News – SynAGE

2026

October 2026 – We are looking forward to next week’s 15th anniversary of the Female Career Days!

October 2026 – For this year’s Halloween our PhD students and postdocs have teamed up with other local training groups and institutes. We look forward to a joint night of networking, where science meets creepy costumes and food.

October 2026 – With nine internationally renowned experts and numerous SynAGE members, the program for the upcoming ISYNC2 conference is taking shape.

October 20206 – The yearly SynAGE retreat was again a great success. We had an intensive exchange during our Fiasco Fest, and we are very grateful that the AI trainer provided us with so many insights. And as after a retreat is before the next one, the final SynAGE retreat for 2027 will be planned soon.

September 2026 – Our ISYNC2 conference program takes shape! We are open for abstract submissions!

September 2026 – During our yearly retreat we’ll have an intense workshop on AI usage in scientific research and writing.

September 2026 – Welcome back after a short summer break. We are pleased that numerous invitations for our upcoming conference have already been accepted.

July 2026 – Congrats! Our PhD student Alexandre Ryzynski has defended his PhD thesis with success! We wish him all the best!

July 2026 – Our university’s team SPEEDY SYNAPSES made a second place in the Firmenstaffel running competition in the category mixed teams. Shows that our PhD student Niklas Behrenbruch is not just a talented young researcher but also strong runner!

July 2026 – Our PhD student, Larissa Fischer, was one of 600 young scientists from around the world at the 75th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings.

July 2026 – On Thursday, July 2nd our MD student Luisa Strackeljan has defended her MD thesis with great success!

June 2026 – We had a great last Squad Meeting before summer break. We wish all our members an inspiring summer & vacation time!

June 2026 – We are pleased to announce that our Rising Scientist Meet Up 2026 Poster Prize in recognition of an outstanding presentation of a scientific poster will be awarded to: Nina Lindemann (RTG2408) – for animal research and Manoj Pandiri (CRC1436) – for human / alternative research. Congratulations to the winners!

June 2026 – We still have open positions for new MD students! Interested in joining? Get in touch!

May 2026 – We fixed a new date for next year’s ISYNC2 International SynAGE Conference on Healthy Ageing: 10.-12.03.2027!

May 2026 – We welcome Zixu Wang as an associated MD student in the group of Prof. Dityatev.

April 2026 – The SynAGE International Mentoring Fund 2026 for female PhD/MD students has been awarded to Mariana Nunes. We wish her a great experience in Lisbon!

April 2026 – This year we’ll have the 15th anniversary of the Career Days of our Female Scientist Network. Stay tuned for further news! We are working on an interesting program.

April 2026 – Prof. Alberto Catanese, the director of the Institute of Anatomy of the Uniklinik RWTH Aachen, will give an invited talk on Tuesday, 28th of April. We are looking forward to an intense exchange.

April 2026 – Our PhD representatives are organizing a joint event together with further on-campus research training groups. More information coming soon!

March 2026 – We are thrilled that our PhD student, Larissa Fischer, was invited to participate in this year’s 75th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting. Congratulations!

March 2026 – We are delighted that our PhD student Mariana Nunes has been elected as PhD representative, and our PhD students Akilashree Senthilnathan and Gizem Keskin have been elected as co-representatives!

February 2026 – We are hiring 12 new MD students! Interested in joining? Get in touch!

February 2026 – We are happy to welcome Miriam Weißhaar as a new PhD student in project E4 and wish her all the best for her PhD time.

February 2026 – Time to celebrate for us! Our associated PhD student Jeimmy Ceron Gonzalez has defended her PhD thesis with great success. We wish her all the best in her future career!

February 2026 – For our 2nd Squad Meeting of the year, Kay Jüngling gave a great talk about „Home Cage-based Phenotyping of Transgenic Lines: Insights into the NPSRI System“ and Daniel Kluger held an online lecture on „Respiratory modulation of excitability states in the human brain“. Thanks for the two talks and stimulating discussions.

February 2026 – We are happy to announce that we settled for a date and found a nice place for the upcoming 2nd International SynAGE conference on Healthy Ageing 2027. More details will be published soon.

January 2026 – The new call for the International Mentoring for female PhD and MD students has just started! We are waiting for our female students to apply.

January 2026 – The year starts with a guest lecture on „Enhancing Cognitive and Brain Function in Aging Through Nutrition: Current Knowledge and Methodological/Translational Challenges“ by Dr. Lucia Penalba-Sánchez, Medical Faculty, OvGU.

2025

December 2025 – Our yearly Student General Assembly brought many new ideas for the upcoming year: it’s going to be a year of learning and sharing!

November 2025 – Time to celebrate for us! Our associated PhD student Sara Enrile Lacalle has defended her PhD thesis with great success. Sara has always been very engaging with people thanks to her warm and friendly nature. Whether in the lab or elsewhere, she was always ready to help. And during her dissertation defense, she once again demonstrated that she has what it takes to be a truly great scientist.

November 2025 – We are happy to welcome Annemarie Metzke as a new PhD student in project C2 and wish her all the best for her PhD time.

November 2025 – Together with the CBBS-graduate program we had a joined lunch meeting for new PhD students with insights into the German and Magdeburg research landscape.

October 2025 – On October, 28th we had the kick-off meeting for this years’s career days together with the Female Scientist Network and cooperating research training groups.

October 2025 – Our PI, Prof. Emrah Düzel, has published a book: Geistig fit bis ins hohe Alter – Ernährung, Sport und Gehirnjogging: Mit wissenschaftlichem Gedächtnistraining das Gehirn auf Trab halten und Demenz vorbeugen. This sel-help book is a guide for adults who want to stay mentally fit, whether for prevention, as a mental training plan, or as an introduction to brain training.

October 2025 – With the start of the new winter semester we are also restarting our Squad Meetings. This round will see a focus on the research of our postdocs.

October 2025 – Together with the CBBS-graduate program we had a two-day workshop on AI in research and writing. This intense time gave our students insights into what the future of AI in science may look like.

September 2025 – We are back from a great writing retreat. We had three intense days of writing, reading and discussions. In addition to input sessions, everybody had plenty of personal writing time to make progress with individual manuscripts, thesis proposals as well as theses.

September 2025 – Dr. Michael Kreutz was appointed Honorary Professor for Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience at the Medical Faculty of the Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg.

July 2025 – The SynAGE Summer School is over. Thanks to everyone who helped organize this great event by inviting speakers, managing the lab visits and organizing workshops. In particular, our special thanks goes to our members Konstantin for carrying out the workshop on R Graphics and Gabriel for giving the compact course on statistics!

July 2025 – From July 21st to 25th, we will have the SynAGE Summer School 2025 with a very varied program of lectures, workshops, hands-on activities and social activities: A time for learning and networking for our students, postdocs and PIs.

July 2025 – Our research training group supports the Learning & Memory Conference 2025 at the Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, LIN, which takes place from 28 September to 2 October.

June 2025 – We are happy that Carolina Bonmassar joint as new coordinator of the Female Scientist Network! We wish her much success.

June 2025 – Our Research Training Group participated in the Long Night of Science 2025! Under the motto Knowledge. From here. Many people showed their interest in science and research: families with kids, groups of friends, elderly couples,…

May 2025 – SynAGE will join the Young Research Day 2025 at the medical campus of the University of Magdeburg. Some of our PhD and MD students will present their results. Feels free to come and talk to us.

May 2025 – Pint of Science Magdeburg is back! Our PhD student, Sara Enrile, is part of the organizing committee. If you are interested, please check out the webpage.

March 2025 – Congrats Janelle! Our PI, Prof. Janelle Pakan, has been elected by our PhD and MD students as new ombudsperson for SynAGE.

March 2025 – Our postdoc, Hendrik Mattern has been promoted to Junior-Professor at the OvGU Institute for Physics. Congratulations!

February 2025 – CBBS Best Paper of The Year 2023 has been announed: Congratulations to the authors of the paper „Transdiagnostische und störungsspezifische Verstärkungslerndefizite bei Depression und Schizophrenie“ Hans Kirschner, Matthew R. Nassar, Adrian G. Fischer, Thomas Frodl, Gabriela Meyer-Lotz, Sören Froböse, Stephanie Seidenbecher, Tilmann A. Klein and Markus Ullsperger. Our postdoc Hans Kirchner presented the paper during the CBBS annual meeting.

February 2025 – Congratulations to our postdoc Hans Kirchner: We has won the CBBS Paper of the year award 2024 for his publication on „Transdiagnostic inflexible learning dynamics explain deficits in depression and schizophrenia“.

February 2025 – We are hiring 10 new MD students! Interested in joining? Get in touch!

February 2025 – We send a warm welcome to our newest members: Daniela Brunert, PhD and M.Sc. Kaoutar Elhabbari from the Rothermel lab have joined SynAGE as associated members.

February 2025 – The Starters Week for all our new PhD and MD students was a great success! Lectures, discussions and workshops gave all our newbies insides into what is to come in the upcoming months and years.

February 2025 – We are happy to welcome Debora Manz from the Stork Lab as a new associated PhD student.

January 2025 – The new call for the International Mentoring for female PhD and MD students has just started! We are waiting for our female students to apply.

January 2025 – SynAGE is delighted to announce that we are offering access to the Nature Masterclasses again for all our members! The on-demand training for researchers are taught by Nature portfolio journal editors and further experts.

January 2025 – After a longer break, the Learning and Memory Conference is back! Join this great event in Magdeburg from 28 September to 2 October 2025: XV Learning and Memory Conference.

January 2025 – With Felix Reininghaus and Ali Celik two highly motivated MD students have joined our research training group.

January 2025 – We welcome the new PhD students of our third cohort and wish all of them a very successful PhD time!

2024

December 2024 – We welcome a new associated PhD student! Alicia Wildemann from the Schreiber lab is joining project B2.

November 2024 – We are very proud that our PhD student Larissa Fischer received a Fulbright scholarship and will sure have a successful research stay in the USA in 2025. Congrats!

November 2024 – We are very pleased that the DFG has approved the supplementary application to include Prof. Markus Rothermel in our research training group. From January 2025, Prof. Rothermel will conduct research on the topic of „Research into the hippocampus-prefrontal cortex-AON network for cognitive and sensory performance in healthy aging“.

November 2024 – With Gizem Keskin and Mariana Nunes two new PhD students joined SynAGE in the Stork lab. In addition, Ani Menon started his PhD journey at LIN. Welcome!

Oktober 2024 – Our new MD students have joined the research training group for the upcoming two semesters. We wish the candidates every success and of course fun in their research.

September 2024 – With Julija Semionova and Daniel Janko the first new PhD students of the third cohort have started their journey to a PhD. We are sure they will have an exciting time ahead!

August 2024 – We are happy to announce that our associated PhD student Jana Nebel has defended her thesis with success! Congratulations!

August 2024 – Our PhD student and winner of the SynAGE International Mentoring Fund 2024 Larissa Fischer had a very inspiring research stay at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, USA in the lab of Prof. Jonathan Peelle.

July 2024 – Our PhD student Akilashree Senthilnathan has been granted an ERASMUS traineeship. She will go to the USA for two month. Congratulations!

June 2024 – Our SynAGE Retreat & Alumni Meeting was a great success with more than a dozen elevator talks, just as many poster presentations, a guest lecture and three alumni lectures on Science & Career.

May 2024 – We are hiring 13 new PhD students!

May 2024 – We are happy to announce the inaugural lecture „Geistig fit bis ins hohe Alter? – Dem Gedächtnis auf der Spur mittels multimodaler Bildgebung des Gehirns“ (in German) of Dr. Anne Maass as Dorothea-Christiane-Erxleben-Guest-Professor

April 2024 – The Pint of Science Festival comes to Magdeburg! When you join, you can meet our PhD student Sara Lacalle as the local city coordinator as well as other SynAGE members (Gürsel Caliskan, Oliver Stork) giving faszinating talks!

April 2024 – We are happy that our PhD students Sara Lacalle and Allison Loaiza are part of the organizing committee of ENCODS 2024!

April 2024 – SynAGE International Mentoring Fund 2024 for female PhD/MD students has been awarded to Larissa Fischer. We wish her all the best!

March 2024 – Patrick Müller has joined SynAGE as a associated member. Welcome!