Renate Maaß Research Award 2017

The Renate-Maaß Research Award 2017 goes to Dr. Elinor Tzvi-Minker for her research in the interdisciplinary field of cognitive neuroscience and her investigation of neural mechanisms underlying cognitive functions. The focus of her work is on understanding the brain processes on which motor sequence learning is built. She uses mathematical models that incorporate neurophysiological signals from electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Dr. Tzvi-Minker received the prestigious Minerva Fellowship to complete a dissertation, which she did in the cognitive neuroscience group of Prof. Dr. Ulrike Krämer.

The results of her work show that specific causal connections between cortical motor regions and the cerebellum are modulated by motor sequence learning. Specifically, she focused on cross-frequency coupling, a mechanism that has been shown to underlie information transfer in both animals and humans. In her studies, she was able to show that coupling of the amplitude of high-frequency gamma oscillations and the phase of slow frequencies in the alpha range is modulated by motor learning. Following her dissertation, Dr. Tzvi-Minker studied patients with cerebellar ataxia and Parkinson's disease. These studies were supported by a grant from the university's internal research funding program. Recently, Dr. Tzvi-Minker received research funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG) to use MRI electrostimulation to study the neural mechanisms of stimulation effects in motor learning. Her research direction can potentially help develop therapeutic interventions for patients suffering from degenerative diseases of the motor system.

The research award of the Renate-Maaß-Foundation is dedicated to the appreciation of brain research at the University of Luebeck and its scientists. The University awards the award annually to one scientist up to the age of 35, with an endowment of 5.000 Euros.