As a physician and cognitive neuroscientist, I am involved in basic science projects, as well as their clinical application. My research focuses on understanding the role of cortical and subcortical neural oscillations for physiological and pathological information processing. During my PhD, I studied oscillatory prefrontal-hippocampal interactions during cognitive control in epilepsy patients. Thereafter I shifted my focus on characterizing the neural signature of cognitive and emotional processing in Parkinson’s disease. My aim is to use our insights into the neural bases of non-motor symptoms to develop patient-tailored therapeutic interventions, such as adaptive deep brain stimulation. After working with Lars Timmermann in Marburg, Germany, I moved on to work with Philip Starr at UCSF, USA, and manage my lab remotely.
I studied biology in Rostock with a main focus on neurophysiology. During work on my diploma thesis I specialized on pathophysiology and treatment of movement disorders, especially Parkinson’s disease. For my PhD in Prof. Timmermann's lab in Cologne, I switched from animal studies to clinical studies. During this time, I acquired a wide array of different recording and analysis techniques, including high resolution EEG measurement, deep brain recordings, time-frequency and source analysis. One of my main research aims was to analyze the information flow between deep brain structures and peripheral muscle activity in Parkinson's disease Patients. I am especially interested in nonlinear analysis tools, as I believe that many common linear techniques do not fully capture the brains complexity. For this purpose I developed NoLiTiA, a free open-source Matlab toolbox readily available at www.nolitia.com.
With a background in neurology and particularly in tremor and other movement disorders, I have been engaged in clinical as well as basic science projects before. My current research focuses on electrophysiological recordings at different brain regions and different imaging modalities on patients suffering from essential tremor. My aim is to analyse the abnormal interplay of multiple sites within the brain for a clearer understanding of the origin of these unvoluntary rhythmic oscillations.
In April 2017, I commenced working as a clinician at the Department of
Neurology of the University Hospital Marburg. I have completed my medical
studies in Gettysburg, Boston, Sydney, London, and Cologne and received my
medical degree from the University of Cologne in 2017. During my
preclinical studies, I was able to gain experience in the field of
functional cancer genomics at the Max-Plank-Institute in Cologne.
Consecutively, I continued my research as a doctoral candidate in the team
of Professor Timmermann. My primary thematic focus is the concept of
communication between distinct brain areas. Here, I am interested in the
effects of physiological ageing and disease, in particular Parkinson’s
disease, on neuronal communication. Furthermore, I am interested in the
diverse non-motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease and try to understand
their neurophysiological basis.
Dr. Josefine Waldthaler, MD
Waldthaler Lab
During my clinical training at the university of Regensburg, I gathered broad experience in the diagnosis and treatment of movement disorders with a special interest in deep brain stimulation. Since my time as a postdoc at Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, I started to focus on the analysis of eye movements in neurodegenerative diseases. My current aim is to study the pathophysiological mechanisms of saccade generation in movement disorders. The main goal is the development of a tool for earlier diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease and atypical Parkinson syndromes to facilitate the implementation of possibly neuromodulatory therapies. My current eye tracking project „Individualisierte Diagnosen für die Früherkennung von Hirnerkrankungen mittels nicht-invasiver Augenbewegungsmessung" (DIADEM), in cooperation with Thomas RECORDING GmbH, is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).
Nach meinem Medizinstudium und Promotion an der Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel legte ich 1998 das United States Medical Licensing Exam Step 2 ab und approbierte 1999 mit dem deutschen Staatsexamen. Während meiner Zeit als Assistenzarzt in Düsseldorf forschte ich in der Arbeitsgruppe von Prof. Alfons Schnitzler mit MEG an der Interaktion von Hirnarealen bei Bewegungsstörungen und leitete ab 2002 die Nachwuchsgruppe „Pathophysiologie von Bewegungsstörungen“. Im Jahr 2007 wechselte ich an die Uniklinik Köln, wo ich als Oberarzt und Leiter der Arbeitsgruppe „Bewegungsstörungen und Tiefe Hirnstimulation“ tätig war. 2007 habilitierte ich mich (Düsseldorf) und bekam 2008 den Ruf auf die W2-Professur „Neurologische Bewegungsstörungen“ an der Uniklinik Köln. Seit 2009 bin ich Leiter der „Klinischen Forschergruppe 219: Basalganglien-Kortex-Schleifen: Mechanismen pathologischer Interaktionen und ihrer therapeutischen Modulation“ mit Förderung durch die Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft und bekam 2015 an der Uniklinik Köln eine W3 Professur auf Lebenszeit für „Neurologische Bewegungsstörungen“. Seit dem 01. September 2016 bin ich Direktor der Klinik für Neurologie an der Uniklinik Marburg. Mich fasziniert die Pathophysiologie von Bewegungsstörungen, wie bspw. Morbus Parkinson, essentieller Tremor oder Dystonie, und die Möglichkeiten diese Erkrankungen mittels Tiefer Hirnstimulation wirkungsvoll zu behandeln.
Tel.: 06421/58-66276
