Director of the Institute of Clinical Neuroscience and Medical Psychology
Centre for Movement Disorders and Neuromodulation
Heinrich-Heine-University
Moorenstraße 5 40225 Düsseldorf
Research Interest
Our research is in the field of systems neuroscience and aims at exploring mechanisms of sensory, motor, cognitive and emotional brain functions in healthy subjects and in patients with basal ganglia disorders, such as Parkinson´s disease (PD). To this end, we apply a variety of methodological approaches including non-invasive and invasive neurophysiological recordings (MEG, EEG, local field potentials, single and multi-unit activity), brain stimulation (DBS, TMS, tDCS, tACS), as well structural and functional MRI.
A major focus of our research is directed towards unravelling the role of neural oscillations and synchronization for human behaviour and the pathophysiology of movement disorders and hepatic encephalopathy. Furthermore, we explore neurophysiological mechanisms of deep brain stimulation in PD and other movement disorders.
Selected Publications
- Trenado C, Elben S, Petri D, Hirschmann J, Groiss SJ, Vesper J, Schnitzler A, Wojtecki L. Combined Invasive Subcortical and Non-invasive Surface Neurophysiological Recordings for the Assessment of Cognitive and Emotional Functions in Humans. Date Published: 5/19/2016, Issue 111; doi: 10.3791/53466, JoVE
- Hirschmann, J., Ozkurt, T. E., Butz, M., Homburger, M., Elben, S., Hartmann, C. J., Vesper, J., Wojtecki, L., Schnitzler, A. (2011). Distinct oscillatory STN-cortical loops revealed by simultaneous MEG and local field potential recordings in patients with Parkinson's disease. Neuroimage 55:1159-1168. PubMed
- Classen, J., Schnitzler, A. (2010). What does the pedunculopontine nucleus do? Neurology 75:944-945. PubMed
- Deuschl, G., Schade-Brittinger, C., Krack, P., Volkmann, J., Schafer, H., Botzel, K., Daniels, C., Deutschlander, A., Dillmann, U., Eisner, W., Gruber, D., Hamel, W., Herzog, J., Hilker, R., Klebe, S., Kloss, M., Koy, J., Krause, M., Kupsch, A., Lorenz, D., Lorenzl, S., Mehdorn, H. M., Moringlane, J. R., Oertel, W., Pinsker, M. O., Reichmann, H., Reuss, A., Schneider, G. H., Schnitzler, A., Steude, U., Sturm, V., Timmermann, L., Tronnier, V., Trottenberg, T., Wojtecki, L., Wolf, E., Poewe, W., Voges, J. (2006). A randomized trial of deep-brain stimulation for Parkinson’s disease. N. Engl. J. Med. 355:896-908. PubMed
- Kupsch, A., Benecke, R., Müller, J., Trottenberg, T., Schneider, G. H., Poewe, W., Eisner, W., Wolters, A., Müller, J. U., Deuschl, G., Pinsker, M. O., Skogseid, I. M., Roeste, G. K., Vollmer-Haase, J., Brentrup, A., Krause, M., Tronnier, V., Schnitzler, A., Voges, J., Nikkhah, G., Vesper, J., Naumann, M., Volkmann, J.; Deep-Brain Stimulation for Dystonia Study Group. (2006). Pallidal deep-brain stimulation in primary generalized or segmental dystonia. N. Engl. J. Med. 355:1978-1990. PubMed
- Schnitzler, A., Gross, J. (2005). Normal and pathological oscillatory communication in the brain. Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 6:285-296. PubMed
- Gross, J., Schmitz, F., Schnitzler, I., Kessler, K., Shapiro, K., Hommel, B., Schnitzler, A. (2004). Modulation of long-range neural synchrony reflects temporal limitations of visual attention in humans. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 101:13050-13055. PubMed
- Timmermann, L., Gross, J., Dirks, M., Volkmann, J., Freund, H. J., Schnitzler, A. (2003). The cerebral oscillatory network of parkinsonian resting tremor. Brain 126:199-212. PubMed
- Ploner, M., Gross, J., Timmermann, L., Schnitzler, A. (2002). Cortical representation of first and second pain sensation in humans. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 99:12444-12448. PubMed
- Gross, J., Timmermann, L., Kujala, J., Dirks, M., Schmitz, F., Salmelin, R., Schnitzler, A. (2002). The neural basis of intermittent motor control in humans. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 99:2299-2302. PubMed
Prof. Alfons Schnitzler on Google scholar