Julia Büscher
Ph.D. student
julia.buescher [@] lin-magdeburg.de
+49-391-6263-94611
room 461
Julia did her bachelor in biology at the RWTH Aachen and focused on Biological Information Processing in her master studies. For her master thesis she studied the role of orexinergic neurons in the lateral hypothalamus during sensory-driven motor adaptation in the Burdakov lab (ETH Zurich).
Here at LIN, Julia is interested to identify neural networks that are correlate with cognitive performance. As part of the SFB1436, she wants to precisely label neuronal engrams in behaving mice, and correlate the architecture of such engrams with the individual cognitive performance of these animals.
Kaushik More
Ph.D. student
kaushik.more [@] med.ovgu.de
phone +49-391-6263-94611
room 461
Kaushik did his Bachelors and Masters in Science from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune with a specialization in Biology. For his Master’s thesis, he worked in Dr. Nixon Abraham’s lab studying the olfactory information processing in a Parkinson’s disease mouse model. He is interested in conducting optogenetic studies in mice to observe the molecular changes in the Locus Coeruleus target regions over time following transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS) and LC activation.
Ahmed Aly
Ph.D. student
Ahmed.Aly [@] lin-magdeburg.de
phone: +49-391-6263-94351
room: 435
Ahmed did his bachelor's degree in biophysics from the faculty of science at Ain Shams University / Cairo. He then joined Santiago Canal's lab at the Instituto de Neurociencias / Alicante. During his master thesis, he studied the neuronal dynamics of parvalbumin interneurons in the dentate gyrus during memory formation. Here at LIN, he is interested in how autophagic vesicles are transported in the extended axonal mesh of Locus coeruleus neurons. As a student on the LIN SpecialProject'19, he enjoys the supervision of Dr. Anna Karpova (NPlast) and Matthias.
Andres Jaramillo Flautero
Ph.D. student
ajaramil [@] lin-magdeburg.de
+49-391-6263-94611
room 461
Andres did his first bachelor in Biology and then a second one in Chemistry at Los Andes University (Bogotá, Colombia). Afterwards he joined Dr. Ofer Yizhar’s lab for his master in neuroscience at the Weizmann Institute of Science. Here, he explored the molecular fingerprints of epilepsy. Since very early on in his career, he has been interested in catecholaminergic modulation of complex cognitive behaviors such as flexibility and creativity. He is now starting his PhD at LIN, where he wants to evaluate different early biomarkers for Parkinson´s disease diagnostics using fMRI and proteomic approaches to pave the way for novel therapeutic strategies. To help us to stay on track, Andres is co-supervised with Dr. Matthew Betts from the DZNE.
Celina Dölle
Celina started her dual education training as a biological laboratory technician at the BbSAbi in Bitterfeld as well as with us at LIN in 2017. She then finished her apprenticeship on a fast-track and with excellence three years later, and to all our happiness, decided to stay with us as our lab manager. She is supporting our team in daily lab work and is cracking any troubles in molecular cloning or in Benchling. Besides her work she is interested in music and plays guitar in a local band here in Magdeburg and elsewhere.
Csilla Novák
Csilla did her bachelor's at the Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, majoring in Spanish linguistics and literature. She specialized in theoretical linguistics. Unsatisfied with only asking how the language works, in the hope of getting some answers to the whys, she started her master's of computational and cognitive neurosciences at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics. She joined our lab in February 2022 to complete her master thesis. She currently shares a project with Andrés, exploring the behavioral properties of a mouse model displaying neurodegeneration.
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Ernesto Durán (Ph.D.)
I started my PhD in neurosciences in Chile and later on I moved to Germany (Tuebingen) to complete it under the supervision of Prof. Jan Born. During that time, I investigated the dynamics between the hippocampus and cortex during sleep and their role in memory. Afterward, I worked as a postdoc under the supervision of Dr. Oxana Eschenko at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics where I investigated the role of locus coeruleus in memory and sleep. Here in the team, I will be immersed into new technology that uses different optical tools in order to understand the role of Locus coeruleus in normal and pathological conditions
Maria-Paz Contreras Santander (Ph.D.)
I studied Psychology at the University of Chile driven by the curiosity to understand the causes of behavior. During my master's, I focused on the extinction of a reward-reinforced behavior. Right after, I started my PhD at the University of Tübingen supervised by Prof. Jan Born where I investigated how the capability to recognize spatial locations change across ontogeny and the role that sleep exert in its development. Here, I’ll take advantage of the interdisciplinary team and cutting-edge techniques stablished lab to study the role of the noradrenergic system in different cognitive capabilities, such as behavioral flexibility and memory, in pathological and non-pathological conditions.
Katharina Dragendorf
animal specialist
kdragend [@] lin-magdeburg.de
phone +49-391-6263-3271
room 327
Katharina successfully completed her training as a veterinary assistant in 2011. She then worked in a vet practice for small animals in Magdeburg till 2015. As she was looking for a new professional challenge, she then joined LIN as an animal care keeper for primates.
However, her interest in small animals never completely left her, and she got trained and certified to perform stereotactical surgeries on rodents. Now Katharina supports our team with her professional background for the wellbeing of our animals.
Thomaz M. C. Fabrin (Ph.D)
PostDoc (CAPEs - AvH Fellow)
thomaz.fabrin [@] lin-magdeburg.de
phone +49-391-6263-92211
room 221
Thomaz Fabrin has a degree in Biological Sciences at Universidade Paranaense and Master and Doctorate degrees in Ecology of Inland Waters at the Universidade Estadual de Maringá. He worked with phylogeography and molecular species identification to study the genetic variation of long-wavelength sensitive opsins from various aquatic organisms found in the Paraná River in Brazil. Now, as a PostDoc fellow from the CAPES-Alexander von Humboldt Foundation he wants to use his unique experience to design ultra light-sensitive opsins for a novel non-invasive chronic optogenetic stimulation paradigm.
Cristian González-Cabrera (Ph.D.)
PostDoc (EU JPND NiPark)
Cristian.Gonzalez@lin-magdeburg.de [@] lin-magdeburg.de
phone: +49-391-6263-94611
room 461
Cristian studied electronics and navigation systems in the Chilean air force and worked for several years in the commercial aviation industry in engineering and maintenance. After an “ … existential reformulation”, he began his bachelor’s in molecular biotechnology engineering and later his Ph.D. at the University of Chile. During his Ph.D. he had a long-term visit at the Anatomical Neuropharmacology lab at Oxford University (Prof. P.J. Bolam). Afterwards, he obtained the FONDECYT postdoctoral grant for his first study on GABAergic neurons in the Substantia nigra and VTA in the lab of Pablo Henny in Chile. For his second Postdoc, he joins the Institute für Anatomie at the University of Heidelberg where he investigated the role of cerebellum circuitry in social behaviors. Now at LIN, he is interested to explore innovative therapeutic approaches to re-activated dormant catecholaminergic neurons in the Substantia nigra and Locus Coeruleus in a Parkinson mouse model.
Matthias Prigge (Ph.D.)
Principal Investigator
prigge [@] lin-magdeburg.de
prigge.matthias [@] gmail.de
phone: +49-391-6263-92211
fax: +49-391-6263-95489
room 221
I studied biochemistry and later philosophy in Berlin’s notorious universities for quite some time. Right afterward … I did my Ph.D. in experimental biophysics in the lab of Peter Hegemann, where I became fascinated by a family of photoreceptors called Microbial Rhodopsins. These proteins are now commonly used to manipulate the activity of neurons in behaving animals with light. For my Postdoc, I was fortunate enough to join Ofer Yizhar's lab at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. Here, I became interested in systems neuroscience and grew a particular interest in how neuromodulatory systems adapt to environmental stressors. My lab, is fueled by both my expertises: Optical tools design and technologies as well as curiosity to dissect neuromodulatory networks.
My salary is classified as TLV-O E15III (3491Euro/month Netto) - anyone - man or woman - with my qualifications and responsibility should be classified the same.
Beate Traore
Beate helps us to deal with the daily administration in a german research institute. She is shared with the Department of System Physiology and the Primate Neurobiology lab here at the LIN. I do not know how – but she always has time and a smile and sweets!
Pauline Jakobs
Master student
paulinejakobs@gmail.com
+49-391-6263-94451
room 445
Pauline earned her Bachelor's in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from the Technical University of Cologne. She pursued her Master's in Immunology in Magdeburg. Joining LIN in 2021, she initially collaborated with the Neurocognitive Development Group before joining our team in September 2022. Her Master's thesis focuses on exploring techniques to analyze gene expression profiles in dopaminergic/noradrenergic neurons and microglia cells in a specific mouse model of Parkinson's disease.
Rafael Parker
Master Student
rafael.parker@st.ovgu.de
+49-391-6263-9445
room 445
Rafael earned his bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience at George Mason University in Virginia and is currently pursuing a Master's in Integrative Neuroscience at Otto Von Guericke University in Magdeburg. Interested in how we adapt to and integrate ourselves with the complex world in which we inhabit, Rafael has been investigating the noradrenergic contribution to cognitive flexibility since joining our lab in late 2022. Moving forward, he is driving to elucidate how past experiences are integrated and utilized to produce the broad state changes that drive complex, and especially social, behaviors.
Nina Wegner
Bachelor student
Wegner-nina@gmx.de
+49-391-6263-94611
room 461
Initially, I trained as a veterinary assistant and worked in the field for two years. Following this, I pursued a degree in Biotechnology at the University of Mittweida. During my internship, I focused on demonstrating the connection between the prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus using anterograde transsynaptic tracers. I am about to begin my Bachelor's thesis at LIN, where I will explore the effects of auricular nerve stimulation.
Julia Büscher
Ph.D. student
julia.buescher [@] lin-magdeburg.de
+49-391-6263-94611
room 461
Julia did her bachelor in biology at the RWTH Aachen and focused on Biological Information Processing in her master studies. For her master thesis she studied the role of orexinergic neurons in the lateral hypothalamus during sensory-driven motor adaptation in the Burdakov lab (ETH Zurich).
Here at LIN, Julia is interested to identify neural networks that are correlate with cognitive performance. As part of the SFB1436, she wants to precisely label neuronal engrams in behaving mice, and correlate the architecture of such engrams with the individual cognitive performance of these animals.
Kaushik More
Ph.D. student
kaushik.more [@] med.ovgu.de
phone +49-391-6263-94611
room 461
Kaushik did his Bachelors and Masters in Science from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune with a specialization in Biology. For his Master’s thesis, he worked in Dr. Nixon Abraham’s lab studying the olfactory information processing in a Parkinson’s disease mouse model. He is interested in conducting optogenetic studies in mice to observe the molecular changes in the Locus Coeruleus target regions over time following transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS) and LC activation.
Ahmed Aly
Ph.D. student
Ahmed.Aly [@] lin-magdeburg.de
phone: +49-391-6263-94351
room: 435
Ahmed did his bachelor's degree in biophysics from the faculty of science at Ain Shams University / Cairo. He then joined Santiago Canal's lab at the Instituto de Neurociencias / Alicante. During his master thesis, he studied the neuronal dynamics of parvalbumin interneurons in the dentate gyrus during memory formation. Here at LIN, he is interested in how autophagic vesicles are transported in the extended axonal mesh of Locus coeruleus neurons. As a student on the LIN SpecialProject'19, he enjoys the supervision of Dr. Anna Karpova / Dr. Michael Kreutz (NPlast) and Matthias.
Andres Jaramillo Flautero
Ph.D. student
ajaramil [@] lin-magdeburg.de
+49-391-6263-94611
room 461
Andres did his first bachelor in Biology and then a second one in Chemistry at Los Andes University (Bogotá, Colombia). Afterwards he joined Dr. Ofer Yizhar’s lab for his master in neuroscience at the Weizmann Institute of Science. Here, he explored the molecular fingerprints of epilepsy. Since very early on in his career, he has been interested in catecholaminergic modulation of complex cognitive behaviors such as flexibility and creativity. He is now starting his PhD at LIN, where he wants to evaluate different early biomarkers for Parkinson´s disease diagnostics using fMRI and proteomic approaches to pave the way for novel therapeutic strategies. To help us to stay on track, Andres is co-supervised with Dr. Matthew Betts from the DZNE and Prof. Contanze Seidenbecher at LIN.
Melissa Prothmann
Lab Manager
Melissa.Prothmann [@] lin-magdeburg.de
+49-391-6263-92211
room 221
I completed my three-year training as a biology laboratory assistant in 2015-2018 at the State Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety in Oldenburg. After graduation, I worked as a biology laboratory assistant in molecular biology and virology. In addition to work, I attended an evening gymnasium for two years in the evening. In 2023 I started at LIN as a lab manager and here, I mainly take care for molecular biology, AAV production, and basically everything else around lab logistics. After work, I like to do sports and cook.
Celina Dölle
Celina started her dual education training as a biological laboratory technician at the BbSAbi in Bitterfeld as well as with us at LIN in 2017. She then finished her apprenticeship on a fast-track and with excellence three years later, and to all our happiness, decided to stay with us as our lab manager. She is supporting our team in daily lab work and is cracking any troubles in molecular cloning or in Benchling. Besides her work she is interested in music and plays guitar in a local band here in Magdeburg and elsewhere.
Anna Matkovskaia
Anna is currently undertaking her apprenticeship at the LIN and BbSAbi, marking her first professional endeavor post-A-levels. She has acquired a diverse set of techniques across various departments at LIN, with a particular fondness for our team. Presently, she assists in screening new optogenetic tools using the Glosensor assay and contributes to histology in the lab. In her spare moments at work, she enjoys joking around with Melissa. Outside of work, Anna's passions include making music and dancing.
Csilla Novák
Csilla completed her Bachelor's in Spanish Linguistics and Literature at Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, with a focus on theoretical linguistics. Seeking deeper insights beyond linguistic function, she pursued a Master's in Computational and Cognitive Neurosciences at Budapest University of Technology and Economics. Joining our lab in February 2022 for her Master's thesis, she now serves as a research assistant, concentrating on the accumulation of neuromelanin in the locus coeruleus (LC) and its role in Parkinson's disease
Ernesto Durán (Ph.D.)
I started my PhD in neurosciences in Chile and later on I moved to Germany (Tuebingen) to complete it under the supervision of Prof. Jan Born. During that time, I investigated the dynamics between the hippocampus and cortex during sleep and their role in memory. Afterward, I worked as a postdoc under the supervision of Dr. Oxana Eschenko at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics where I investigated the role of locus coeruleus in memory and sleep. Here in the team, I will be immersed into new technology that uses different optical tools in order to understand the role of Locus coeruleus in normal and pathological conditions
Maria-Paz Contreras Santander (Ph.D.)
I studied Psychology at the University of Chile driven by the curiosity to understand the causes of behavior. During my master's, I focused on the extinction of a reward-reinforced behavior. Right after, I started my PhD at the University of Tübingen supervised by Prof. Jan Born where I investigated how the capability to recognize spatial locations change across ontogeny and the role that sleep exert in its development. Here, I’ll take advantage of the interdisciplinary team and cutting-edge techniques stablished lab to study the role of the noradrenergic system in different cognitive capabilities, such as behavioral flexibility and memory, in pathological and non-pathological conditions.
Katharina Dragendorf
animal specialist
kdragend [@] lin-magdeburg.de
phone +49-391-6263-2211
room 221
Katharina successfully completed her training as a veterinary assistant in 2011. She then worked in a vet practice for small animals in Magdeburg till 2015. As she was looking for a new professional challenge, she then joined LIN as an animal care keeper for primates.
However, her interest in small animals never completely left her, and she got trained and certified to perform stereotactical surgeries on rodents. Now Katharina supports our team with her professional background for the wellbeing of our animals.
Cristian González-Cabrera (Ph.D.)
PostDoc (EU JPND / ASAP)
Cristian.Gonzalez@lin-magdeburg.de [@] lin-magdeburg.de
phone: +49-391-6263-94411
room 441
Cristian studied electronics and navigation systems in the Chilean air force and worked for several years in the commercial aviation industry in engineering and maintenance. After an “ … existential reformulation”, he began his bachelor’s in molecular biotechnology engineering and later his Ph.D. at the University of Chile. During his Ph.D. he had a long-term visit at the Anatomical Neuropharmacology lab at Oxford University (Prof. P.J. Bolam). Afterwards, he obtained the FONDECYT postdoctoral grant for his first study on GABAergic neurons in the Substantia nigra and VTA in the lab of Pablo Henny in Chile. For his second Postdoc, he joins the Institute für Anatomie at the University of Heidelberg where he investigated the role of cerebellum circuitry in social behaviors. Now at LIN, he is interested to explore innovative therapeutic approaches to re-activated dormant catecholaminergic neurons in the Substantia nigra and Locus Coeruleus in a Parkinson mouse model.
Matthias Prigge (Ph.D.)
Principal Investigator
prigge.matthias [@] gmail.de
phone: +49-391-6263-94411
room 441
I studied Biochemistry and Philosophy at Berlin's prestigious universities, then earned a Ph.D. in Experimental Biophysics under the guidance of Peter Hegemann at the Humboldt University. My doctoral research focused on Microbial Rhodopsins, photoreceptors that are vital in manipulating neurons in animals through light (aka Optogenetics). During my postdoctoral tenure at Ofer Yizhar's lab in the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, I specialized in systems neuroscience with an emphasis on the neuronal circuitry of the Locus Coeruleus. I developed new ways to optically manipulate such highly complex neuronal networks that are innervating the entire brain.
In our lab, we now extend this research line and utilize these optical technologies to boost or readjust noradrenergic networks to improve cognitive performance in health and under conditions mimicking brain disorders such as Parkinson's disease.
My salary is classified as TLV-O E15III (€3,781/month Netto), reflecting the qualifications and responsibilities of anyone, regardless of gender, in this role.
Beate Traore
Beate helps us to deal with the daily administration in a german research institute. She is shared with the Department of System Physiology and the Primate Neurobiology lab here at the LIN. I do not know how – but she always has time and a smile and sweets!