Göttingen Graduate Center for Neurosciences, Biophysics, and Molecular Biosciences

Dechent, Peter, PD Dr.


  • 1991-2001 Studies of Biology, University of Mainz
  • 1994 Scientific Assistant at the Biophysical Institute, University of Mainz
  • 1995-1996 Scholarship of the Erasmus-Program, University of Manchester, England
  • 1996 Research Fellow at the Neuroscience Department, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
  • 1997-1998 Diploma Thesis at the 'Biomedical NMR Research' at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen; Diploma in Biology
  • 1998-2001 Doctoral thesis at the 'Biomedical NMR Research'; Dr.rer.nat. (Biology)
  • 2001-2003 Postdoc at the 'Biomedical NMR Research' (Laboratory of Prof. Dr. J. Frahm)
  • since 2004 Head of the Research Group 'MR-Research in Neurology and Psychiatry' Medical Faculty, University of Göttingen




Major Research Interests

  • Combination of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with non-invasive brain stimulation techniques like transcranial Direct / Alternating Current Stimulation (tDCS/tACS) and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) to modulate functional brain networks in healthy and pathologic conditions.
  • Characterization of hemodynamic processes, the basis of blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) changes in standard fMRI investigations.
  • Application of modern MR techniques to investigate the human brain in healthy and pathologic conditions. Applied methods comprise:
    • o Structural MRI
    o Diffusion-weighted- and diffusion-tensor-imaging (DWI/DTI)
    o Localized MR-spectroscopy (MRS)



    Homepage Department/Research Group


    https://cognitive-neurology.umg.eu/



    Selected Recent Publications


    • Wilke M, Schneider L, Dominguez-Vargas AU, Schmidt-Samoa C, Miloserdov K, Nazzal A, Dechent P, Cabral-Calderin Y, Scherberger H, Kagan I, Bähr M. Reach and grasp deficits following damage to the dorsal pulvinar. Cortex 99:135-149, 2018
    • Wilke M, Dechent P, Bähr M. Sarcoidosis Manifestion Centered on the Thalamic Pulvinar Leading to Persistent Astasia. Mov Disord Clin Pract. 4(6):898-900, 2017
    • Barke A, Preis MA, Schmidt-Samoa C, Baudewig J, Kröner-Herwig B, Dechent P. Neural correlates differ in high and low fear-avoidant chronic low back pain patients when imagining back-straining movements. J Pain 17(8):930-43, 2016
    • Cabral-Calderin Y, Weinrich C, Schmidt-Samoa C, Poland E, Dechent P, Bähr M, Wilke M. Transcranial alternating current stimulation affects the BOLD signal in a frequency and task-dependent manner. Hum Brain Mapp 37(1):94-121, 2016
    • Cabral-Calderin Y, Williams K, Dechent P, Opitz A, Wilke M. Transcranial alternating current stimulation modulates spontaneous low frequency fluctuations as measured with fMRI. Neuroimage 2016 Jul 5. [Epub ahead of print].
    • August JM, Rothenberger A, Baudewig J, Roessner V, Dechent P. May Functional Imaging be Helpful for Behavioral Assessment in Children? Regions of Motor and Associative Cortico-Subcortical Circuits Can be Differentiated by Laterality and Rostrality. Front Hum Neurosci 9:314, 2015
    • Goya-Maldonado R, Weber K, Trost S, Diekhof E, Keil M, Dechent P, Gruber O. Dissociating pathomechanisms of depression with fMRI: bottom-up or top-down dysfunctions of the reward system. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 265(1):57-66, 2015
    • Dreha-Kulaczewski S, Kalscheuer V, Tzschach A, Hu H, Helms G, Brockmann K, Weddige A, Dechent P, Schlüter G, Krätzner R, Ropers HH, Gärtner J, Zirn B. A Novel SLC6A8 Mutation in a Large Family with X-Linked Intellectual Disability: Clinical and Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Data of Both Hemizygous Males and Heterozygous Females. JIMD Rep 13:91-9, 2014
    • Helms G, Garea-Rodriguez E, Schlumbohm C, König J, Dechent P, Fuchs E, Wilke M. Structural and quantitative neuroimaging of the common marmoset monkey using a clinical MRI system. J Neurosci Methods 215(1):121-31, 2013
    • Seseke S, Baudewig J, Ringert RH, Rebmann U, Dechent P. Monitoring brain activation changes in the early postoperative period after radical prostatectomy using fMRI. Neuroimage 78:1-6; 2013
    • Dechent P, Schütze G, Helms G, Merboldt KD, Frahm J. Basal cerebral blood volume during the poststimulation undershoot in BOLD MRI of the human brain. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab. 31:82-9, 2011