Barbara Molz

 babs

Profile Update 28.02.2019

Current activities/Accomplishments:

I am currently in the process of finalising my patient-related projects, where I am collaborating with Otto-von-Guericke University (Magdeburg) and Hadassah Medical Centre (Jerusalem). Here, I have used neuroimaging methods to study how congenital photoreceptor abnormalities affect functional and anatomical properties in early visual cortex. This research has the potential to help shape the way restorative therapies could be used in the future and could enable clinicians to predict in which patients these therapies are most likely to succeed.

Parallel to this, I am preparing a manuscript for a project where I have used fMRI to investigate the effects of luminance on visual cortical estimates in healthy participants, and how this relates to different retinal pathways.

Future plans:

I am aiming to achieve a postdoctoral fellowship in the field of cognitive neuroscience, where I would like to continue using neuroimaging methods. My goal is to combine my existing expertise in functional connectivity with cutting-edge computational methods with a focus on clinical applicable research.

My NextGenVis Experience:

The opportunity to work alongside leading researchers in the field of vision science and to be able to complete my PhD at the University of York as a part of the NextGenVis ITN has been very rewarding and solidified my goal of a career in science. For myself, NextGenVis has opened a door to set-up collaborations across Europe and has given me experience in scientific industry. I especially value the fact that we additionally gained a foundation of useful soft skills that will allow me to develop my independence as a researcher, such as grant-writing, business start-up planning, and the importance of interdisciplinary networking. I count myself extremely lucky and privileged to have been a part of this network as apart from the many scientific benefits, NGV has also simply been a lot of fun and made this whole PhD experience a very enjoyable one.

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Background:

2006 – 2010:   BSc, Biology, University of Regensburg, Germany     Focus: Molecular Biology

2010 – 2013: MSc, Molecular Biology, University of Vienna            Focus: Neuroscience

Professional Experience

5/2012 – 4/2014:       Diploma Student/ Research Assistant (IMP, Vienna)

The Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP),Vienna

5/2014 – 5/2015:        Research Assistant (Medical University of Vienna)

Projects:

  • Identifcaton of the Vacuolar medulla mutation of Drosophila melanogaster
    (Bachelor Thesis, Regensburg)
  • nAChR subunit composition in the early postnatal mouse hippocampus
    (Internship, Center for Brain Research, Vienna)
  • Identificaton of mushroombody subsets important for courtship conditioning in Drosophila melanogaster   (Master Thesis, IMP, Vienna)
  • Assistant researcher in projects investigating mechanisms involved in the pathophysiology of depression   (Research Assistant, Medical University of Vienna)

Interests: Electrophysiology, Synaptic plasticity, Circuit Neuroscience, Neuroimaging

Next GenVis Project

My current project within the NextGenVis network plans to examine visual cortical function and reassessing reorganizing in individuals with retinal degeneration using MRI and fMRI approaches with a focus on detecting alterations in major metabolites using magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Next to human studies we will also investigate same procedures in mice and additionally follow up on occurring changes after gene therapy.