Working Group Neuro-Nuclear Medicine of the Hannover Medical School Department of Nuclear Medicine
Background
The human brain functions through an interplay of specialized regions. Brain functions, dysfunctions and their causes as well as treatment effects can be studied by nuclear medicine methods (e.g. positron emission tomography, PET) in a unique way without interfering with the system. Minimal amounts (pmol) of radioactively labeled substances are used, which are specifically distributed in the brain. These can be used to quantitatively detect physiological processes such as blood flow, metabolism or neurotransmission, as well as degenerative deposits or inflammation in the brain. In preclinical imaging, animal models of diseases and therapeutic procedures can be evaluated.
Work contents
The neuro-nuclear medicine group uses the above-mentioned methods in studies on the pathophysiology and treatment of hearing disorders as well as neuropsychiatric diseases and disorders of brain function as a secondary disease (e.g. after organ transplantation). Basically, both preclinical and clinical studies are performed. The focus is on hearing research, an area in which several externally funded projects are being carried out. The state-of-the-art infrastructure of the Department of Nuclear Medicine is used for this purpose. Scientific collaborations include parallel electrophysiological (EEG) measurements and data analysis using machine learning, as well as the use of a PET software phantom of the brain. The role of inhibitory neurotransmission in age-related hearing loss is studied in the gerbil model and translational in humans using PET.
Members of the working group
Prof. Dr. med. Georg Berding, Department of Nuclear Medicine, MHH (Head of the working group)
Dr. rer. nat. Martin Mamach, M.Sc., former PhD student, Hearing4all (now: Department of Radiation Protection and Medical Physics of the MHH)
Malte Voskamp, M.Sc., PhD student
Philipp Deutsch, M.Sc., PhD student
Florian Wilke, MTRA School of the MHH (hardware and software specialist), master student
Denise Merz, B.Eng., German Hearing Center (MHH), master student
Jana Petro, M.Sc., former research associate Hearing4all (now: Avateramedical GmbH)
Dr. rer. nat. Mariella Weiß (née Kessler), former PhD student Hearing4all (now: Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Cell Biology, UKE Hamburg)
External cooperations
Dr. rer. nat. Ralph Buchert, University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf, Department of Nuclear Medicine
Priv.-Doz. Dr. rer. medic. Florian Büther Department of Nuclear Medicine, Münster University Hospital
Prof. Dr. Georg Klump, University of Oldenburg, Department of Neuroscience, Zoology & Behavior
Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Jörg Lücke, Machine Learning Group, Department of Medical Physics and Acoustics, Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, Germany
Prof. Dr. Pascale Sandmann, Professor of Clinical Audiology at the Faculty VI of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of Oldenburg, Head of the Functional Area of Audiology at the University Department of Otorhinolaryngology at the Evangelical Hospital Oldenburg
Membership in coordinated research collaborations
Cluster of Excellence Hearing for All, Hearing4all
DFG Grant (Synergistic EEG and machine learning enhanced PET in CI users)
Center for Systems Neuroscience Hannover, ZSN
Job offers of the MHH
https://mhh.hr4you.org/job/view/1348/phd-position-f-d-m?page_lang=en
References
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Berding+G&sort=date&size=100
Publication related to the above figure „The brain in function“
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnins.2020.00787/full
Contact
Prof. Dr. med. Georg Berding
Department of Nuclear Medicine
Hannover Medical School
Carl-Neuberg-Str. 1
D-30625 Hannover
Tel.: + 49 511 532 5598
Fax: + 49 511 532 8588
e-mail: berding.georg@mh-hannover.de