Research Team
Medical University of Innsbruck (MUI)
Project Leader: Dr. Noora Tuovinen
Noora Tuovinen is the Project Leader and a Senior Scientist at Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Psychosomatics and Medical Psychology, Division of Psychiatry I at the MUI. She is a neuroscientist and an expert in advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) designs and analyses. She holds a PhD in Neuroscience and Imaging, an MSc in Biomedical Engineering and has completed BSc level courses in Psychology. Her research interests are in brain connectivity applied to affective disorders and schizophrenia.
Phd student Lilian Götz
Lilian Götz is involved at the Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Psychosomatics and Medical Psychology (MUI) in clinical assessments, data management, MRI analyses, and statistical analyses to investigate the effect of childhood maltreatment on social cognition, neural parameters and mental health outcomes.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Christine Hörtnagl
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hörtnagl is is a senior physician at the University Clinic for Psychiatry I (MUI). She is an expert in social cognition in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, with a scientific focus on emotion recognition.
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Alex Hofer
Prof. Dr. Hofer is Head of the Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Psychosomatics and Medical Psychology (MUI) and an expert in psychiatry and psychotherapeutic medicine. His primary research interests relate to the factors affecting patient outcomes in schizophrenia and affective disorders (including neurocognition, social cognition, and resilience) as well as to drug safety.
Dr. Timo Schurr (Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin, Ireland / MUI)
Dr. Schurr is a Senior Scientist with expertise in statistical methods and clinical research currently working as MSCA Post-Doc Fellow at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin, Ireland. His main areas of research comprise severe psychiatric disorders (schizophrenia), affective disorders, suicidology, (Alzheimer’s) dementia, resilience, and stress reduction.
Nataliia Maronchuk, MSc
Maronchuk is a clinical psychologist and researcher at the Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Psychosomatics and Medical Psychology (MUI). She is responsible for participant recruitment as well as psychopathological, neuropsychological, and cognitive assessments. Her main research interests include cognition, resilience, and stigma in patients with affective disorders and schizophrenia.
Ass. Prof. Dr. Beatrice Frajo-Apor
Beatrice Frajo-Apor is a psychiatrist and Assistant Professor at the Department of Psychiatry (MUI), holding a tenure-track position focusing on social cognition in severe mental disorders. She leads the specialized outpatient clinic for psychotic disorders, combining clinical expertise with translational research approaches. Her scientific work focuses on social cognition, emotion regulation, and functional outcomes in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
Dr. Kilian Lommer
Dr. Lommer of the Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Psychosomatics and Medical Psychology (MUI)
Mag. Dr. Laurin Mauracher
Mag. Dr. Laurin Mauracher is a psychiatrist who leads the general outpatient clinic at the Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Psychosomatics and Medical Psychology (MUI). His clinical and scientific interest is in mood disorders including bipolar disorder, neuroimaging, and noninvasive brain stimulation treatments, such as electroconvulsive therapy.
Dr. Steiger Ruth
Dr. Steiger is an MRI physicist at the Department of Radiology, Neuroimaging Core Facility (MUI).
Dr. Christian Siedentopf
Dr. Siedentopf is a radiologist at the Department of Radiology (MUI).
Univ.-Prof. Dr. med. Elke R Gizewski
Prof. Dr. Gizewski, MHBA, has board certification in Radiology, Neuroradiology and Psychotherapy and certificates in interventional Radiology. In 2012 she was appointed University Professor (Neuroradiology), Department of Neuroradiology, MUI. Since 2023, she is head of the Department of Radiology, MUI. Her research interests include structural, functional, metabolic cerebral magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), ultra-high field MRI and interventional radiology addressing many aspects of image-guided diagnosis and therapy (IGDT) in radiology. She is coordinator of the FWF founded IGDT PhD programme at the MUI.
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Christian Humpel (MUI)
Prof. Dr. Humpel is the Head of the Laboratory of Psychiatry (MUI). The laboratory is specialized on the analysis of biomarkers in blood to diagnose Alzheimer´s disease. Since more than 20 years they analyse biomarkers in cerebrospinal fluid, plasma, blood cells (monocytes, peripheral blood mononuclear cells [PBMC], platelets) or in saliva. In the present project they will isolate PBMC using separation of blood on a Pancoll gradient with Leucosep tubes.
Ragerdikashani Mohadeseh, BMA (MUI)
Ragerdikashani Mohadeseh works at the Laboratory of Psychiatry (MUI). She holds an MSc in Cellular and Molecular Biology, with a background in protein biochemistry, molecular biology, and cell-based assays. Her research experience spans neurobiology, immunology, and neuroinflammation, including work on protein aggregation in cataract pathogenesis, neurogenesis in stress-related disorders, and immune modulation in neurological disease models. She has extensive hands-on experience with molecular cloning, recombinant protein production, cell culture, organotypic brain slices, immunostaining, and flow cytometry. Currently, her research interests focus on neuroinflammation and neurodegenerative mechanisms, particularly in experimental models of Alzheimer’s disease, where she applies advanced cellular and molecular techniques to understand disease-related processes.
Leopold-Franzens University of Innsbruck (LFU)
Ass. Prof. Dr. Alexander Karabatsiakis (LFU)
Ass. Prof. Dr. Karabatsiakis works at the Department of Psychology, Clinical Psychology II, LFU. He has extensive experience in the methodology of psychoneuroimmunological and psychoneuroendocrine consequences of stress and childhood maltreatment. His research focuses on clinical psychology and molecular psychotraumatology. He is an expert in the analysis of telomeres and inflammatory markers from blood samples.
PhD student Elisa Mezzadri
Elisa Mezzadri is involved in the blood-based and clinical assessments at the Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Psychosomatics and Medical Psychology (MUI), as well as in data management and statistical analyses to investigate the effect of childhood maltreatment on social cognition, biomolecular markers and mental health outcomes at the Department of Psychology (LFU).
Partners
Prof. Dr. Alexander Lischke (Department of Psychology, Medical School Hamburg, Germany).
Prof. Dr. Lischke is a clinical psychologist and psychotherapist and an expert in social interactions and cognition, as well as psycho- and neurophysiology (MRI).
ARCH – Adversity, Resilience and Life-Course Health
ARCH – Adversity, Resilience and Life-Course Health, an international consortium dedicated to advancing research on how early adversity shapes health and social functioning across the lifespan.
Global Collaboration on Traumatic Stress
We collaborate in the theme Childhood Trauma with the Global Collaboration on Traumatic Stress: https://www.global-psychotrauma.net/child-maltreatment.
