Team – Brain States for Plasticity Lab

Svenja Brodt

Principal Investigator
Head of the Max Planck Research Group „Brain States of Plasticity“

Core Members

Manfredi Alberti (PhD candidate)
My PhD project focuses on analysing the complex interplay between psychological, cognitive and biological processes, by using multimodal MRI, such as fMRI, DWI or MWI. As a biologist, my focus is on investigating microstructural changes co-occuring with the formation and consolidation of engrams in order to identify new potential biomarkers at the cellular and tissue level. Furthermore, I would like to study the link between changes in brain connectivity and memory retrieval.

Thananya Charoenpattarawut (PhD candidate)
I have always been intrigued by our ability to transform constant streams of information we encounter each day into our own unique sets of memories. These memories do not only define who we are but also further affect how we experience the world. Using a variety of neuroimaging techniques, I aim to investigate what and how biological mechanisms and cognitive processes come together to enable us to acquire, process, and make use of different forms of memories during my PhD.

Svenja Klinkowski (PhD candidate, Co-Supervised with Prof. Steffen Gais, University Tübingen)
I am highly interested in the neurobiological mechanisms of human behavior, as well as the interaction of psychological, cognitive and biological processes. In my current research, I combine different imaging methods to identify the functional dynamics, as well as microstructural plasticity of neural systems that are implicated in memory formation and consolidation. In addition, I investigate whether these memory systems differ in the quality of their memory representations using multivariate methods.

Marius Kreis (PhD candidate)
In my PhD research, I use different neuroimaging techniques to study the functional dynamics and microstructural plasticity changes involved in memory formation in the human brain. I’m interested in how different aspects of complex memories are stored at the systems level. This includes identifying memory engrams for basic visual features in early visual areas and gaining insight into the mechanisms involved.

Sebastian Müller (Postdoctoral Researcher)
My research is mainly focused on methods development for MRI. This includes a variety of MR contrasts like CEST, 31P spectroscopy and functional MRI at field strengths ranging from 1.5T to 14T, but e.g. also simulations on the origin of BOLD MRI and data analysis. I am in particular interested in bridging the gap between development and application and want to foster the combination EEG and MRI for research on neuroscience.

Lena Schröder (PhD candidate)
My PhD project focuses on the mechanisms underlying memory consolidation during wakefulness and sleep. I am particularly interested in how repeated rehearsal of information rapidly stabilizes memories and how this process may differ from sleep-dependent memory consolidation. Using various neuroimaging techniques, I investigate the networks involved in memory reactivation across different brain states and their contribution to forming a stable memory.

Niv Tik (Postdoctoral Researcher & Guest Scientist, Max Planck-Weizmann Joint Postdoctoral Program)
I am fascinated by how the brain adapts to support complex behavior. My research focuses on how functional brain networks change and reorganize during learning and memory, and how these changes are shaped by different brain states. In my upcoming research, I will investigate changes in functional connectivity following the acquisition of a novel skill, with a particular focus on how sleep contributes to learning-induced brain plasticity.

David E. Vetter (Postdoctoral Researcher)
I am working on disentangling homeostatic regulation of experience-induced plasticity on one hand and learning on the other hand, and especially the role of different sleep stages in these processes. I’ll employ brain-state dependent acoustic stimulation to interfere with consolidation and homeostasis during sleep. I am particularly interested in testing whether and how these processes differ and interact. To observe and characterize plastic changes, i will employ MRI (estimation of GMV, dwMRI, fMRI) and TMS.