Curious to see who the new ZNZ members are? Read on to learn about their research interests.
New ZNZ research group leaders:
Dr. Asli Ayaz
Brain Research Institute, UZH
We perceive the outside world as a result of continuous sensorimotor interactions. We guide our gaze to what we want to look at; we choose and approach what to touch smell or taste. In addition our motor actions are carried out guided by sensory inputs. Our research focuses on understanding how sensory inputs are integrated with motor actions to produce a unified percept. We specifically investigate sensorimotor circuitry during active exploratory behavior in mice. We use calcium imaging to measure neuronal activity and viral and genetic constructs to dissect and manipulate the circuitry. More
Prof. Urs Meyer
Institute of Veterinary Pharmacology and Toxicology, UZH
We investigate how early-life environmental adversities such as prenatal infection, pubertal stress, and nutritional imbalances can influence brain development and shape the risk of long-term brain abnormalities. Our research group combines behavioral and cognitive tests, immunological assays and neuroanatomical techniques in rodent models relevant to multifactorial neurodevelopmental disorders such as schizophrenia and autism. We also examine the role of epigenetic processes in environmentally induced brain pathologies and test new pharmacological approaches against chronic brain disorders with neurodevelopmental origins. More
Prof. Nicolas Langer
Department of Psychology, UZH
Our lab develops new neurophysiological and neuroimaging measures in the context of human brain plasticity. Specifically, we are interested in mechanisms for stabilization and compensation across the lifespan. In particular, we investigate the relationship between brain plasticity and cognitive functioning, such as perceptual processing, learning, (working-)memory, decision-making and processing speed. We are designing and implementing novel multi-modal (psychophysics, eye-tracking, electrophysiology, fMRI) paradigms and associate them functional network models, machine learning, longitudinal analyses and computational modeling. More