivity of Auditory Cortex in Musicians with Absolute Pitch”

Anna Marzecová (Cognitive and Biological Psychology, Leipzig University): How prediction and attention jointly shape visual processing: A predictive coding view"

Claudia Roswandowitz (RG Human Communication): "Voice-Identity Processing. The Cognitive and Neural Mechanisms of Phonagnosia"

Sofie Valk (Dep. of Social Neuroscience): "The Structure of the Social Brain: Dissociating soci-affective and socio-cognitive networks through the study of individual differences, brain plasticity, and disease models."

Yaquiong Xiao (Dep. of Neuropsychology): "Resting-state functional connectivity in the brain and its relation to language development in preschool children"


Congratulations!!!

On 30 September 2016 we were happy to officially welcome 15 new PhD students to the IMPRS NeuroCom. The students from the latest cohort come from six different countries such as Armenia, Iran, Italy, Germany, Slovenia, and Taiwan. Most of them will be placed in departments and research groups at the MPI for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences and two of them will be placed at the University of Leipzig.

Andrea Reiter, IMPRS PhD student from the former Max Planck Fellow Group Cognitive and affective control of behavioural adaptation, successfully defended her thesis on "Out of control behaviors? Investigating mechanisms of behavioral control in alcohol addiction, binge eating disorder, and associated risk factors" with summa cum laude.


Congratulations Andrea!

At the meeting of the European Society for the Study of Tourette Syndrome (ESSTS) in Warschau, IMPRS NeuroCom PhD student Ahmad Seif Kanaan received the Professor Mary Robertson Award for his work titled: 'Pathological glutamatergic neurotransmission in Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome'.

Congratulations Ahmad!

Kathleen Krol, IMPRS PhD student from the former Research Group of Early Social Development, successfully defended her thesis on "Emotion perception in motherhood and infancy: The role of breastfeeding experience and the oxytocin system" with summa cum laude.
Kathleen directly moved to the US to take up a Post-Doc position in Tobias Grosmann's group at the Baby Lab in the Department of Psychology at the University of Virginia.



Congratulations to Katie and all the best for your future!!!