Our laboratories employ state-of-the-art, multimodal equipment spanning a broad methodological spectrum - from molecular biology to cognitive, neuroscientific, and psychobiological approaches. This integrative infrastructure enables us to investigate complex research questions across multiple levels and to connect diverse perspectives within a unified research framework.
The simulation lab integrates virtual reality (VR) with physiological and behavioral measurements to study real-life processes under controlled, immersive conditions.
Key components include:
· EEG, eye-tracking, and peripheral physiology (e.g., heart rate, skin conductance)
· Behavioral markers, such as reaction times and movement patterns
· Research focuses include chronic back pain, age simulation, and stress-related behaviors
The stimulation lab enables the targeted modulation and measurement of brain and body processes using advanced neurophysiological tools:
· Non-invasive brain stimulation: transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), transcranial electrical stimulation (tDCS, tACS, tRNS)
· Pain induction methods: via thermal stimulation (thermode) and electrical stimuli
· Combined with EEG and peripheral physiological measures (e.g., EMG, heart rate) to precisely capture neural responses and behavioral changes
We are also performing functional and structural magentic resonance imaging (s/fMRT), including the fMRT-neurofeedback – a method for learning to voluntary regulate brain functions. This is implemented by a brain-computer interface, in which a signal, e.g. a flying ball, which represents a brain activity parameter is fed back to the participant. fMRI-Neurofeedback is gaining increasing meaning in translational neuroscience and has the potential of a future therapy.
Finally, we are active in app development, including citizen science apps, and the application of ecological momentary assessments (EMAs) - regular surveys of people's behavior, perceptions, and evaluations - collected several times a day over a period of several weeks. We are working with app developers to find solutions to develop user-friendly environments. Citizen Science Apps offer the possibility of participation of lay people and experts, who can collect and compare data themselves. We focus on the development and implementation of a digital health assessment. We create online-based psychosocial assessment batteries and transfer them into app-based versions.
This unit focuses on the assessment of cognitive functions such as attention, memory, executive functioning, and emotional processing using standardized neuropsychological test procedures. Diagnostics serve both research purposes and the clinical evaluation of neuropsychological and psychological disorders.
The research group has fully equipped sleep laboratories for human experiments with polysomnography, including electroencephalography (EEG), electrooculography (EOG), electromyography (EMG), electrocardiography (ECG), and the option of video recording. Each sleep laboratory has its own anteroom for monitoring, an examination room or bedroom with an adjustable bed, and fully equipped bathrooms. This allows for comprehensive supervision of the participants over a 24-hour period. The sleep laboratories also possess a blood collection system for repeated blood sampling during sleep. Equipment for the direct processing of blood samples is also available. In addition, the sleep laboratories are equipped for conducting cognitive testing.
The wet labs offer the possibility of processing human samples (including blood, saliva, and urine samples). The wet labs are fully equipped with, among other things, tabletop centrifuges, sterile benches, CO2 incubators, ELISA plate readers, refrigerators, and -20°C and -80°C freezers. Flow cytometric analyses are performed in laboratories outside the institute.
We study the circadian clock of the bacterium Bacillus subtilis. We use chemostat cultures, molecular genetics, reporter gene technology (luminometery and fluorimetry) both as a quantitative measure and in microscopy. Key resources include:
Wet labs for a microbiology nd cell culture including 5 x 1L chemostat culture systems Wet labs for DNA, RNA and protein work.
Specialised equipment for chronobiology research including luminometers and incubators
Microscope: Nikon TiE2 Live Cell Imaging Light and Fluorescence microscope
Note: Please contact Martha Merrow (merrow@lmu.de) if you wish to use the microscope. This can be arranged for a small service fee.
The research group has several modern EEG headbands for repeated, mobile sleep measurements in the home environment, actigraphs for long-term measurement of rest-activity rhythms and light exposure, and wearables for measuring heart rate, heart rate variability, electrodermal activity, and skin temperature. This equipment enables the long-term assessment of various physiological parameters in the participants’ natural environment.