Principal Investigator
Prof. Dr. med. Inga Katharina Koerte, M.D.
Inga Katharina Koerte is Professor of Neurobiological Research at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) Munich, where she directs cBRAIN — the Center for Brain Research and Neuroimaging — within the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. She is concurrently Lecturer in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and President of the European Neurotrauma Organization (ENO), which she co-founded in 2019.
Her research investigates the effects of brain trauma on brain structure, function, and neurochemistry across the lifespan, with a particular focus on populations historically underrepresented in the field — children, adolescents, and women. The work of her group established that exposure to repetitive head impacts is associated with measurable alterations in brain microstructure, a finding that has reshaped how risk is conceptualized in contact sports and contributed to international policy changes in youth heading guidelines. Current work investigates the biological mechanisms including white matter injury, neuroinflammation, brain clearance, and accelerated aging that determine why individuals with comparable exposures diverge toward recovery or neurodegeneration.
Prof. Koerte is Principal Investigator of NEUROPRECISE, an ERC Starting Grant identifying neurosteroid-based biomarkers of brain injury and recovery in children and adolescents. She has coordinated or co-led several European consortia (REPIMPACT, NEU-VASC), led the NIH R01 funded project on sex differences in sports-related concussion, and chaired the ENIGMA Sports-Related Brain Injury group. She is a Principal Investigator of the German Center for Child and Adolescent Health (DZKJ) and Co-Leader of the BMFTR-funded PROMISE Advanced Clinician Scientist Program at LMU. She is Faculty Member of the International Max Planck Research School for Translational Psychiatry (IMPRS-TP) and Adjunct Faculty at the Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences (GSN) in Munich.
Her research has been recognized with the Prinzessin Therese von Bayern Prize of the Bavarian State Government, among other awards, and has been featured in The New York Times, TIME, BBC, CNN, Der Spiegel, Die ZEIT, FAZ,ARD, and ZDF.
Contact Inga: inga.koerte [at] med.uni-muenchen [dot] de
Senior Scientists & Post-Docs
Dr. rer. nat. Saskia Rusche (née Steinmann)
Saskia joined cBrain in 2023 as a Senior Scientist. Prior to this, she was Co-Director of the Psychiatry Neuroimaging Branch (PNB) at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, a lecturer at the University of Hamburg, and a visiting scientist at Harvard Medical School’s Psychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory (PNL). Her research focuses on utilizing multimodal neuroimaging techniques (EEG, fMRI, EEG-fMRI, and dMRI) to investigate the pathophysiology of psychiatric and neurological disorders.
Throughout her career, she has received several scholarships and authored over 30 publications in peer-reviewed journals. She is particularly known for her work on brain hemispheric dysfunction as a mediating factor behind auditory-verbal hallucinations in schizophrenia, which led to the development of the “interhemispheric miscommunication theory.” Currently, she is working on developing a transdiagnostic fMRI-based neurofeedback intervention aimed at normalizing dysfunctional networks in neurological, metabolic, and psychiatric disorders. Saskia holds an M.A. from LMU Munich and a PhD from the University of Hamburg.
Contact Saskia: saskia.rusche [at] med.uni-muenchen [dot] de
Alberto Villagran, M.Sc.
Philine Rojczyk, Dr. hum. biol.
Philine graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in psychology from Leiden University, The Netherlands and moved to Germany in 2016 where she is a clinical psychology Master’s student at Medical School Hamburg. Philine is interested in brain structural changes during brain development. Following her Master’s she spent a 1 year research traineeship at HMS. After having obtained her PhD., she is now a post-doc at cBRAIN.
Contact Philine: philine.rojczyk [at] med.uni-muenchen [dot] de
Research Coordinator
Anja Betz, M.Sc.
Anja joined cBRAIN in 2022 for her thesis project and graduated in 2023 with a Master's degree in Clinical Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience. During this time, she also visited HMS for a research internship. She stayed at cBRAIN as a research coordinator and has since started her PhD at the Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences (GSN) and the International Max Planck Research School for Translational Psychiatry (IMPRS-TP). Her active research interests lie at the intersection of neuropsychology and neuroimaging: physiological and psychological consequences of mTBI, prognosis and early potential for intervention, as well as the statistical modelling of neuroimaging data.
Contact Anja: anja.betz [at] med.uni-muenchen [dot] de
Administrative & Project Assistants
Carolina Silberbauer
Carolina Silberbauer has been working as a project assistant and study nurse in the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at LMU since 2009. She collaborates across various research groups, coordinates the study nurses team, and is responsible for organizational tasks as well as public relations work.
As a certified mindfulness trainer (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction), she led weekly mindfulness and meditation sessions for the cBRAIN team. Additionally, she is responsible for the mindfulness training of children, adolescents, and adults involved in the mindfulness-based fMRI neurofeedback study (mbNF).
Contact Carolina: carolina.silberbauer[at]med.uni-muenchen [dot] de
Dissertation Candidates
Luisa Berger, B.Sc.
Luisa is a medical student at LMU Munich and a doctoral candidate with cBRAIN since 2022. During her B.Sc. in Psychology at the University of Freiburg, she developed a strong interest in mental health research, particularly in exploring the intersection of neuroimaging and psychiatric symptoms. Supported by a full scholarship from the German Academic Scholarship Foundation, she conducted research at the PNL Lab at Harvard Medical School in Boston and the AIM Lab at King’s College London.
Her research explores diffusion imaging of mTBI and PTSD symptoms in vulnerable populations, such as military veterans and individuals who have experienced intimate partner violence. Luisa is dedicated to using advanced data analysis to uncover the biological mechanisms underlying psychiatric symptoms. In her free time, she enjoys nature, animals, and discovering Munich’s art galleries.
Contact Luisa: luisa.berger [at] med.uni-muenchen [dot] de
Alexandra Castro Silva
Contact Alexandra: Alexandra.Castro [at] med.uni-muenchen [dot] de
Leonard Jung
Leonard is a medical student at LMU and a doctorate student at cBRAIN since 2019. Using advanced MRI techniques, he investigates the impact of contact sports on brain clearance and accelerated aging processes. Leonard has received the LMU- international medical research scholarship (iFo MeCuM) and the LMU-Harvard research scholarship.
Contact Leo: leonard.jung [at] med.uni-muenchen [dot] de
Lisa Fuchs
Lisa is a medical student at LMU. She joined cBrain as a research assistant in October 2023 and began her Doctoral studies in August 2024 at our partner lab, The Center for Clinical Spectroscopy at Brigham and Women´s Hospital in Boston. There, she investigates the effects of Traumatic Brain Injury, and hormonal influences on brain metabolism. She is holding a scholarship by LMU’s student excellence program (StEP).
Contact Lisa: lisa.fuchs [at] med.uni-muenchen [dot] de
Lasse Lohman
Lasse is a medical student at LMU and doctorate candidate at cBRAIN. He joined the team in September 2022 as a research module student. Lasse is interested in investigating the brain's gray matter affected by repetitive head impacts.
Contact Lasse: jan.lohmann [at] med.uni-muenchen [dot] de
Hanneke MacLaren, B.Sc.
Hanneke is enrolled in the Fast-Track PhD programme within the Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences (GSN) and started her PhD at cBRAIN in October 2022. She completed her undergraduate degree in neuroscience at the University of Dundee in Scotland. Her main projects investigate diagnostic and prognostic tools for clinical outcomes after pediatric mTBI, with a particular focus on the influence of sex differences.
Contact Hanneke: hanneke.maclaren [at] med.uni-muenchen [dot] de
Lisa Nguyen
Lisa is a medical student at LMU and joined cBRAIN as a research assistant in 2021. Driven by her passion for neuroimaging and the effects of PTSD and mTBI on the human brain, she has continued to work as a doctorate student since April 2023. During her first research stay at the PNL, HMS, in 2023, she was funded by the Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds Travel Grant. For her second stay in 2024, she was awarded the Carl-Duisberg-Fellowship and the Biomedical Education Program Fellowship. Lisa is holding scholarships of the Barthel Foundation and the Hans-Rudolf-Foundation.
Contact Lisa: lisa.nguyen [at] med.uni-muenchen [dot] de
Luisa Schuhmacher
Simon Weissbrod
Simon is a medical student at LMU since 2020 and has been a dissertation candidate at cBRAIN since 2023. His main research focus lies in diffusion weighted imaging, exploring white matter microstructure of young athletes exposed to repetitive head impacts (RHI). He aims to further understand the sex differences in RHI-exposed athletes and what changes drive health outcomes in later life. For his research year he visited the Psychiatric Neuroimaging Lab (PNL) at Harvard medical school supported by the Elite Network of Bavaria and the German Academic Scholarship Foundation.
Contact Simon: simon.weissbrod[at] med.uni-muenchen [dot] de
Tim Wiegand
Tim is a medical student at LMU and a medical PhD student at cBRAIN. For his medical PhD, he focusses on advanced neuroimaging techniques for the study of effects of repetitive head impacts in soccer players as well as Americal football players. In addition, he is doing research on AI applications in neurology. After spending a summer internship at the PNL in 2017, he has returned as a research trainee to the PNL in March 2021. Tim is co-founder of the student working group OneAIM ("AI in Medicine"). He is holding scholarships of LMU, Harvard-Munich Club, and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.
Contact Tim: tim.wiegand [at] med.uni-muenchen [dot] de
Isabel Celine Rosbander
Isabel is a medical student at the LMU. She works as a research assistant at cBRAIN since 2024, and plans on pursuing her medical doctorate in the lab. Isabel has been interested in the functioning of the human brain since her school days. In particular, how it enables us to perform complex actions, shapes our personality, controls our behaviour and distinguishes us from other living beings. For her doctorate she is particularly interested in investigating diseases and injuries that disturb the delicate balance of the brain and treatment options.
Contact Isabel: isabel.rosbander[at] med.uni-muenchen [dot] de