Arno Villringer
| Arno Villringer | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1958 Germany |
| Residence | Leipzig, Germany |
| Nationality | German |
| Fields | medicine, neurology, stroke research, brain plasticity |
| Notable awards | Pater Leander Fischer Award, German Society of Laser Medicine (2005), endowed professorship (by Deutsche Forschungs Gemeinschaft) at Charité – Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (1996), Gerhard Hess Award, DFG (1993), DFG foreign exchange scholarship (1986) |
Arno Villringer (born 1958, Schopfheim, Germany) is a director at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, Germany; director of the Department of Cognitive Neurology at University Hospital Leipzig; and Academic Director of the Berlin School of Mind and Brain and the Mind&Brain Institute, Berlin. He holds a full professorship at University of Leipzig and an honorary professorship at Charité, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.
Arno Villringer studied medicine at The University of Freiburg (German: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg) from 1977 to 1984, graduating with a Doctor of Medicine (summa cum laude) higher degree in 1984. After a fellowship at the magnetic resonance imaging unit at Massachusetts General Hospital at Harvard Medical School in 1985, he worked in Munich, Germany, becoming a board certified neurologist in 1992, and gaining his professorial degree (Habilitation) at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich in 1994. From 1993 to 2007, he worked at the Department of Neurology at the Charité, Berlin, first as a consultant, and later as head of the Department of Neurology at the Benjamin Franklin Campus. Since 2006 he has been Academic Director of the Berlin School of Mind and Brain and the Mind&Brain institute (since 2010), since 2007 he has been director of the Department of Neurology at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, Germany and director of the Department of Cognitive Neurology at University hospital Leipzig.
Perfusion Imaging:
Arno Villringer pioneered magnetic resonance perfusion imaging of the brain by demonstrating that susceptibility contrast agents such as GdDTPA may be employed in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) (Villringer et al. 1988). The susceptibility-based contrast mechanism later became relevant for the Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent (BOLD) signal in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
Optical Imaging:
In 1993, Villringer showed feasibility of noninvasive functional near-infrared spectroscopy and imaging (fNIRS, fNIRI) of the human brain (Villringer al. 1993, Villringer and Chance 1997) followed by >50 publications establishing /validating fNIRS. Physiology empowered brain imaging: Since 1992 his research focus has been on neurophysiological mechanisms underlying brain function and plasticity, using multimodal brain imaging, e.g., signatures of neuronal inhibition in functional brain imaging (Wenzel et al. 2000, Blankenburg et al. 2003), combined fNIRS / fMRI to establish relationship between BOLD and deoxy-Hb concentration in fMRI (Kleinschmidt et al. 1996), combined EEG / fMRI to show fMRI correlates of background rhythms (Moosmann et al. 2003, Ritter et al. 2009) and simultaneously assess neuronal spiking and fMRI (Ritter et al. 2008).
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