Max Planck Research Group Leaders

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Erich Pascal Malkemper

Dr. Erich Pascal Malkemper · BMS

Center of Advanced European Studies and Research (caesar) · Bonn, Germany

Email
pascal [dot] malkemper [at] mpinb [dot] mpg [dot] de
pascal [dot] malkemper [at] gmail [dot] com

Biography

Dr. Pascal Malkemper studied neurobiology at the University of Bochum from 2005 to 2011. He developed a strong interest in sensory biology and was fascinated by the diverse functional anatomy of the sensory organs of different species. With a passion for non-standard model organisms, he conducted his Ph.D. thesis on the sensory biology of the red fox under the supervision of Hynek Burda in Germany and the Czech Republic. For his doctoral thesis, he received the renowned Fritz Frank Prize of the German Society for Mammalian Biology. During his doctoral thesis, he became interested in mole rats, which were housed in the Burda laboratory next to his office. After graduating in 2014, Pascal was able to receive two start-up grants that allowed him to pursue independent projects on the magnetic sense de gray bulls in the Burda laboratory. In 2016 he moved to Vienna and joined the Keays Laboratory at the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP) to work on the molecular basis of the magnetic sense of pigeons. From October 2019, Pascal will again focus on the magnetic sense of mammals as head of the Max Planck Research Group “Neurobiology of Magnetoreception”. The long-term goal of the group is to map the neural machinery involved in magnetic orientation in mole rats and mice, from magnetoreceptors to higher brain circuits.

Education and positions held

  • 2019-present:
    • Max Planck Research Group Leader, Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology of Behavior – caesar.
  • 2016-2019:
    • PostDoc, Keays Lab, Research Institute for Molecular Pathology (IMP), Vienna, Austria.
  • 2014-2016:
    • PostDoc, Burda Laboratory, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany.
  • 2011-2014:
    • Ph.D. student, Burda Lab, University Duisburg-Essen, Germany.
  • 2005-2011:
    • MSc in Neurobiology, University of Bochum, Germany

Research Summary

We aim to understand how animals detect the Earth’s magnetic field and use it for orientation. In a top-down approach, we study the neural circuits involved in the perception of magnetic fields from the processing centers in the brain all the way back to the primary receptor cells. Our model species is the African mole-rat Fukomys anselli, a subterranean mammal and extraordinary magnetic navigator that spends its entire life in total darkness.

We investigate the neuronal navigation circuits with an interdisciplinary neuroethological approach that includes whole-brain activity mapping and single-unit recordings in freely moving animals complemented with anatomical and histological techniques. We hope that our work will gain crucial insights into the neuronal machinery that enables animals to detect magnetic fields. An understanding of how mammals detect weak magnetic fields promises advances in the auspicious field of magnetogenetics and provides the missing mechanistic basis to assess and predict the effects of man-made electromagnetic fields on vertebrates.

Key publications

  • Fenton, G. E., Nath K., Malkemper, E.P. (2021). Electrophysiology and the magnetic sense: a guide to best practice. Journal of Comparative Physiology A: 1-11.
  • Nimpf, S., Nordmann, G., Kagerbauer, D., Malkemper, E.P., Landler, L., Papadaki-Anastasopoulou, A., Ushakova, L., Wenninger-Weinzierl, A., Vincent, P., Lendl, T., Colombini, M., Mason, M.J., Keays, D.A. (2019). A putative mechanism for magnetoreception by electromagnetic induction in the pigeon inner ear. Current Biology 29: 1-8.
  • Malkemper, E.P., Kagerbauer, D., Nimpf, S., Shaw, J., Pichler, P., Treiber, C.D., de Jonge, M., Keays, D.A. (2019) No evidence for a magnetite-based magnetoreceptor in the lagena of pigeons. Current Biology 29: R1-R15.
  • Landler, L., G.D. Ruxton, E.P. Malkemper. Circular data in biology: advice for effectively implementing circular statistics in biology. 2018. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 72: 128.
  • Malkemper, E.P., S.H.K. Eder, S. Begall, J.B. Phillips, M. Winklhofer, V. Hart, H. Burda. Magnetoreception in the wood mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus): influence of weak frequency-modulated radio frequency fields. 2015. Scientific Reports 4, 9917.

Angelika Harbauer

Prof. Dr. Angelika Harbauer · BMS

Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology · Planegg/Munich, Germany

Email
Angelika [dot] Harbauer [at] neuro [dot] mpg [dot] de

Biography

Prof. Harbauer studied Molecular Medicine at the University of Freiburg and did her PhD at the Institute for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (Prof. Meisinger). She spent 2015-2019 researching as a PostDoc in the lab of Prof. Tom Schwarz at Boston Children’s Hospital /Harvard Medical School in Boston. Since September 2019, Prof. Harbauer is a Max-Planck Research Goup Leader at the MPI for Neurobiology in Martinsried. She was appointed the Professorship “Neurons and Metabolism” at the TUM in September 2019.

Education and positions held

  • 2019 – present
    • Max Planck research group leader at the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, Munich, Germany
  • 2015 – 2019
    • Postdoctoral research fellow at F.M. Kirby Center for Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, USA
  • 2009 – 2014
    • Ph.D. at the Institute for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg, Germany
  • 2003 – 2009
    • Diploma in Molecular Medicine, Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg, Germany and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Research Summary

Prof. Harbauer (*1984) studies the metabolism of neurons, with a special focus on mitochondrial biogenesis. Even small disturbances in the energy conversion process can lead to toxic reactive oxygen species, therefore rigorous mitochondrial quality control is essential for cellular survival. If not addressed adequately, damaged mitochondria can lead to neurodegenerative diseases, most prominently Parkinson’s disease. Her laboratory researches the mechanisms and signals that adapt mitochondrial output to their surroundings to ensure their functionality specifically in neurons

Key publications

  • Harbauer, A.B.; Ordonez, M.; Cai, Z.; Ashrafi, G.; Cartoni, R.; Brommer, B.; He, Z.; Schwarz, T. L. „PINK1 mRNA is transported with mitochondria and translated locally to support axonal mitophagy.” 2020. Manuscript under revision.
  • Kravic, B.; Harbauer, A.B.; Romanello, V.; Simeone, L.; Vögtle, F.N.; Kaiser, T.; Straubinger, M.; Huraskin, D.; Böttcher, M.; Cerqua, C.; Martin, E.D.; Poveda-Huertes, D.; Buttgereit, A.; Rabalski, A.J.; Heuss, D.; Rudolf, R.; Friedrich, O.; Litchfield, D.; Marber, M.; Salviati, L.; Mougiakakos, D.; Neuhuber, W.; Sandri, M.; Meisinger, C.; Hashemolhosseini, S.: „In mammalian skeletal muscle, phosphorylation of TOMM22 by protein kinase CSNK2/CK2 controls mitophagy.“ Autophagy. 2018; PubMed PMID: 29165030.
  • Harbauer A.B. „Mitochondrial health maintenance in axons“ Biochem. Soc. Trans. 2017; 45 (5):1045-1052, Pubmed PMID: 28778985.
  • Harbauer A.B., Opalińska M., Gerbeth C., Herman J.S., Rao S., Schönfisch B., Guiard B., Schmidt O., Pfanner N., Meisinger C. „Mitochondria. Cell cycle-dependent regulation of mitochondrial preprotein translocase.” Science. 2014; 346 (6213):1109-13, PubMed PMID: 25378463.
  • Schmidt O., Harbauer A.B., Rao S., Eyrich B., Zahedi R.P., Stojanovski D., Schönfisch B., Guiard B., Sickmann A., Pfanner N., Meisinger C. „Regulation of mitochondrial protein import by cytosolic kinases.“ Cell. 2011; 144 (2):227-39, PubMed PMID: 21215441

Karen Alim

Prof. Dr. Karen Alim · CPTS

Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization · Göttingen, Germany

Email
karen [dot] alim [at] ds [dot] mpg [dot] de
k [dot] alim [at] tum [dot] de

Biography

Karen Alim studied physics in Karlsruhe, Manchester and Munich. She obtained an MSc in Theoretical Physics in 2004 working with Alan J. Bray from Manchester University, U.K., followed by a Diplom (MSc) in Physics and Biophysics at the LMU Munich. During her PhD with Erwin Frey at the LMU in Munich she investigated the form of biological materials like DNA/actin and patterning mechanism during leaf development. As a grad fellow at the KITP in Santa Barbara, United States, she investigated the mechanics of plant growth. After her doctoral degree in 2010 she joined Michael P. Brenner’s group at Harvard University where she focused on the adaptation dynamics of the network-like forager Physarum polycephalum. In 2015 she started as an independent group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization. In 2019 she joined the Technical University of Munich as a permanent professor. Karen is recipient of the John Birks Award of Manchester University and held an appointment as lecturer in Applied Mathematics at Harvard University.

Education and positions held

  • 2019 – present
    • Professor (W3) · Technical University of Munich
  • 2015 – 2022
    • Max Planck Research Group Leader · Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization Germany · Göttingen
  • 2010 – 2015
    • PostDoc · Harvard University · Area of Applied Mathematics · Brenner
      United States · Cambridge
  • 2009
    • Grad Fellow · University of California, Santa Barbara · Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics
  • 2006 –2010
    • Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich · Theoretical Physics · Dr. rer. nat (PhD) · Germany · Munich
  • 2003 – 2004
    • The University of Manchester · Theoretical Physics · Master of Science · United Kingdom · Manchester
  • 2002 –2006
    • Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich · Physics and Biophysics · Diplom · Germany · Munich
  • 2000 –2002
    • Karlsruhe Institute of Technology · Physics · Vordiplom · Germany · Karlsruhe

Research Summary

I aim to identify the physical principles governing how flow and active, living matter feed back onto each other and thus regulate the architecture of vascular networks and their function. Within a tube-like network, flows are inherently coupled. Thus, local changes in tube diameter alter transport and flows throughout the network. Predicting this feed back, in particular accounting for the active response of the network tubes themselves, is my challenge. Solving this fundamental problem is not only of medical relevance for vascular and the many other tube-like networks in the human body, but also a fundamental step to develop new design principles for robotic and self-organized systems in bioengineering or fuel cells.

Key publications

  • F.J. Meigel, P. Cha, M.P. Brenner, K. Alim
    Robust increase in supply by vessel dilation in globally coupled microvasculature
    Phys. Rev. Lett., 123, 228103 (2019)
  • J.-D. Julien, K. Alim
    Oscillatory fluid flow drives scaling of contraction wave with system size
    Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 115, 10612–10617 (2018)
  • K. Alim, S. Parsa, D.A. Weitz, M.P. Brenner
    Local pore size correlations determine flow distributions in porous media
    Phys. Rev. Lett., 119, 144501 (2017)
  • K. Alim*, G. Amselem*, F. Peaudecerf, M.P. Brenner and A. Pringle
    Random network peristalsis in Physarum polycephalum organizes fluid flows across an individual. *authors contributed equally
    Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 110(33), 13306-13311 (2013)
  • M. Uyttewaal*, A. Burian*, K. Alim*, B. Landrein, D. Borowska-Wysket, A. Dedieu, M. Ludynia, J. Traas, A. Boudaoud, D. Kwiatkowska and O. Hamant
    A katanin-dependent microtubule response to mechanical stress enhances growth gradients between neighboring cells in Arabidopsis. *authors contributed equally
    Cell, 149, 439-451 (2012)

David Zwicker

Dr. David Zwicker · CPTS

Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization · Göttingen, Germany

Email
david [dot] zwicker [at] ds [dot] mpg [dot] de

Biography

David Zwicker studied physics at the Technical University in Dresden and did his Ph.D. under the supervision of Frank Jülicher at the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems in Dresden, where he focused on active droplet models. He then joined Michael Brenner’s group at Harvard University as a postdoc to work on the information theory and fluid dynamics of olfaction. Since 2017, he leads the independent research group “Theory of Biological Fluids” at the MPI for Dynamics and Self-Organization in Göttingen, Germany.

Education and positions held

  • 2014 – 2017
    • Harvard University
  • 2009 – 2013
    • Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Dresden
  • 2009
    • AMOLF Amsterdam

Research Summary

In contrast to most man-made machines, biological organisms are typically built from soft and often fluid-like material. How can such liquid matter be controlled in space and time to fulfill precise functions? To uncover the physical principles for such organization, we analyze theoretical models of biological processes using tools from statistical physics, dynamical system theory, fluid dynamics, and information theory. In particular, we study how phase separation is used to organize the liquid interior of cells and how the airflow during inhalation affects the transport of airborne odorants and thus the sense of smell.

Key publications

  • K. A. Rosowski, T. Sai, E. Vidal-Henriquez, D. Zwicker, R. W. Style, E. R. Dufresne, “”Elastic ripening and inhibition of liquid-liquid phase separation””, Nature Physics 16, 422–425 (2020)
  • D. Zwicker, R. Ostilla-Mónico, D. E. Lieberman, and M. P. Brenner, “”Physical and geometric constraints shape the labyrinth-like nasal cavity””, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 115, 2936 (2018)
    D. Zwicker*, R. Seyboldt*, C. A. Weber, A. A. Hyman, and F. Jülicher, “”Growth and Division of Active Droplets Provides a Model for Protocells””, Nature Physics 13, 408–413 (2017)
  • D. Zwicker, A. Murugan, and M. P. Brenner, “”Receptor arrays optimized for natural odor statistics””, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 113, 5570 (2016)
  • D. Zwicker, M. Decker, S. Jaensch, A. A. Hyman, and F. Jülicher, “”Centrosomes are autocatalytic droplets of pericentriolar material organized by centrioles””, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 111, E2636–45 (2014)

Jeremy Francis Walton

Dr. Jeremy Francis Walton · GSH

Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity · Göttingen, Germany

Email
walton [at] mmg [dot] mpg [dot] de
jeremyfwalton [at] gmail [dot] com

Biography

Jeremy F. Walton is a cultural anthropologist whose research resides at the intersection of memory studies, urban studies and new materialism. He leads the Max Planck Research Group, “Empires of Memory: The Cultural Politics of Historicity in Former Habsburg and Ottoman Cities,” at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity. Dr. Walton received his Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Chicago in 2009. His first book, Muslim Civil Society and the Politics of Religious Freedom in Turkey (Oxford University Press, 2017), is an ethnography of Muslim NGOs, state institutions, and secularism in contemporary Turkey. Prior to his current position, he held research and teaching fellowships at the Center for Advanced Studies of Southeastern Europe at the University of Rijeka, the CETREN Transregional Research Network at Georg August University of Göttingen, Georgetown University’s Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, and New York University’s Religious Studies Program. He has published his research in a wide selection of scholarly journals, including American Ethnologist, Die Welt Des Islams, and History and Anthropology. He is also the co-editor of several volumes, including Anthropology and Global Counterinsurgency (University of Chicago Press, 2010). “Empires of Memory,” which he designed, is a groundbreaking interdisciplinary project on post-imperial memory in post-Habsburg and post-Ottoman realms.

Education and positions held

  • 2016 – present
    • Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity (MPI-MMG), Göttingen, Germany. Max Planck Group Leader for the Max Planck Research Group “Empires of Memory: The Cultural Politics of Historicity in Former Habsburg and Ottoman Cities.”
  • 2015 – 2016
    • University of Rijeka, Croatia. Center for Advanced Studies of Southeastern Europe. Research Fellow.
  • 2013-  2015
    • Georg August University of Göttingen, Germany. CETREN Transregional Research Network.Postdoctoral Research Fellow in “The Politics of Secularism and the Emergence of New Religiosities.”
  • 2012 – 2013
    • Georgetown University, Washington D.C., USA. Center for Contemporary Arab Studies (CCAS), Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. Jamal Daniel Levant Postdoctoral Fellow.
  • 2009 – 2012
    • New York University, New York, NY, USA. Assistant Professor and Faculty Fellow, Religious Studies Program, affiliated with the NYU Department of Middle Eastern and Islamic
      Studies.
  • 2000 – 2009
    • University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA. Department of Anthropology. MA received in 2003, PhD received in 2009.

Research Summary

The empires that once defined the political geography of Europe are no more. One cannot meet a Prussian, Romanov, Habsburg, or Ottoman today; these dusty categories of affiliation have ceded to myriad national communities. Nor do British, French, Dutch, Spanish, or Portuguese identities articulate the same horizons as they did at the height of their respective colonial empires. Yet it would be mistaken to assume that Europe’s bygone empires have become mere relics of history. Imperial pasts continue to inspire nostalgia, identification, pride, anxiety, skepticism, and disdain in the present. The afterlives of empires as objects of memory exceed historical knowledge, precisely because these afterlives shape and recast the present and the future. My research group, “Empires of Memory: The Cultural Politics of Historicity in Former Habsburg and Ottoman Cities,” is dedicated to the multiple legacies and memories of empire in the cities of southeast and central Europe. Eight cities orient our pursuit: Vienna, Istanbul, Budapest, Sarajevo, Thessaloniki, Trieste, Zagreb, and Belgrade.

Key publications

  • 2019 “Introduction: Textured historicity and the ambivalence of imperial legacies.” History
    and Anthropology 30 (4): 353-365. DOI: 10.1080/02757206.2019.1612387
  • 2019 “Sanitizing Szigetvár: On the post-imperial fashioning of nationalist memory.” History
    and Anthropology 30 (4): 434-447. DOI: 10.1080/02757206.2019.1612388
  • 2017 Muslim Civil Society and the Politics of Religious Freedom in Turkey. Oxford University
    Press. Titled published in the American Academy of Religion’s “Religion, Culture &
    History” book series.
  • 2016 “Geographies of Revival and Erasure: Neo-Ottoman Sites of Memory in Istanbul,
    Thessaloniki, and Budapest.” Die Welt Des Islams 56: 510-532. DOI: 10.1163/15700607-
    05634p11
  • 2013 “Confessional pluralism and the civil society effect: Liberal mediations of Islam and
    secularism in contemporary Turkey.” American Ethnologist 40.1 (February): 182-200.
    DOI: doi.org/10.1111/amet.12013

Kerstin Göpfrich

Dr. Kerstin Göpfrich · BMS

Max Planck Institute for Medical Reseach · Heidelberg, Germany

Email
kerstin [dot] goepfrich [at] mr [dot] mpg [dot] de
mail [at] kerstin-goepfrich [dot] de

Biography

Dr. Kerstin Göpfrich is leading the Max Planck Research Group Biophysical Engineering at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg, exploring de novo approaches to create synthetic cells from the bottom up. In particular, her work focuses on DNA nanotechnology as a tool to arrange components inside synthetic cells in space and time or to construct functional units from scratch. She studied physics and molecular medicine at the University of Erlangen.

As a Gates Fellow at the University of Cambridge, UK, she then worked in the group of Ulrich Keyser and received her PhD in Physics in 2017. Until September 2019, Kerstin was a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart in the department of Prof. Joachim Spatz. In 2017, she founded www.ring-a-scientist.org to bring science into the classroom.

Education and positions held

  • 2017-2019:
    • Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Stuttgart, Germany, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow
  • 2013-2017:
    • University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, PhD student in Physics
  • 2012-2013:
    • University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, M.Phil. in Physics
  • 2009-2012:
    • University of Erlangen, Germany, B.Sc. in Physics and Molecular Medicine

Research Summary

What is life? and Could it be different? While questions like these have fascinated mankind for centuries, it is exciting that science begins to develop tools to approach them. Bottom-up synthetic biology conventionally isolates and subsequently recombines biomolecules from cells. Instead of copying life as we know it, our group tries to engineer cells featuring completely new ways of assembly, information propagation, and replication.

Towards this goal, we are combining biophysical tools, including DNA origami, microfluidics, lipid vesicles, and 3D printing with experimental methods, like confocal and high-speed microscopy, atomic force microscopy, cryo-electron microscopy, and computational approaches. In particular, we focus on DNA nanotechnology to construct functional mimics of cellular components.

Key publications

  • K Göpfrich, MJ Urban, C Frey, I Platzman, JP Spatz, N Liu, Dynamic actuation of DNA-assembled plasmonic nanostructures in microfluidic cell-sized compartments, Nano Letters 20 (3), 1571-1577, 2020
  • K Göpfrich, B Haller, O Staufer, Y Dreher, U Mersdorf, I Platzman, JP Spatz, One-pot assembly of complex giant unilamellar vesicle-based synthetic cells, ACS synthetic biology 8 (5), 937-947, 14, 2019
  • K Göpfrich, I Platzman, JP Spatz, Mastering complexity: towards bottom-up construction of multifunctional eukaryotic synthetic cells, Trends in biotechnology 36 (9), 938-951, 74,2018
  • K Göpfrich, CY Li, M Ricci, SP Bhamidimarri, J Yoo, … UF Keyser, Large-conductance transmembrane porin made from DNA origami, ACS Nano 10 (9), 8207-8214, 86, 2016
  • K Göpfrich, CY Li, I Mames, SP Bhamidimarri, M Ricci, J Yoo, … UF Keyser, Ion channels made from a single membrane-spanning DNA duplex, Nano Letters 16 (7), 4665-4669, 59, 2016

Tobias Kaiser

Dr. Tobias Kaiser · BMS

Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology · Plön, Germany

Email
kaiser [at] evolbio [dot] mpg [dot] de

Biography

Currently Dr. Tobias Kaiser leads the Max Planck research group Biological Clocks at the Max Planck institute for Evolutionary Biology.

Education and positions held

  • 2011-2016
    • Postdoc, University of Vienna
  • 2007-2010
    • PhD student, MPI Chemical Ecology, Jena

Research Summary

Our model, the marine midge Clunio marinus (Diptera: Chironomidae), has synchronized reproduction with the tides by means of circalunar and circadian clocks. While suitable tidal situations recurs invariably at a given location, the timing of the tides changes along the coastline. Reproductive timing of Clunio populations from different places is genetically adapted to the local pattern of the tides.

We exploit these adaptations for genetic mapping, genome screens and comparative molecular analysis in order to identify the genes underlying timing adaptations and eventually the molecular basis of circalunar clocks.

Key publications

  • Kaiser TS, Poehn B, Szkiba D, et al (2016) The genomic basis of circadian and circalunar timing adaptations in a midge. Nature 540 (7631), 69-73.

Gesa Hartwigsen

PD Dr. Gesa Hartwigsen · GSH

Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences · Leipzig, Germany

Email
hartwigsen [at] cbs [dot] mpg [dot] de

Biography

I am a Cognitive Neuroscientist and Neuropsychologist interested in adaptive systems plasticity in neural networks for cognition. I completed my PhD in Hartwig Siebner’s research group at Kiel University in 2010. My PhD project focused on the role of the right hemisphere in language processing. To this end, I developed multifocal neurostimulation approaches to probe the functional relevance of right-hemispheric brain regions for language comprehension.

In 2010, I joined Dorothee Saur’s Language and Aphasia Laboratory at Leipzig University. During my postdoc, I combined neurostimulation approaches with neuroimaging to study short-term reorganization in the healthy and lesioned language network. From 2011-2013, I was supported by the DFG to study fronto-parietal interactions in the language network. I was appointed as Assistant Professor (Junior Professor) for Biological Psychology at Kiel University in 2013

In 2015, I was appointed as Research Group Leader at the Department of Neuropsychology, MPI CBS, and then  I started my independent Lise Meitner Research Group Cognition and Plasticity at the MPI CBS in 2019.

Education and positions held

  • 2019-present
    • Lise Meitner Research Group Leader, Cognition and Plasticity, MPI CBS Leipzig
  • 2015-2018
    • Research Group Leader, Modulation of Language Networks, Department of Neuropsychology, MPI CBS
  • 2013-2015
    • Junior Professor for Biological Psychology, Kiel University
  • 2011-2013
    • Principle Investigator, Department of Neurology, Leipzig University
  • 2010-2011
    • Postdoc, Department of Neurology, Leipzig University
  • 2007-2010
    • PhD Student, Department of Neurology, Kiel University

Research Summary

The central aim of my research group is to identify generic principles of adaptive plasticity in the neural networks underlying higher cognitive functions across the adult lifespan.

We aim at elucidating the role of neural plasticity during the acquisition of novel cognitive skills, and also as an adaptive mechanism for cognitive challenges, counteracting cognitive decline, or compensating for functional loss after brain lesions. To this end, we use a multi-method approach, combining non-invasive brain stimulation (TMS, tDCS, tACS) with neuroimaging and EEG.

Our key hypothesis is that neural networks underlying cognition can rapidly change the functional weight of the relative contribution of different nodes, enabling flexible compensation after disruption. For instance, after focal perturbation of a key neural region for language, recruitment of other areas within the same network, or regions from a different network, may help to maintain language processing. A better understanding of these processes will pave the way for future enhancement of plasticity and recovery after brain injury, such as stroke.

Key publications

  • Hartwigsen G., Stockert A., Charpentier L., Wawrzyniak M., Klingbeil J., Wrede K., Obrig H. & Saur D. (2020). Short-term modulation of the lesioned language network. eLife 2020;9:e54277.
  • Hartwigsen G. (2018). Flexible redistribution in cognitive networks. Trends Cogn Sci 22 (8), 687-698.
  • Hartwigsen G., Bzdok D., Klein M., Wawrzyniak M., Stockert A., Wrede K., Classen J. & Saur D. (2017). Rapid short-term reorganization in the language network. eLife 2017;10.7554/eLife.25964.
  • Hartwigsen G., Saur D., Price C.J., Ulmer S., Baumgaertner A. & Siebner H.R. (2013). Perturbation of left posterior inferior frontal gyrus triggers adaptive plasticity in the right homologue during speech production. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 110(41), 16402-16407.
  • Rumpf J-J., May L., Fricke C., Classen J. & Hartwigsen G. (2020). Interleaving motor sequence training with high-frequency rTMS facilitates consolidation. Cereb Cortex 30(3), 1030-1039.

Christian Hilbe

Christian Hilbe · BMS

Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology · Plön, Germany

Email
hilbe [at] evolbio [dot] mpg [dot] de

Biography

I am currently a research group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Plön.

Education and positions held

  • 2020 – present
    • Max Planck Research Group Leader at the MPI for Evolutionary Biology
  • 2015-2019
    • Post-Doc at IST Austria
  • 2013-2015
    • Post-Doc at Harvard University, USA
  • 2011-2013
    • Post-Doc MPI for Evolutionary Biology, Germany
  • 2008-2011
    • PhD in Mathematics at the University of Vienna, Austria
  • 2004-2008
    • Undergraduate studies in Mathematics at the University of Vienna, Austria.

Research Summary

I use the tools of (evolutionary) game theory and behavioural economics to explore human behaviour. By combining mathematical models, computer simulations and lab experiments, we seek to explore when humans cooperate. One key area of our research is the evolution of reciprocity. How do individuals cooperate in stable groups (direct reciprocity)? And how do social norms in large populations evolve (indirect reciprocity)?

Key publications

  • Hauser et al (2019) “”Social dilemmas among unequals””, Nature 572:524-527
  • Hilbe et al (2018) “”Indirect reciprocity with private, noisy, and incomplete Information””, PNAS 115:12241-12246
  • Hilbe et al (2018) “”Evolution of cooperation in stochastic games””, Nature 559:246-249″

Tim Lämmermann

Tim Lämmermann · BMS

Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics · Freiburg, Germany

Email
laemmermann [at] ie-freiburg [dot] mpg [dot] de

Biography

I was born in Fürth, Germany, and studied Molecular Medicine at the University of Erlangen, Germany. Over the last decade, my research focused on the biological aspects of cell motility, cytoskeletal dynamics, chemoattractant sensing and cell-cell communication and how these coordinate single cell and population dynamics during innate immune responses. During my PhD work we challenged the paradigm that cell migration necessitates adhesive interactions between cells and their environment. We made the surprising observation that immune cell motility outside the vasculature relies almost exclusively on shape changes driven by the actomyosin cytoskeleton. These findings significantly contributed to our current view that immune cell migration within tissues is largely independent from the molecular composition of the environment, and were awarded the Otto-Westphal-Prize of the German Society for Immunology. My postdoctoral work provided the first molecular map of the multi-step process that leads to the accumulation of sentinel immune cells, best described by a model of swarming movements. This work revealed a mechanism by which these cells communicate with each other and bring about their collective behavior in inflamed and infected tissues. The Robert-Koch Foundation recognized this work with their Postdoctoral Award. Since January 2015 I am heading the MPRG “Immune Cell Dynamics” in Freiburg. In 2016, the European Research Council decided to support our work with an ERC-StG.

Education and positions held

  • 2015 – present
    • MPI of Immunobiology and Epigenetics (MPRGL)
  • 2009 – 2014
    • Laboratory of Systems Biology, NIAID, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, USA (Postdoc)
  • 2004 – 2009
    • MPI of Biochemistry/LMU Munich (PhD thesis)
  • 1999 – 2004
    • University of Erlangen-Nurembourg, Germany (Molecular Medicine)

Research Summary

The goal of our research is to understand how innate immune cells coordinate their tissue dynamics and communicate with each other to achieve an optimal innate immune response. In particular, we are interested in the mechanisms that shape single cell and population dynamics of immune cells in the complexity of inflamed and infected tissues. We seek to understand the spectrum of migrating immune cells, ranging from fast-moving sentinel cells (e.g. neutrophils) to very slow tissue-resident immune cells (e.g. mast cells).While we have learned from in vitro studies how defined stimuli can alter immune cell function under well-defined experimental conditions, we hardly understand how innate immune cells control their dynamics in physiological environments. Visualization of innate immune responses in inflamed and infected mouse tissues by two-photon intravital microscopy is our starting point for understanding immune cell dynamics in their natural environment. We combine live cell imaging in mice, tissue explants and 3D in vitro models with mouse genetics, models of inflammation and infection, and novel, often custom-built approaches to unmask the functional regulation of immune cell dynamics. Our research seeks to find a conceptual framework how innate immune cells integrate the plethora of signals arising in inflammatory environments and coordinate their dynamic behaviour with other tissue-resident immune cells in the context of inflammatory and infectious diseases.

Key publications

  • Lämmermann T, Bader BL, Monkley SJ, Worbs T, Wedlich-Söldner R, Hirsch K, Keller M, Förster R, Critchley DR, Fässler R, Sixt M. Rapid leukocyte migration by integrin-independent flowing and squeezing. Nature. 2008 453(7191): 51-55.
  • Lämmermann T, Afonso PV, Angermann BR, Wang JM, Kastenmüller W, Parent CA, Germain RN. Neutrophil swarms require LTB4 and integrins at sites of cell death in vivo. Nature. 2013 498(7454): 371-5.
  • Lämmermann T, and Sixt M. Mechanical modes of “amoeboid“ cell migration. Curr Opin Cell Biol. 2009 21(5): 636-644. Review.
  • Kienle K, and Lämmermann T. Neutrophil swarming: an essential process of the neutrophil tissue response. Immunol Rev. 2016 273(1): 76-93. Review.
  • Lämmermann T, Kastenmüller W. Concepts of GPCR-controlled navigation in the immune system. Immunol Rev. 2019 289(1): 205-231. Review.