Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität
Koeniginstr. 16
80539 Munich

Germany

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Project Leader

Prof. Dr. Heidrun Potschka Workpackage leader  Phone: +49-(0)89-2180-2662  Fax: +49-(0)89-2180-16556  Contact

Prof. Dr. Peter Bartenstein Head of the Clinic for Nuclear Medicine  Phone: +49-(0)89-7095-4610  Fax: +49-(0)89-7095-4648  Contact

Project Staff

Mr. Hero Bartmann Scientist (epilepsy models)  Phone: +49-(0)89-2180-3873  Contact

Dr. rer. nat. Guido Boening Project management (PET acquisition) – radiation safety  Phone: +49-(0)89- 7095-4657  Contact

PhD Paul Cumming Project management (PET modelling)  Phone: +49-(0)89- 7095-4646  Contact

Christina Fuest Project management (epilepsy models) and coordination  Phone: +49-(0)89-2180-3264  Contact

Dipl. Chem. Dr. rer. medic. Franz-Josef Gildehaus Radiochemistry – animal care officer  Phone: +49-(0)89- 7095-4645  Contact

Dr. Christian La Fougere Project management (PET) – coordination   Phone: +49-(0)89- 7095-4646  Contact

Mr. Sebastian Nowak PET scan acquisition  Phone: +49-(0)89- 7095-7617  Contact

PhD Dr. Anton Pekcec Project management (epilepsy models)  Phone: +49-(0)89-2180-3264  Contact

Dipl. Chem. Dr. rer. nat. Bjoern Waengler Project management (radiochemistry)  Phone: +49-(0)89- 7095-4657  Contact

Dipl. Biol. Erika Wagner Scientist – animal handling  Phone: +49-(0)89- 7095-4615  Contact

Institute Presentation

The University of Munich has recently been selected as one the centers of excellence amongst German universities, the only one with a focus on neuroscience. With the Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences (GSN-LMU) the University offers an excellent educational platform with Master- and PhD programs in systemic neurosciences. Moreover a strong network exists at the University of Munich which links a variety of groups and disciplines related to questions of neurosciences thereby rendering a perfect basis for progress in the understanding of brain function.

In the Clinic for Nuclear Medicine of the Medical Faculty profound experience exists in radioligand synthesis and preclinical evaluation of radiopharmaceuticals including cell binding studies and autoradiography, PET imaging of receptor-ligand interaction including modeling and various voxel-wise quantification approaches in humans and rodents. The assessment of the action of various psychotropic drugs with PET has been another focus. The basic science oriented methodology group is embedded in Germanys largest clinical Nuclear medicine department equipped with PET-CT, 2 dedicated PET-cameras, suitable for neuro-imaging and several 2 and 3 headed SPECT-cameras and has facilities for radiotracer synthesis, cell culture and an animal PET-camera.

In the Institute of Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Pharmacy of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine profound expertise exists in a variety of epilepsy models, and in neuropharmacological studies. Research during the last years contributed significantly to the characterization of multidrug transporters including their substrate specificity, their modulation, expression regulation, and contribution to pharmacoresistance of epilepsy. The group currently develops different innovative approaches to overcome transporter-mediated pharmacoresistance. Recent studies of the group elucidated the signaling pathways involved in the regulation of the multidrug transporter P-glycoprotein in capillary endothelial cells of the epileptic brain. Based on these data new targets for prevention of pharmacoresistance have been suggested. Different chronic epilepsy models are established in the institute including models with spontaneous seizures. A unique digital video-EEG monitoring unit allows simultaneous recordings from 16 animals and renders the basis for efficient pharmacological testing in these models. Thereby, established protocols which allow the selection of pharmacoresistant animals render the tool for proof-of-principle studies of radioligands within the consortium. Moreover, the strong background in immunohistochemistry and the excellent equipment for optical imaging (e.g. incl. confocal laser scanning microscopy, Microbrightfield system for unbiased stereology) allows the precise determination of the expression of transporters and other molecules of interest.