 |  | Univ.-Prof. Dr. med. Alfons Schnitzler Gebäude-Nr.: 23.02 Ebene: 03 Zimmer-Nr.: 51 Universitätsstr. 1 40225 Düsseldorf Tel.: 0211 81-11519 klin.neurowiss@uni-duesseldorf.de |
The Institute of Clinical Neuroscience and Medical Psychology focuses on the investigation of human brain functions in health and in neurological disorders with particular emphasis on Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders.
To this end, advanced neurophysiological methods like magnetoencephalography (MEG) and structural as well as functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are combined with behavioural and clinical measures. Thus, the institute builds a bridge between basic research and clinical application, which is strongly supported by the close proximity to the university hospital, particularly to the department of neurology. Professor Schnitzler- the director of the institute - is also head of the Centre for Movement Disorders and Neuromodulation at the department of neurology.
The institute was founded in 1964 as the first psychological institute at a medical faculty in Germany led by Professor G.A. Lienert. From 1974 - 2005 Professor H.-J. Steingrüber was head of the Medical Psychology institute. In 2008 the institute was renamed into Institute for Clinical Neuroscience and Medical Psychology. The renaming reflects the scientific reorientation towards modern neuroscience - a challenging and exciting topic combining basic and applied research.
Patient care
The Centre for Movement Disorders and Neuromodulation at the department of neurology, university hospital Düsseldorf, focuses primarily on movement disorders like Parkinson’s disease (PD), dystonia, and tremor disorders. Beside pharmacological interventions, deep brain stimulation (DBS) represents one of the core therapies in particular in PD. For DBS implantation the Centre for Movement Disorders and Neuromodulation maintains a close cooperation with the functional neurosurgery unit led by Professor Vesper.
Research topics
The investigation of normal and disturbed brain functions represents the main research topic of the institute. To this end, magnetoencephalograpy (MEG), electroencephalography (EEG), recordings of neural activity from basal ganglia during awake neurosurgery, transcranial magnetic (TMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), electromyography (EMG), kinematic analyses, tremor analyses, force measurements, DBS, and functional as well as structural MRT are combined with clinical and behavioural measures. Our main goal is the characterization of physiological as well as pathological mechanisms associated with sensory, motor, cognitive, and emotional processes within the brain.
Beside local brain activation, we are particularly interested in the temporally precise investigation of functional interaction between spatially distributed brain sites. Synchronized oscillatory activity represents an established measure of functional interaction between neighbouring brain areas and in large scale networks. To this end, MEG is combined with new analysis methods like the beamformer approach Dynamic Imaging of Coherent Sources (DICS) allowing the non-invasive characterization of oscillatory activity in the entire brain. DICS enables the specification of the functional interplay between participating brain areas associated with physiological but also with pathological brain functions. Along this line, the investigation of altered functional interaction patterns in neurological disorders like Parkinson’s disease, dystonia, Wilson´s disease, and hepatic encephalopathy as well as in neuropsychiatric disorders like Gilles de la Tourette syndrome represents a major research topic. Moreover, we are interested to what extent interaction patterns can be modulated by pharmacological interventions, DBS and TMS.
Further research topics are central pain processing, the functional organization of the somatosensory system and its reorganization following brain lesions as well as oscillatory processes in hepatic encephalopathy.
The projects are mainly funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, the VolkswagenStiftung and the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung.
Vita of Universitätsprofessor Dr. med. Alfons Schnitzler
| Studies of medicine at the RWTH Aachen, University Kiel, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK | |
| 1988-1991 | Resident at the psychiatric hospital, Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf |
| 1991-1998 | Resident and research assistant at the department of neurology, Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf |
| 1993 | Board certification in psychiatry (Facharztanerkennung) |
| 1994/1995 | Research fellowship (EU) at Brain research institute Helsinki |
| 1995 | Board certification in neurology (Facharztanerkennung) |
| 1998 | Habilitation and venia legendi in neurology and neurophysiology |
| 1998 | Consultant Neurologist, Department of neurology, Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf |
| 2003 | Associate Professor, Heinrich-Heine University, Düsseldorf |
| 2003 | Hans-Jörg-Weitbrecht Award for clinical neuroscience |
| 2005 | Offer of chair in cognitive neuroscience, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada |
| 2006 | Reinhard-Heynen und Emmi-Heynen-Award |
| 2006 | Heinrich-Pette-award of the german society of neurology |
| 2006 | Full professor (W2) of neurology, Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf |
| 2007 | Full professor and chair in Neuroscience and Neurology, Wales Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Bangor University, UK |
| 2007 | Offers of a full professorship (W3) and chair in neurology, University hospital Bergmannsheil, Ruhr-University Bochum, and for full Professor (W3) and chair in clinical neuroscience and medical psychology, Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf |
| Professor Alfons Schnitzler has published a large number of original publications in international journals, reviews, and book chapters. He is a member of various neuroscientific and neurological societies, and board member of national and international scientific funding institutions | |
| Since 1st April, 2008 Professor Schnitzler is director of the institute of clinical neuroscience and medical psychology, and head of the movement disorders and neuromodulation centre at department of neurology, Heinrich-Heine University, Düsseldorf |
