News – Cognitive Neurology Lab

We’re hiring! Werkvertrag, Webdeveloper (m/w/d)

Ausschreibung Werkvertrag, Webdeveloper (m/w/d)

Eines unserer Experimente zur Überprüfung der Navigationsfähigkeit zeigt hohe Sensitivität für Einschränkungen bei verschiedenen Erkrankungen, weshalb wir dieses Instrument nun möglichst vielen klinischen und Forschungseinrichtungen zur Verfügung stellen möchten.

Aufgabengebiet:
• Aufbau einer Webanwendung eines bisher in Python und auf Gorilla.sc laufenden Experiments für die Nutzung in Forschung und Klinik
• Adaptives Design für die zukünftige Integration weiterer Parallelversionen und Übersetzungen der Anwendung
• Datenspeicherung bei den Anwender*innen (direkter Download des Datensatzes zu den Ergebnissen)
• Falls möglich, Hosten der dargestellten Bilder und Videos (< 50 MB) direkt auf der Website, universitätsinterne Server existieren, sind aber noch nicht integriert
• Entwurf, Konzeptionierung der dazu erforderlichen technischen Infrastruktur, sowie Einrichtung, Implementierung der Website
Voraussetzungen:
• Durchführung/Rechnungslegung des Auftrags noch in 2022
• Ein Vertrag ist ausgeschlossen mit Personen, die bereits in einem Vertragsverhältnis zur Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin oder deren Töchtern stehen oder kürzlich standen (ehemaliger Arbeitnehmer/Arbeitnehmerin: 12 Monate; alle anderen: 6 Monate)
• Erstellung eines Angebots bis spätestens Ende Oktober 2022
(Berufs-)Erfahrung:
• Praktische Erfahrung auftragsbasiertem Webdevelopment
• Erfahrung in der Durchführung von ähnlichen Projekten (Referenzen)
Erwünscht:
• Erfahrung in der Umsetzung von Websites für wissenschaftliche Einrichtungen oder Kliniken von Vorteil

Bei Interesse und Fragen zum Auftrag/ Voraussetzung, kontaktiert uns gerne vorab. Weitere Informationen erteilt Carsten Finke (carsten.finke@charite.de).

We’re hiring! Werkvertrag, Webdeveloper (m/w/d)chariteadmin2022-09-22T17:19:05+02:00

We’re hiring! PhD position „Contextual modulation of spatial memory consolidation”

We’re hiring! PhD „Contextual modulation of spatial memory consolidation” within the Collaborative Research Center 1315 “Memory Consolidation” (SFB 1315)

We invite applications for a four-year PhD position in the CRC 1315 project “Spatial Memory Consolidation Networks”. The CRC 1315 “Memory Consolidation” brings together outstanding memory researchers from Berlin institutions, including Charité, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin and Technische Universität Berlin. The successful applicant will become a member of the Brain & Behavior Group at the Dept. of Neurology at Charité Berlin and will be embedded in an interdisciplinary network of basic and clinical neuroscience researchers. There will be continuous exchanges with Postdocs, PhD students and Faculty of the CRC and associated institutions, including the Excellence Cluster NeuroCure, the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience and the Berlin School of Mind and Brain.

The project combines electrophysiological, pharmacological, imaging and lesion approaches in patients and healthy participants with behavioral/virtual reality paradigms to study contextual modulation of spatial memory consolidation.

If this sounds interesting to you, click here for more information on the project.

We’re hiring! PhD position „Contextual modulation of spatial memory consolidation”chariteadmin2022-06-07T14:03:16+02:00

We’re hiring! Postdoctoral Position „Contextual modulation of spatial memory consolidation”

We’re hiring! Postdoctoral Position „Contextual modulation of spatial memory consolidation” within the Collaborative Research Center 1315 “Memory Consolidation” (SFB 1315)

We invite applications for a four-year postdoctoral position in the CRC 1315 project “Spatial Memory Consolidation Networks”. The CRC 1315 “Memory Consolidation” brings together outstanding memory researchers from Berlin institutions, including Charité, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin and Technische Universität Berlin. The successful applicant will become a member of the Brain & Behavior Group at the Dept. of Neurology at Charité Berlin and will be embedded in an interdisciplinary network of basic and clinical neuroscience researchers. There will be continuous exchanges with Postdocs, PhD students and Faculty of the CRC and associated institutions, including the Excellence Cluster NeuroCure, the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience and the Berlin School of Mind and Brain.

The project combines electrophysiological, pharmacological, imaging and lesion approaches in patients and healthy participants with behavioral/virtual reality paradigms to study contextual modulation of spatial memory consolidation.

If this sounds interesting to you, click here for more information on the project.

We’re hiring! Postdoctoral Position „Contextual modulation of spatial memory consolidation”chariteadmin2022-06-07T14:06:24+02:00

New preprint – The virtual environments navigation assessment (VIENNA)

New preprint – Translating spatial navigation evaluation from experimental to clinical settings – the virtual environments navigation assessment (VIENNA)

Happy to share the new preprint by Sophia and Carsten introducing: VIENNA the virtual environments navigation assessment.

VIENNA is designed it to test spatial navigation in older adults and clinical settings without an episodic memory task or controller. Each VIENNA trial presents an egocentric video and an allocentric map of a new and increasingly complex virtual environment. The design of the trials allows us to identify specific spatial updating and perspective rotation errors. In 79 older adults, we demonstrate VIENNAs high feasibility and construct validity with a focus on visuospatial and executive functions. The entire spatial navigation assessment takes about 15 min to administer and is freely available for researchers and clinicians at OSF using PsychoPy.

New preprint – The virtual environments navigation assessment (VIENNA)chariteadmin2022-05-27T13:00:14+02:00

New study in Annals of Neurology is Paper of the Month

Our new article on cognitive outcomes in anti-NMDAR encephalitis lead by Josephine was awarded the Paper of the Month at the Center for Stroke Research at Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin!

Based on a comprehensive longitudinal neuropsychological assessment, we find that cognitive deficits are the main contributor to long-term morbidity in patients with anti-NMDAR encephalitis. These impairments are most pronounced for memory and executive functions and can persist beyond functional neurological recovery. Find out more about the longitudinal trajectories of deficits and predictors for cognitive outcomes in the open access full-text here.

New study in Annals of Neurology is Paper of the Monthchariteadmin2021-12-06T13:14:44+01:00

Sophia Rekers received Penny Standen Award – Congratulations!

Sophia received the Penny Standen Award for Early Career Multidisciplinary Research in Disability at the “13th International Conference on Disability, Virtual Reality & Associated Technologies” (ICDVRAT) for the development of a memory independent spatial navigation paradigm (VIENNA) in a virtual reality setting. Congratulations!

New preprint – A spatiotemporal complexity architecture of human brain activity

The human brain is a complex network. Ever since the first description of “functional connectivity” in the 1990s, network neuroscience has emerged as one of the leading approaches to study the brain, including unparalleled international collaborations like the Human Connectome Project (HCP).

While our understanding of the connectome is rapidly increasing, some fundamental questions about brain networks remain: How does a functional connection between two brain regions form? Why are some regions more functionally connected than others? And what determines the spatial and temporal organization of the network?

In our latest preprint, we shed some light on these questions through complexity analysis of resting-state data from the HCP. In this manuscript, we report a mechanism by which the brain’s network architecture arises from spontaneous episodes of neural regularity. These episodes become visible as “complexity drops” and provide a unifying explanation for many known properties of the human brain, including functional connectivity, brain states, structure-function relationships, and network hierarchies. For more on this human “complexome”, check out the preprint!

New preprint – A spatiotemporal complexity architecture of human brain activitychariteadmin2021-08-12T11:09:46+02:00

New study published in JAMA Oncology!

Our recent article shows that brain-targeting autoantibodies found in lung cancer patients may be responsible for cancer-related cognitive impairment.

In this prospective, cross-sectional study we included 167 patients with lung cancer. Brain-directed autoantibodies were found in 36.5% of all patients: 19.8% had known neuronal autoantibodies and 16.8% had autoantibodies against currently unknown antigens that were detected by immunohistochemistry. Cognitive impairment was found in as much as 67.0% of patients. Importantly, patients with neuronal autoantibodies had increased odds of cognitive impairment compared with patients without autoantibodies. Interestingly, autoantibodies against currently unknown neuronal antigens were also associated with higher odds of cognitive impairment.

Therefore, our study suggests that neuronal autoantibodies might represent a pathogenic factor in cancer-related cognitive impairment among patients with lung cancer.

There is a JAMA Oncology podcast interview with Frederik and Carsten at: https://edhub.ama-assn.org/jn-learning/audio-player/18621621 and an editorial about our study at: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaoncology/article-abstract/2781393

The full study can be found online here and downloaded as a pdf here!

New study published in JAMA Oncology!chariteadmin2021-07-14T09:28:04+02:00

German translation of the MMQ

Interested in assessing subjective memory? The German translation by @JosephineHeine and @SophiaRekers of the Multifactorial Memory Questionnaire (MMQ) is now freely available for clinicians and researchers here. Normative and psychometric data coming soon. Stay tuned!

German translation of the MMQchariteadmin2021-06-02T11:12:14+02:00

Preprint on functional connectivity fingerprinting

Preprint – Fingerprinting and behavioural prediction rest on distinct functional systems of the human connectome

New preprint on the relation between functional connectome-based identification and behavioural prediction! Based on high-quality resting-state fMRI, we find a dichotomy of signatures underlying the identification of individuals and the prediction of behaviour. The dichotomy is apparent on all levels of analysis, looking at individual connections, resting-state networks and topological distribution. Find the preprint here!

Preprint on functional connectivity fingerprintingNina2021-07-12T15:26:57+02:00