People

Members of the lab, listed alphabetically by last name.

Sicheng Dai

PostDoc

I model brain networks in health and disease by combining network science and machine learning. I hold a PhD in Computer Science from ENS Lyon.

Alexander Frotscher

PhD Candidate

I develop unsupervised anomaly detection methods for neuroimaging, with a focus on methodological rigor in clinical applications. I hold a master’s in Bioinformatics from the University of Tübingen.

Mebin Muhammed Hamzakoya Sulaikha

PhD Candidate

I develop longitudinal normative models for neuroimaging and other modalities, drawing on dynamic modeling. I hold an M.Tech from IIT Ropar.

Atharva (Athu) Kand

PhD Candidate

I model how individual brain structure and function diverge over time, using stochastic, biologically informed models to capture uncertainty in psychiatric conditions. I hold a master’s in Cognitive Neuroscience from the Donders Institute, Radboud University.

Lina (Evangelia Sofia) Kornaraki

MSc Student

I am a master’s student in Psychology at Friedrich Schiller University Jena, studying how structural and functional brain connectivity are coupled and whether this coupling can serve as a marker for psychiatric disorders.

Marc Lemnitzer

MSc Student & HiWi

I am a master’s student in Bioinformatics at the University of Tübingen and help develop and validate a machine learning package for mapping complex biomarker configurations.

Francesco Mallus

PhD Candidate

I study brain function and its changes across the lifespan, with the aim of developing reference frameworks for neuropsychiatry. I hold a master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Turin.

Minh-Hieu Nguyen

PhD Candidate

I develop computational models of learning and decision-making in people with mental health conditions. I hold a master’s in Neural Information Processing from the University of Tübingen.

Gokul Perumbayil Vijayakrishnan

MSc Student & HiWi

I am a master’s student in Artificial Intelligence at the Technical University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt, writing my thesis on self-supervised learning of EEG representations for mental health. I bring several years of industry experience in embedded systems and the automotive sector.

Tanishka Randive

BSc Student

I am an undergraduate student in AI and Data Engineering at IIT Ropar, applying machine learning and computer vision to neuroimaging data.

David Redmer

MSc Student

I am a master’s student in Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience at Friedrich Schiller University Jena, interested in the mechanisms of neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders and their translation into clinical practice.

Elias Schreiner

Data Scientist & IT Infrastructure

I run the lab’s IT infrastructure and apply deep learning to biological data on neurodegenerative conditions and comorbid mental disorders. I hold a master’s in Bioinformatics from the University of Tübingen.

Nitin Sharma

PhD Candidate

I work with multimodal data in mental health, including domain adaptation for multi-site depression datasets, normative modeling, and mechanistic interpretability of large language models. I hold a master’s in Neural Information Processing from the University of Tübingen.

Madhumitha Sivakumar Punitha

HiWi & Research Assistant

I am a master’s student in Photonics at Friedrich Schiller University Jena and support the lab’s teaching and research activities.

Thomas Wolfers

Principal Investigator

I lead the MHM Lab and develop machine learning approaches to identify individual-level factors in mental and neurological disorders. I hold a PhD from Radboud University and held research positions in the Netherlands, Norway, and the UK.

Jijia Xing

PhD Candidate

I study how large language models encode clinical and psychological knowledge, and their longer-term risks, such as emotional dependence on sycophantic conversational AI. I hold a master’s in Mathematics from Imperial College London.

Yanwu Yang

PostDoc & Humboldt Fellow

I study brain development and aging at scale, using deep learning for clinical applications and examining the behavior of foundation models. I hold a PhD from Harbin Institute of Technology.

Çağatay Yıldız

PostDoc

I study how large language models acquire new knowledge after pretraining without forgetting existing knowledge, combining continued pretraining with mechanistic interpretability. I hold a PhD from Aalto University and was previously a postdoc in Tübingen.

Mariam Zabihi

PostDoc & Boehringer Ingelheim Fellow

I develop generative normative models to address heterogeneity in psychiatric disorders. I hold a PhD in Statistical Neuroimaging from Radboud University Medical Center.

Our alumni have gone on to postdoctoral positions in Europe and beyond, to industry roles in data science, machine learning, and healthcare, and to start-ups.