PhD Researcher (f/m/x) - Laminar 7T fMRI of Medial Temporal Lobe Hyperactivity in Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease 1578/2026/10

id="offer-description" class="ecl-u-type-heading-2 ecl-u-mt-none ecl-u-mb-l">Offer Description Area of research: . PHD Thesis. Job description: . The Multimodal Neuroimaging Group at DZNE Magdeburg is looking for a highly motivated PhD student who is excited about cutting-edge neuroimaging at 7 Tesla, the neural circuits underlying memory, and how these are altered in aging and Alzheimer’s disease. The project is jointly led by Anne Maass (Magdeburg) and Nikolai Axmacher (Ruhr University Bochum). This PhD position is part of the DFG Research Unit FOR 6027 “Layers of Memory” (subproject P06), a multidisciplinary consortium bringing together expertise in cognitive and clinical neuroscience, ultra-high-field imaging, MR physics, and human memory research across several sites in Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands. The overarching goal of project “P06” is to understand the laminar and circuit mechanisms underlying hippocampal hyperactivity in aging and early Alzheimer’s disease. Acquiring and analyzing ultra-high-resolution 7T structural and functional MRI data . Investigating layer- and subfield-specific activity within the entorhinal–hippocampal circuit, including the entorhinal cortex and hippocampal subfields such as dentate gyrus, CA3, and CA1 . Analyzing fMRI data acquired during mnemonic pattern separation and spatial navigation tasks. Characterizing structural and functional connectivity within the medial temporal lobe using resting-state fMRI and diffusion MRI . Relati