Medical Information Sciences Vortragsreihe (2 CME Punkte) Prof. Dr. Markus Mühlhan

Prof. Dr. Markus Mühlhan
Professor of Neuroscience at the Medical School Hamburg, University of Applied Sciences Hamburg and Medical University Hamburg
 
„Data-driven Investigation and Characterisation of the Functional Connectome in Spider Phobia“
 
Specific phobia is a severe, widespread and irrational fear that may be associated with objects (e.g. spiders) or situations (e.g. enclosed spaces) that pose little or no danger. Studies of the neural basis of specific phobia often focus on a predicted fear network, leading to a pre-selection of brain regions to be studied. This pre-selection carries the risk of false-negative results, as large parts of the brain are not considered. Using the example of individuals diagnosed with spider phobia and a parallel control group who underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging in the task-independent resting state, the talk will present a data-driven method that overcomes these limitations. Multivariate pattern analysis, which considers the totality of functional connections in the brain (the connectome), was used to identify regions of maximum variance between experimental groups. The results were further characterised for behavioural relevance using metadata and post-hoc analyses.
Markus Mühlhan is Professor of Neuroscience at the Medical School Hamburg where he investigates neuroendocrinological and neurocognitive changes in stress, anxiety and substance use disorders at the Institute of Cognitive and Affective Neurosciences (ICAN). The methodological focus is on magnetic resonance imaging and neuroimaging meta-analyses as well as the behavioural characterisation of MRI findings using metadata. Markus initially trained as an electronics technician before studying psychology at the University of Oldenburg. He received his PHD at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences of the TU-Dresden and worked at the Institutes for Biopsychology and Clinical Psychology.  Since 2019 Markus is full Professor of Neurosciences at the Medical School Hamburg.

Date: June 25th 2024 (starting 6:30 pm)
Place: Lecture Hall N2045 (Faculty of Applied Informatics)
 
The lecture will be live-streamed to the conference room of the Institute for Digital Medicine (IDM, Gutenbergstr. 7, 86356 Neusäß, Room 01.B001, first floor).
Please note: If you want to attend the live-stream, please send an informal message to idm@uk-augsburg.de in advance.