I obtained a medical degree (MD) from Koc University and am interested in molecular, hormonal and stress-related alterations leading to mental disorders.

Currently, I am investigating the hormonal and epigenetic changes in pubertal girls and associated alterations in stress response as a PhD researcher at IRTG2804: Women’s Mental Health Across the Reproductive Years.

Besides, I love art-house movies, dancing, yoga, and diving. 

My background is in cellular and molecular neuroscience and vision research. I was looking into behavioural and neuronal mechanisms of saccadic suppression in rhesus monkeys as well as humans.

Currently, I am a PhD student in Birgit Derntls Lab where I am working on associations between estradiol and stress reactivity. Together with my supervisors, Birgit Derntl and Lydia Kogler, I will be exploring how estradiol influences the stress response in naturally cycling and postmenopausal women after a psychosocial stressor. 

Outside of my research I enjoy gardening, any arts and crafts as well as going for long walks with my dogs. 

Madeleine Kördel is a PhD researcher under the supervision of Prof. Kroemer and Dr. Henes. Prior to her PhD, she studied psychology at the University of Würzburg and worked as a part-time research assistant, which sparked her interest for neuroscientific research.

During her PhD, she is going to investigate the neuropsychological effects of hormonal contraception use on mood homeostasis and stress responsivity. For this aim, she plans to use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) as well as the ecological momentary assessment method and other biopsychological measurements.

Outside of academia, Madeleine enjoys to go for a run along the Neckar River or to spend time with her friends and discovering new cafes and restaurants in Tübingen.

Elise Bücklein is a PhD researcher under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Andreas Fallgatter on stress, PMDD and depression in women. Before starting in Tübingen, she studied Psychology at the Freie Universität Berlin and the Universität Ulm, researching topics such as depression, women’s mental health, stress, and machine learning.

During her PhD she will compare the behavioral, neural, immunological, and endocrine profiles of women with major depressive disorder (MDD) to women with premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD). This research will provide the basis to develop more individualized treatments in the framework of precision psychiatry.

In her freetime she likes to climb up walls and sing songs at the piano.

Zsofia Karlocai is a doctoral student under supervision of Prof. Dr. Nils Kroemer (UKT) and Dr. Andreas Frick (UU). Before she joined the IRTG2804, she worked as a research assistant at Uppsala University in Sweden where she investigated the neural correlates of reward learning in adults and adolescents.

In her current PhD project, she studies how dopamine and reward processing alters within the menstrual cycle in women. She studies effort allocation with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the neural mechanisms of motivation in primary and secondary reward cues.

Other than science, Zsofia is passionate about cooking and you can most likely find her hanging out with her friends either on the basketball court or somewhere in nature. 

Nina Goll is a PhD researcher in project P06 focussing on oxytocin and reward processing across hormonal transition phases under the supervision of Manfred Hallschmid and Christian Benedict. She will study the effects of intranasally administered oxytocin on the processing of different rewards in females across the menstrual cylce. Thereby she will examine the role of oxytocin in metabolism and sleep.

Nina studied medical computer science for her bachelor’s degree and joined the university of Tübingen to study cognitive science for her master’s being interested in interdisciplinary research.

In her freetime she likes to swim and play the saxophone.

Franziska is a PhD student investigating neuroendocrine regulators of emotional, reward, and sexual processes across women’s reproductive years.
As part of her PhD project, she is investigating two major hormonal transition periods both on the neural and behavioral level. On the one hand, she is examining emotion regulation during pregnancy, assessed in a fMRI paradigm, as well as sexual health and affective symptoms, assessed in the Mom2B mobile application study in Uppsala. On the other hand, she is interested in characterizing reward behavior, sexual arousal and health in pre-, peri- and post-menopausalwomen with and without menopausal hormone therapy in a unique, cross-sectional fMRI study. 

Franziska graduated with a MSc in Neural and Behavioral Sciences from the University of Tübingen after finishing her BSc in Psychology from Leiden University in the Netherlands.  Her curiosity about the interactions of behavior, nervous and endocrine systems was already sparked during a semester abroad at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, but her passion for psychoneuroendocrinology fully unfolded during later research projects on women’s mental health.

Outside of research, Franziska enjoys spending time with her family and friends, soaking up the sun outdoors, biking (obviously a Dutch influence), swimming, or doing yoga. She also loves a good cup of coffee or tea, listening to podcasts (a lot), and reading non-scientific literature.

Serenay Yazici Sarikaya is a Ph.D. researcher under the supervision of Prof. Birgit Derntl (UT), Prof. Sara Brucker (UT), and Prof. Anna Wikmann (UU) at Tuebingen University. 

Before joining the IRTG, Serenay Yazici Sarikaya completed her Master’s degree in Clinical Psychosexology at Sapienza University in Rome. 

During her Ph.D., she will work on women diagnosed with breast cancer under treatment anti-estrogen therapy and investigate their brain architecture and psychosexual health.

Outside of research, she likes cooking, drinking coffee, spending time in nature & cycling!

Edita Karavidaj is a PhD researcher under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Tobias Renner, Prof. Tomas Furmark, and Dr. Isabel Brandhorst. 

She completed her Bachelor’s degree in combined majors of Psychology and Public Policy and her Master’s degree in Psychology of Mental Health. During her master’s degree, Edita researched topics such as social connectedness, effects of COVID-19 on social connectedness, and the role of social media on social connectedness during COVID-19. 

During her PhD, she is going to explore the interaction of social media use, hormonal status, and reward processes in adolescent girls. The goal of the project is to understand whether there are vulnerable periods during which adolescent girls have the risk of dysfunctional social media use. Consequently, this will help in the development of specific preventions and interventions. 

Outside of research, Edita likes spending time in nature, reading, working out, and drinking coffee.

Volha Auchynnikava is a PhD researcher under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Hubert Preissl. In her current project she investigates how stress and hormonal fluctuations influence fetal-maternal heart coupling and fetal brain development. In order to study this she uses fetal magnetoencephalography and fetal/maternal magnetocardiography.

Volha graduated with a Master of Arts in Physical Activity and Health from the Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg. Before she obtained her medical degree from Belarusian State Medical University.

Outside of research, she enjoys spending time with her family, dancing and exercising in the gym.

My background is in public health nursing and I have work experience especially from antenatal care and working with families in Finland. I was interested in cross-national elements of women’s health and studied my masters degree in global health at the Uppsala University in Sweden.

After graduating I worked as a research and course assistant, before moving to Tübingen to pursue my PhD in women’s mental health. My passion lies in the wellbeing of families with an understanding of the everyday life as well as the policy makers perspectives.

 When I am not conducting research I want to be outside in the forest exploring hiking trails. I also love running, swimming and cycling and dream about doing a triathlon one day. 

Gloria is a PhD student under the supervision of Prof. Tobias Kaufmann (Tübingen) and Prof. Erika Comasco (Uppsala). In her project, in collaboration with the interfaculty graduate program AI4Med-BW, she is applying machine learning models to investigate sex differences in brain structure and their relation to women’s mental health.

Before moving to Tübingen, she studied biology and neurobiology at Sapienza University in Rome.