Job ID: 100319

PhD position: Heart & Brain – Electrophysiological analyses of mutual heart brain interactions after stroke (GRK2824, RP10)

Position: Ph.D. Student

Deadline: 5 February 2023

Employment Start Date: 1 April 2023

Contract Length: 3 years

City: Göttingen

Country: Germany

Institution: University Medical Center Göttingen

Department: Neurology

Description:

Cardiac dysfunction is not only caused by primary heart disease but also results from dysregulated neural processes, as they occur under conditions of cerebral ischemia in specific brain regions such as the insular cortex. The latter is an anatomical hub that strongly interconnects with cortical and subcortical brain regions involved in the regulation of autonomic functions (i.e. parts of the central autonomous network (CAN)). Although stroke itself is known to induce a sympathetic storm and autonomic dysregulation, the mechanisms underlying neurogenic heart disease in general and the susceptibility of the CAN in this context are not understood.

Based on the CAN dysregulation hypothesis we here want to test whether the CAN is indeed related to the pathophysiology of neurogenic heart disease in stroke patients. To further delineate what the CAN is (on a neurophysiological network level and fMRI connectivity basis) and how it exactly leads to neurogenic heart disease will be the main aims of this project. The related electrophysiology (e.g. high-density EEG), MR-based network analyses and implementation of new artificial intelligence (AI) and machine-learning assisted protocols will be central scientific tasks of this project.

Please apply via the given link: https://grk2824.uni-goettingen.de/public/login.php?app_type=