Motoriklabor

Research Group
Experimental Neurology (“Motor Control Laboratory”)
Dagmar Timmann-Braun, MD, Associate Professor

Research Interests
The motor control group is interested in the physiology of the human cerebellum. A major interest is the involvement of the human cerebellum in different forms of motor learning. Questions addressed are whether the cerebellum is involved in particular forms of learning, which cerebellar areas are involved and what the mechanisms of cerebellar involvement are. Another interest is the role of the cerebellum in cognition.
A main focus is the study of patients with defined cerebellar pathology. Localization of focal cerebellar lesions and extent of atrophy in cerebellar degeneration are defined based on high-resolution structural MRI. Lesion data is correlated with findings in neurophysiological and psychological experiments. In addition, functional MRI studies are performed using 1.5T and 7T MR scanners.

Members of the Group (Phone, Email)
Group leader:
Dagmar Timmann-Braun, MD, +49 201 723 3816, Dagmar.Timmann-Braun@uni-duisburg-essen.de

Deputy group leader:
Marcus Gerwig, MD, +49 201 723 2364, Marcus.Gerwig@uni-duisburg-essen.de

Group members:
Beate Brol, technician, +49 201 723 2594, Beate.Brol@uni-duisburg-essen.de
Barbara Brandauer, PhD, +49 201 723 3769, Barbara.Brandauer@uni-duisburg-essen.de
Hans-Gerd Elles, technician, +49 201 723 2594, Hans-Gerd.Elles@uni-duisburg-essen.de
Markus Frings, MD, +49 201 723 3267, Markus.Frings@uni-duisburg-essen.de
Nicole Fritsche, PT, +49 201 723 2884, Nicole.Fritsche@uk-essen.de
Christoph Hein-Kropp, ST, +49 201 723 2712, Christoph.Hein-Kropp@uni-duisburg-essen
Michael Küper, MD, +49 201 723 3815, michael.kueper@uni-duisburg-essen.de
Kasja Rabe, MD, +49 201 723 3769, kasja.rabe@uni-duisburg-essen.de
Christoph Schorn, MD, +49 201 723 2594, christoph.schorn@uni-duisburg-essen.de
Markus Thürling, MS, +49 201 723 3815, markus.thuerling@uni-duisburg-essen.de

Student help:
Isabella Werecki, +49 201 723 3815, isabella.werecki@web.de
Christoph Baumjohann, +49 201 723 3815, fomaiko@web.de

Medical students:
Paul Buderath; Christoph Baumjohann; Uta Bultmann; Kathrin Döring; Maren Erichsen;
Anna Esser; Kristina Gärtner; Benedikt Frank; Theresa Geissendörfer; Hanjo Groetschel;
Hana Guberina; Karim Hajjar; Aidan Hogan; Daniela Pierscianek; Björn Propson; Lisa
Rauschen; Lutz Schmitz; Kristina Spangenberg; Nina Spönemann; Nicholas Westermeyer

Former members and students of the group:
Bakiye Aslan, MD; Nadia Awad. MD; Andrea Banaski, MD; Claudia Belting, MD; Raoul
Boenisch, MD; Julia Bohrenkämper, MD; Stefanie Bruckmann, technician; Katja Bürgerhoff,
MS; Sandra Calabrese, MS; Albena Dimitrova, PhD; Johannes Drepper, MS, Barbara
Gorissen, MD; Katharina Haerter, MD; Olaf Kaiser, MD; Kerstin Kindsvater, MD; Ulrich
Krause, MD; Stefan Kruscona, technician; Asha Kunnel, MD; Petra Mummel, MD; Katrin
Ohde (Matthies), MD; Tobias Ohde, MD; Alexandra Ozimek, MD; Plummer, MD; Norman
Putzki, MD; Stefanie Richter, PhD; Carmen Riedel, technician; Achim Schwabe, MD; Sonja
Sturm, MD; Gisbert Wortmann, MD; Dominik Zeljko, MD

Phone numbers
+49 201 723 3815/ 2594 (Lab, ground floor)
+49 201 723 2865 (Lab, basement)
+49 201 723 3769 (Lab, ground floor)
+49 201 723 3816 (Dagmar Timmann-Braun)

Fax number
+49 201 723 5985

Funding
The group is funded since 1995 by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG), EU, intramural funding, the German Heredoataxia Society and the Bernd Fink Foundation.

Important publications (last five years)
Rabe K, Brandauer B, Li Y, Gizewski ER, Timmann D, Hermsdörfer J. (2009) Size-weight illusion, anticipation and adaptation of fingertip forces in patients with cerebellar degeneration. J Neurophysiol 1: 569-579

Ilg M, Giese MA, Gizewski ER, Schoch B, Timmann D. (2008) The influence of focal cerebellar lesions on the control and adaptation of gait. Brain 131: 2913-2927

Gizewski ER, de Greiff A, Maderwald S, Timmann D, Forsting M, Ladd ME. (2007) fMRI at 7T: whole brain coverage and signal advantages even infratentorially? Neuroimage 37: 761-768

Kronenbuerger M, Gerwig M, Brol B, Block F, Timmann D. (2007) Eyeblink conditioning is impaired in subjects with essential tremor. Brain 130: 1538-1551

Frank B, Schoch B, Hein-Kropp C, Dimitrova A, Hövel M, Ziegler W, Gizewski ER, Richter S, Timmann D. (2007) Verb generation in children and adolescents with acute cerebellar lesions. Neuropsychologia 45: 977-988

Schoch B, Dimitrova A, Gizewski ER, Timmann D. (2006) Functional localization in the human cerebellum based on voxelwise statistical analysis: a study of 90 patients. Neuroimage 30: 36-51

Dimitrova A, Zeljko D, Schwarze F, Redies C, Maschke M, Gerwig M, Frings M, Beck A, Aurich V, Forsting M, Timmann D. (2006) Probabilistic 3D MRI atlas of the human cerebellar nuclei. Neuroimage 30: 12-25

Gerwig M, Hajjar K, Dimitrova A, Maschke M, Kolb FP, Frings M, Thilmann AF, Forsting M, Diener HC, Timmann D. (2005) Timing of conditioned eyeblink responses is impaired in cerebellar patients. J. Neurosci. 25: 3919-3931

Konczak J, Schoch B, Dimitrova A, Gizewski E, Timmann D. (2005) Functional recovery of children and adolescents after cerebellar tumour resection. Brain 128: 1428-1441

Schoch B, Gorißen B, Richter S, Ozimek A, Kaiser O, Dimitrova A, Regel JP, Wieland R, Hövel M, Gizewski E, Timmann D. (2004) Do children with focal cerebellar lesions show deficits in shifting attention? J. Neurophysiol. 92: 1856-1866

Scientific Collaborations
Elke R. Gizewski, MD, Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology (Head: M. Forsting);
Hanna Christiansen, MS, Johannes Hebebrand, MD (Head), Children’s Department of Psychiatry, Rheinische Kliniken;
Mark Ladd, PhD (Head); Stefan Maderwald, PhD, Oliver Kraff, PhD, Erwin L. Hahn Institute for Magnetic Resonance Imaging;
Beate Schoch, MD, Department of Neurosurgery (Head: U. Sure);
Mario Siebler, MD (Head), Department of Neurology, Fachklinik Rhein-Ruhr, Essen;
Regina Wieland, MD, Department of Pediatric Oncology and Hematology (Head: A. Eggert)
Volker Aurich, PhD, Andreas Beck, PhD, Department of Informatics, University of Düsseldorf;
Otmar Bock, MD, Department of Anatomy and Physiology, Sports College Cologne;
Joachim Hermsdörfer, PhD, Dennis Nowak, MD, Entwicklungsgruppe Klin. Neuropsychologie, Munich-Bogenhausen;
Jörn Diedrichsen, PhD, School of Psychology, University of Bangor, Wales;
Opher Donchin, PhD, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel;
Jonathan Hore, PhD, Department of Physiology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada;
Winfried Ilg, PhD, Hertie-Institute for Clinical Brain Research, Tübingen
Hans-Otto Karnath, MD, PhD, Stefanie Richter, PhD, Hertie-Institute for Clinical Brain Research, Tübingen;
Thomas Klockgether, MD, Department of Neurology, University of Bonn;
Florian P. Kolb, PhD, Department of Physiology, University of Munich;
Jürgen Konczak, PhD, Human Sensorimotor Control Laboratory, University of Minnesota, USA;
Martin Kronenbürger, MD, Department of Neurology, RWTH Aachen;
Matthias Maschke, MD, Trier;
Wolfram Ziegler, PhD, Entwicklungsgruppe Klin. Neuropsychologie, Munich-Bogenhausen

Meetings
“Journal-Club”: The members of the group meet to present and discuss recent scientifc publications and current projects. Meetings take place on Tuesdays, 6 pm to 7 pm every other week in the Motor Control Laboratory.

“Neurophysiologal Seminar”: Invited speakers present their scientifc work. Speakers frequently work on the physiology of the cerebellum. Meetings take place on Thursdays, 5.15 pm to 6.15 pm in the lecture theatre of the Herzzentrum in der ground floor.

Links
Weblog: www.dagmar-timmann.de