About

I am a neuroscientist at the University Medical Center of Hamburg-Eppendorf, where I am also Co-director of the Psychiatry Neuroimaging Branch (PNB). Before that I was a visiting scientist at the Harvard Medical School's Psychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory (PNL). My mission is to combine functional, structural and molecular neuroimaging to advance the scientific understanding of neuronal processing, and to use its insights for the benefit of medicine and technology. Towards this end, I apply multimodal neuroimaging techniques (EEG, fMRI, EEG-fMRI, and dMRI) to study the pathophysiology of psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders such as schizophrenia, depression, and borderline personality disorder. I am particularly known for my work on brain hemispheric dysfunction as a mediating factor behind auditory verbal hallucinations in schizophrenia translating into the „interhemispheric miscommunication theory“. My ultimate aim is to develop novel, safe and effective personalized therapeutic techniques based on neurofeedback and neurostimulation (tACS) for the difficult-to-treat symptom of auditory verbal hallucinations in schizophrenia.

My research has been supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG), the Werner Otto Foundation, the German Society for Mountain and Expedition Medicine (BExMed), and the German Academic Exchance Service (DAAD).

Talks

Sept 12th, 2021: Northeastern University College of Science, Boston, USA (remote)
→   The interhemispheric miscommunication theory of auditory verbal hallucinations

May 7th, 2021: Munich Creative Business Week, Technical University Munich (TUM), Germany (remote)
→   Grantler’s Corner: Research and Design

Feb 5th, 2020: University Bergen, Norway
→   Fluid boundaries of perception

Jan 15th, 2020: Psychiatry Neuroimaging Lab, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA
→   Sexual dimorphic white matter abnormalities in individuals at clinical high risk for psychosis

June 26th, 2019: University Medical Center Gießen, Germany
→   Pharmacological and electrical modulation of auditory perception

April 11th, 2019: Flat Time House, London, UK
→   Fluid boundaries of perception

March 12th, 2019: Northeastern University College of Science, Boston, USA
→   Pharmacological and electrical modulation of auditory perception

Nov 11th, 2017: Kunsthochschule Kassel, Germany
→   In cooperation with Annika Kahrs (visual artist): A duck’s quack doesn’t echo – neuroscientific and artistic examination of auditory perception

Nov 23–26, 2016: DGPPN, Berlin, Germany
→   Interhemispheric auditory communication during dichotic listening: new evidence of effective connectivity analysis

May 4–7, 2015: 4th International Congress on Neurobiology, Psychopharmacology and Treatment Guidance, Crete, Greece
→   Auditory verbal hallucinations related to altered interhemispheric connectivity

May 30–June 02, 2013: 3nd International Congress on Neurobiology, Psychopharmacology and Treatment Guidance, Thessaloniki, Greece
→   The role of the interhemispheric connectivity in auditory verbal hallucinations

Teaching

I firmly believe that lerning and teaching is the blood and flesh of science and life. My position at the Medical-Center Hamburg-Eppendorf and at the University of Hamburg allowed me not only to teach but also to learn a lot from the students. Since 2015, I have taught every semester and have been responsible for developing and teaching courses at the undergraduate and graduate level on biological psychology, psychiatry, neuroscience, human communication, and art & science. I currently supervise 6 graduate students of Psychology, Medicine or Computer Science, which are expected to graduate in 2022 (at MSH Hamburg; University of Bamberg; Helmholtz Center Dresden-Rossendorf; Harvard Medical School; and at University of Hamburg).

Upcoming: Empirisch-Experimentelles Praktikum II (SoSe 22)