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Director of the Institute of Clinical Neuroscience and Medical Psychology
Prof. Dr. Alfons Schnitzler
Institute of Clinical Neuroscience and Medical Psychology and
Centre for Movement Disorders and Neuromodulation
Heinrich-Heine-University
Moorenstraße 5 40225 Düsseldorf Nordrhein-Westfalen
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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
  1. Winkler L, Butz M, Sharma A, Vesper J, Schnitzler A, Fischer P, Hirschmann J. Context-dependent modulations of subthalamo-cortical synchronization during rapid reversals of movement direction in Parkinson's disease. Elife. 2025 Jun 5;13:RP101769. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.101769 PubMed
  2. Werner LM, Schnitzler A, Hirschmann J. Subthalamic Nucleus Deep Brain Stimulation in the Beta Frequency Range Boosts Cortical Beta Oscillations and Slows Down Movement. The Journal of Neuroscience : the Official Journal of the Society for Neuroscience. 2025 Feb 26;45(9):e1366242024. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1366-24.2024 PubMed
  3. Spooner RK, Bahners BH, Schnitzler A, Florin E. DBS-evoked cortical responses index optimal contact orientations and motor outcomes in Parkinson's disease. NPJ Parkinsons Dis. 2023 Mar 11;9(1):37. DOI: 10.1038/s41531-023-00474-4  PubMed
  4. Hirschmann J, Steina A, Vesper J, Florin E, Schnitzler A. Neuronal oscillations predict deep brain stimulation outcome in Parkinson's disease. Brain Stimulation. 2022 May-Jun;15(3):792-802. DOI: 10.1016/j.brs.2022.05.008 PubMed
  5. Lena Storzer, Markus Butz, Jan Hirschmann, Omid Abbasi, Maciej Gratkowski, Dietmar Saupe, Jan Vesper, Sarang S Dalal, Alfons Schnitzler. Bicycling suppresses abnormal beta synchrony in the Parkinsonian basal ganglia. Ann Neurol. 2017 Oct;82(4):592-601. doi: 10.1002/ana.25047. Epub 2017 Oct 10. DOI: 10.1002/ana.25047 PubMed
  6. Thomas J Baumgarten, Alfons Schnitzler, Joachim Lange. Beta oscillations define discrete perceptual cycles in the somatosensory domain. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2015 Sep 29;112(39):12187-92. Epub 2015 Aug 31. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1501438112 PubMed
  7. Schuepbach WM, Rau J, Knudsen K, Volkmann J, Krack P, …, Schnitzler A, …, Deuschl G. Neurostimulation for Parkinson's disease with early motor complications. N Engl J Med. 2013;368(7):610-22. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1205158 PubMed
  8. Hirschmann J, Hartmann CJ, Butz M, Hoogenboom N, Ozkurt TE, Elben S, Vesper J, Wojtecki L, Schnitzler A. A direct relationship between oscillatory subthalamic nucleus-cortex coupling and rest tremor in Parkinson's disease. Brain. 2013;136(Pt 12):3659-70. DOI: 10.1093/brain/awt271 PubMed
  9. Schnitzler A, Gross J. Normal and pathological oscillatory communication in the brain. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2005;6(4):285-96. DOI: 10.1038/nrn1650 PubMed
  10. Timmermann L, Gross J, Dirks M, Volkmann J, Freund HJ, Schnitzler A. The cerebral oscillatory network of parkinsonian resting tremor. Brain. 2003;126(Pt 1):199-212. DOI: 10.1093/brain/awg022 PubMed

Prof. Alfons Schnitzler on Google scholar
Orcid: 0000-0002-6414-7939
Scopus