3-Tesla-Magnetresonanztomograph

• Subject Area: Neurosciences
• Term: Funded in 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 324324095

Final Report Abstract

In the last four decades, cognitive neuroscience has developed as an important research field that has greatly influenced psychological theory building, including the understanding of clinical phenomena. However, in Munich we encountered a severe bottleneck (until 2020) in that there was no dedicated scanner available for contemporary human neuroscience research. Further, the 3T MRI scanners in medicine (at the more distant LMU Clinic Grosshadern) were used almost exclusively for medical (‘routine’) examination purposes. While on the one hand there was a lack of access to MRI scanners, on the other hand there was excellent expertise in the area of “alternative imaging methods” (such as EEG, TMS, or clinical neuropsychology), including expert knowledge in multivariate, neuroimaging-based analysis methods as well as optimally-structured and supervised training for future neuroscientists (offered, e.g., by GSN-LMU or IMPRS). With the new MRI scanner, funded by the DFG and starting in fall 2020, we were able to fill this infrastructural gap by setting up a new, 300 square meter large, integrative, interdisciplinary, and multimodal NICUM (Neuroimaging Core Unit Munich) imaging laboratory, which besides f/MRI imaging provides opportunities for behavioral, eye tracking and EEG recordings as well as rooms for scientific staff (see photos at: https://www.en.nicum.uni-muenchen.de/). Worth mentioning is that the new MRI scanner did not only quantitatively extend the existing neuroscientific techniques, but also led to qualitatively new technical and analytical platforms for simultaneous MRI and EEG and simultaneous MRI and TMS/tES recordings (and thus offering added value that goes beyond the isolated methods), including the development of a data storage/preprocessing/accidental findings pipeline and the implementation of measures for security training and key user training. This was paralleled by attempts to establish research-oriented teaching (e.g., in the M.Sc. in “Neuro-Cognitive Psychology” at LMU’s Department of Psychology) to provide students with lectures and courses that are targeted to neuroimaging research. For this purpose, we implemented a course that is taught by various scanner PIs (from psychology and medicine) and for which we book 3 weeks (=180 hours) of measurement/ practice time per year (see 3.4). As a result, numerous master thesis projects and research internships (in addition to PhD/ MD thesis projects) were carried out at NICUM or are currently ongoing (see 3.3). In order to further strengthen imaging research, the W3 professorship in “General and Experimental Psychology” at the Department of Psychology was sharpened/ re-nominated to a W3 professorship in “Neuro-Cognitive Psychology” (the appointment process is currently ongoing and the former chairholder, Hermann Müller, has been retired since Sep 2022). Attempts have been made at the Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy to establish behavioral phenotyping, in which in addition to structural and functional MRI also molecular genetic/biographical data are registered. To boost this approach, the Clinic also established a new W3 professorship in “Precision Medicine” and made successful attempts to set up a new interdisciplinary research group (linking PIs from psychiatry and psychology) on the topic of “Precision in Mental Health” that is supported by the newly established German Center for Mental Health (see 3.2) and where the partner centers operate with identical 3T MRI Prisma Siemens scanners. NICUM further contributed to the buildup of cooperative research activities as nucleus for other national and international multicenter studies (NIH and ERC grants totaling 5.1 million euros). In addition, various individual grants (from DFG, BMBF, ERA-Net Neuron) were awarded to researchers from psychiatry and psychology in conjunction with NICUM and their innovative projects will shape imaging research in upcoming years and further increase NICUM’s visibility both nationally and internationally. There are also long-term external collaborations between NICUM and the University of the Bundeswehr in Munich and the Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the University of Augsburg (see 3.1.2). NICUM’s participating scientists are also involved in the application for a 7 Tesla MRI at LMU Clinic Großhadern (currently under evaluation at DFG). In addition to the establishment of multimodal imaging, the strengthening of inter-/national collaborations, and research-oriented teaching, the focus of the work carried out within psychology was on the establishment of functional MRI: implementing central paradigms of experimental psychology in the scanner, such as visual search, conflict tasks, reproduction tasks, or recognition tasks, in order to generate new knowledge on the neural mechanisms of central human performance functions (such as perception or selective/ divided attention; Cheng et al., 2023, Zhang et al., 2022; Kaiser et al., 2022), including the investigation of brain mechanisms of social/emotional cognition (Kolla et al., 2023) and higher-order cognitive functions such as problem solving. Of note, in these studies, we did not only employ classical – BOLD – mapping approaches, but also connectivity measures and representation-based, i.e., decoding, approaches to address important questions such as the effectiveness of behavioral therapy in borderline personality disorder (Seth et al., 2023). In psychiatry, approaches have been made as regards measuring structural MRI (success-)measures in sports-based therapy in schizophrenia (Röll et al., 2022; Maurus et al., 2022). Additional work was carried out on establishing combined MRI and TMS and MRI and tES (Mizutani-Tiebel et al., 2022; Ekhtiari et al., 2022) – the aim being to better understand TMS physiological mechanisms as measured with concurrent MRI; the investigation of inflammatory processes and associated structural brain changes in neurodegenerative (Alzheimer's) diseases (Finze et al., 2023); the detection (and thus confirmation of the severity/ importance) of structural brain changes in so-called “soft neurological abnormalities” in adolescent participants/ patients (Bonke et al. , 2023). Remarkable progress has also been made in precision psychiatry (Brouwer et al., 2022; Kalman et al., 2022; Krčmář et al. 2023) in an attempt to identify cross-diagnosis and diagnosis-specific biomarker-informed subgroups of patients, with the aim to detect mental illnesses earlier and treat them in a stronger personal and preventative manner.

Publications

• Neurominer [Computer software]. Github
  Koutsouleris, Vetter & Wiegand
  
• Cognitive and functional deficits are associated with white matter abnormalities in two independent cohorts of patients with schizophrenia. European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 272(6), 957-969.
  Yamada, Shinichi; Takahashi, Shun; Malchow, Berend; Papazova, Irina; Stöcklein, Sophia; Ertl-Wagner, Birgit; Papazov, Boris; Kumpf, Ulrike; Wobrock, Thomas; Keller-Varady, Katriona; Hasan, Alkomiet; Falkai, Peter; Wagner, Elias; Raabe, Florian J. & Keeser, Daniel
  
• NAMNIs: Neuromodulation And Multimodal NeuroImaging software. zenodo 2021
  Karali, T; Padberg, F; Kirsch, V; Stoecklein, S; Falkai, P & Keeser, D
  
• Statistical Learning of Frequent Distractor Locations in Visual Search Involves Regional Signal Suppression in Early Visual Cortex. Cerebral Cortex, 32(13), 2729-2744.
  Zhang, Bei; Weidner, Ralph; Allenmark, Fredrik; Bertleff, Sabine; Fink, Gereon R; Shi, Zhuanghua & Müller, Hermann J
  
• A checklist for assessing the methodological quality of concurrent tES-fMRI studies ontES checklist): a consensus study and statement. Nature Protocols, 17(3), 596-617.
  Ekhtiari, Hamed; Ghobadi-Azbari, Peyman; Thielscher, Axel; Antal, Andrea; Li, Lucia M.; Shereen, A. Duke; Cabral-Calderin, Yuranny; Keeser, Daniel; Bergmann, Til Ole; Jamil, Asif; Violante, Ines R.; Almeida, Jorge; Meinzer, Marcus; Siebner, Hartwig R.; Woods, Adam J.; Stagg, Charlotte J.; Abend, Rany; Antonenko, Daria; Auer, Tibor; ... & Bikson, Marom
  
• Association between aerobic fitness and the functional connectome in patients with schizophrenia. European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 272(7), 1253-1272.
  Roell, Lukas; Maurus, Isabel; Keeser, Daniel; Karali, Temmuz; Papazov, Boris; Hasan, Alkomiet; Schmitt, Andrea; Papazova, Irina; Lembeck, Moritz; Hirjak, Dusan; Sykorova, Eliska; Thieme, Cristina E.; Muenz, Susanne; Seitz, Valentina; Greska, David; Campana, Mattia; Wagner, Elias; Loehrs, Lisa; Stoecklein, Sophia; ... & Falkai, Peter
  
• Associations between aerobic fitness, negative symptoms, cognitive deficits and brain structure in schizophrenia—a cross-sectional study. Schizophrenia, 8(1).
  Maurus, Isabel; Röll, Lukas; Keeser, Daniel; Karali, Temmuz; Papazov, Boris; Hasan, Alkomiet; Schmitt, Andrea; Papazova, Irina; Lembeck, Moritz; Hirjak, Dusan; Thieme, Cristina E.; Sykorova, Eliska; Münz, Susanne; Seitz, Valentina; Greska, David; Campana, Mattia; Wagner, Elias; Löhrs, Lisa; Pömsl, Johannes; ... & Falkai, Peter
  
• Behavioral and neurophysiological correlates of emotional face processing in borderline personality disorder: are there differences between men and women?. European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 272(8), 1583-1594.
  Andermann, Martin; Izurieta Hidalgo, Natalie A.; Rupp, André; Schmahl, Christian; Herpertz, Sabine C. & Bertsch, Katja
  
• Biobanking in everyday clinical practice in psychiatry—The Munich Mental Health Biobank. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 13(2022, 7, 22).
  Kalman, Janos L.; Burkhardt, Gerrit; Adorjan, Kristina; Barton, Barbara B.; De Jonge, Sylvia; Eser-Valeri, Daniela; Falter-Wagner, Christine M.; Heilbronner, Urs; Jobst, Andrea; Keeser, Daniel; Koenig, Christian; Koller, Gabi; Koutsouleris, Nikolaos; Kurz, Carolin; Landgraf, Dominic; Merz, Katharina; Musil, Richard; Nelson, Afton M.; Padberg, Frank; ... & Schulte, Eva Christina
  
• Concept of the Munich/Augsburg Consortium Precision in Mental Health for the German Center of Mental Health. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 13(2022, 3, 4).
  Falkai, Peter; Koutsouleris, Nikolaos; Bertsch, Katja; Bialas, Mirko; Binder, Elisabeth; Bühner, Markus; Buyx, Alena; Cai, Na; Cappello, Silvia; Ehring, Thomas; Gensichen, Jochen; Hamann, Johannes; Hasan, Alkomiet; Henningsen, Peter; Leucht, Stefan; Möhrmann, Karl Heinz; Nagelstutz, Elisabeth; Padberg, Frank; Peters, Annette; ... & Priller, Josef
  
• Concurrent TMS-fMRI: Technical Challenges, Developments, and Overview of Previous Studies. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 13(2022, 4, 21).
  Mizutani-Tiebel, Yuki; Tik, Martin; Chang, Kai-Yen; Padberg, Frank; Soldini, Aldo; Wilkinson, Zane; Voon, Cui Ci; Bulubas, Lucia; Windischberger, Christian & Keeser, Daniel
  
• Differences in electric field strength between clinical and non-clinical populations induced by prefrontal tDCS: A cross-diagnostic, individual MRI-based modeling study. NeuroImage: Clinical, 34(2022), 103011.
  Mizutani-Tiebel, Yuki; Takahashi, Shun; Karali, Temmuz; Mezger, Eva; Bulubas, Lucia; Papazova, Irina; Dechantsreiter, Esther; Stoecklein, Sophia; Papazov, Boris; Thielscher, Axel; Padberg, Frank & Keeser, Daniel
  
• Fitness is positively associated with hippocampal formation subfield volumes in schizophrenia: a multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging study. Translational Psychiatry, 12(1).
  Maurus, Isabel; Roell, Lukas; Keeser, Daniel; Papazov, Boris; Papazova, Irina; Lembeck, Moritz; Roeh, Astrid; Wagner, Elias; Hirjak, Dusan; Malchow, Berend; Ertl-Wagner, Birgit; Stoecklein, Sophia; Hasan, Alkomiet; Schmitt, Andrea; Meyer-Lindenberg, Andreas & Falkai, Peter
  
• Function without feeling: neural reactivity and intercommunication during flexible motor adjustments evoked by emotional and neutral stimuli. Cerebral Cortex, 33(10), 6000-6012.
  Kaiser, Jakob; Gentsch, Antje; Rodriguez-Manrique, Daniela & Schütz-Bosbach, Simone
  
• Genetic variants associated with longitudinal changes in brain structure across the lifespan. Nature Neuroscience, 25(4), 421-432.
  Brouwer, Rachel M.; Klein, Marieke; Grasby, Katrina L.; Schnack, Hugo G.; Jahanshad, Neda; Teeuw, Jalmar; Thomopoulos, Sophia I.; Sprooten, Emma; Franz, Carol E.; Gogtay, Nitin; Kremen, William S.; Panizzon, Matthew S.; Olde Loohuis, Loes M.; Whelan, Christopher D.; Aghajani, Moji; Alloza, Clara; Alnæs, Dag; Artiges, Eric; Ayesa-Arriola, Rosa; ... & Hulshoff Pol, Hilleke E.
  
• Neurological soft signs in adolescents are associated with brain structure. Cerebral Cortex, 33(9), 5547-5556.
  Bonke, Elena M; Bonfert, Michaela V; Hillmann, Stefan M; Seitz-Holland, Johanna; Gaubert, Malo; Wiegand, Tim L T; De Luca, Alberto; Cho, Kang Ik K; Sandmo, Stian B; Yhang, Eukyung; Tripodis, Yorghos; Seer, Caroline; Kaufmann, David; Kaufmann, Elisabeth; Muehlmann, Marc; Gooijers, Jolien; Lin, Alexander P; Leemans, Alexander; Swinnen, Stephan P; ... & Koerte, Inga K
  
• The (un)learning of social functions and its significance for mental health. Clinical Psychology Review, 98(2022, 12), 102204.
  Flechsenhar, Aleya; Kanske, Philipp; Krach, Sören; Korn, Christoph & Bertsch, Katja
  
• Threat induction biases processing of emotional expressions. Frontiers in Psychology, 13(2022, 11, 24).
  Flechsenhar, Aleya; Levine, Seth & Bertsch, Katja
  
• Altered amygdalar emotion space in borderline personality disorder normalizes following dialectical behaviour therapy. Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, 48(6),E431-E438.
  Levine, Seth M.; Merz, Katharina; Keeser, Daniel; Kunz, Julia I.; Barton, Barbara B.; Reinhard, Matthias A.; Jobst, Andrea; Padberg, Frank; Neukel, Corinne; Herpertz, Sabine C.; Bertsch, Katja & Musil, Richard
  
• Contextual cueing of visual search reflects the acquisition of an optimal, one-for-all oculomotor scanning strategy. Communications Psychology, 1(1).
  Seitz, Werner; Zinchenko, Artyom; Müller, Hermann J. & Geyer, Thomas
  
• Disturbed Oligodendroglial Maturation Causes Cognitive Dysfunction in Schizophrenia: A New Hypothesis. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 49(6), 1614-1624.
  Falkai, Peter; Rossner, Moritz J; Raabe, Florian J; Wagner, Elias; Keeser, Daniel; Maurus, Isabel; Roell, Lukas; Chang, Emily; Seitz-Holland, Johanna; Schulze, Thomas G & Schmitt, Andrea
  
• Effects of aerobic exercise on hippocampal formation volume in people with schizophrenia – a systematic review and meta-analysis with original data from a randomized-controlled trial. (2023, 2, 27). Wallstein Verlag.
  Roell, Lukas & Maurus, Isabel
  
• Effects of Exercise on Structural and Functional Brain Patterns in Schizophrenia—Data From a Multicenter Randomized-Controlled Study. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 50(1), 145-156.
  Roell, Lukas; Keeser, Daniel; Papazov, Boris; Lembeck, Moritz; Papazova, Irina; Greska, David; Muenz, Susanne; Schneider-Axmann, Thomas; Sykorova, Eliska B; Thieme, Christina E; Vogel, Bob O; Mohnke, Sebastian; Huppertz, Charlotte; Roeh, Astrid; Keller-Varady, Katriona; Malchow, Berend; Stoecklein, Sophia; Ertl-Wagner, Birgit; Henkel, Karsten; ... & Maurus, Isabel
  
• Individual regional associations between Aβ-, tau- and neurodegeneration (ATN) with microglial activation in patients with primary and secondary tauopathies. Molecular Psychiatry, 28(10), 4438-4450.
  Finze, Anika; Biechele, Gloria; Rauchmann, Boris-Stephan; Franzmeier, Nicolai; Palleis, Carla; Katzdobler, Sabrina; Weidinger, Endy; Guersel, Selim; Schuster, Sebastian; Harris, Stefanie; Schmitt, Julia; Beyer, Leonie; Gnörich, Johannes; Lindner, Simon; Albert, Nathalie L.; Wetzel, Christian H.; Rupprecht, Rainer; Rominger, Axel; Danek, Adrian; ... & Brendel, Matthias
  
• Lifelong experiences as a proxy of cognitive reserve moderate the association between connectivity and cognition in Alzheimer's disease. Neurobiology of Aging, 122(2023, 2), 33-44.
  Ersoezlue, Ersin; Rauchmann, Boris-Stephan; Schneider-Axmann, Thomas; Wagner, Michael; Ballarini, Tommaso; Tato, Maia; Utecht, Julia; Kurz, Carolin; Papazov, Boris; Guersel, Selim; Burow, Lena; Koller, Gabriele; Stöcklein, Sophia; Keeser, Daniel; Bartels, Claudia; Brosseron, Frederic; Buerger, Katharina; Cetindag, Arda C.; Dechent, Peter; ... & Perneczky, Robert
  
• Mission impossible? Spatial context relearning following a target relocation event depends on cue predictiveness. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 31(1), 148-155.
  Geyer, Thomas; Zinchenko, Artyom; Seitz, Werner; Balik, Merve; Müller, Hermann J. & Conci, Markus
  
• Neural correlates of aggression in personality disorders from the perspective of DSM-5 maladaptive traits: a systematic review. Translational Psychiatry, 13(1).
  Kolla, Nathan J.; Tully, John & Bertsch, Katja
  
• Neural mechanisms of sequential dependence in time perception: The impact of prior task and memory processing. (2023, 5, 7). Wallstein Verlag.
  Cheng (程思), Si; Chen (陈思佚), Siyi; Glasauer, Stefan; Keeser, Daniel & Shi (施壮华), Zhuanghua
  
• The multimodal Munich Clinical Deep Phenotyping study to bridge the translational gap in severe mental illness treatment research. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 14(2023, 5, 5).
  Krčmář, Lenka; Jäger, Iris; Boudriot, Emanuel; Hanken, Katharina; Gabriel, Vanessa; Melcher, Julian; Klimas, Nicole; Dengl, Fanny; Schmoelz, Susanne; Pingen, Pauline; Campana, Mattia; Moussiopoulou, Joanna; Yakimov, Vladislav; Ioannou, Georgios; Wichert, Sven; DeJonge, Silvia; Zill, Peter; Papazov, Boris; de Almeida, Valéria; ... & Raabe, Florian J.
  
• Environmental regularities mitigate attentional misguidance in contextual cueing of visual search.. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 50(5), 699-711.
  Zinchenko, Artyom; Conci, Markus; Müller, Hermann J. & Geyer, Thomas