Renate Maaß Research Award 2019

Dr. Anne Weißbach receives the Renate-Maaß Research Award for her work on "Genetic alterations and their consequences for motor networks of the brain". As part of her scientific work at the Center for Rare Diseases, the neurologist deals with monogenic neurological diseases.

Already since her doctorate at the Institute of Neurogenetics in Luebeck, her special research interest has focused on neuronal changes in the motor networks of patients' brains resulting from known hereditary mutations and its clinical symptoms. Within the last nine years of her research activities in Luebeck and at the University of Toronto, Canada, she has been able to use non-invasive brain stimulation techniques such as transcranial magnetic stimulation to identify striking interactions between different brain areas that are important for the correct planning and smooth execution of movements. In follow-up studies, she succeeded in using monogenetic disorders as a model disease for so-called idiopathic syndromes, the cause of which remains unclear, to further elucidate their pathophysiology.
Her research is funded by the Else Kröner-Fresenius Foundation and the German Research Foundation. In August 2018 she has also received the internationally renowned Edmond J. Safra Fellowship in Movement Disorders from the Michael J. Fox Foundation.

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 3.000 Euros.