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Goethe University Frankfurt

Goethe University Frankfurt is known for its strong emphasis on research across diverse fields, including social sciences, humanities, and natural sciences. The university fosters a dynamic academic environment with a commitment to academic freedom and a focus on societal relevance and innovation.

Eingansgsbereich der Psychiatrie in Frankfurt
Welcome area at the Department of Psychiatry ©University of Frankfurt
Therapieraum der Psychiatrie in Frankfurt
Therapy at Department of Psychiatry ©University of Frankfurt

Contributors

Andreas G Chiocchetti

C04: The sex-specific role of genes, early adversity, peers, community violence, and puberty related endocrinological changes in adolescent pathological aggression Principal investigator Equal opportunity committee member Goethe University Frankfurt
Professor Andreas G Chiocchetti is passionate about working with models to understand human behaviour and neurodiversity. Biotechnologist by training (Salzburg, Austria), Phd in Genetics, Research Fellow at UCLA, Los Angeles, ex Data-Scientist in Industry.

Christine Ecker

C05: The neuroanatomical underpinnings of clinical aggression and their relationship with the negative valence and cognitive control systems Q02: Data management for computational modelling Principal investigator Research data committee member Goethe University Frankfurt
Christine Ecker is a professor at Goethe University Frankfurt, specializing in clinical neuroscience and psychiatry. Her research focuses on the neurobiological underpinnings of autism spectrum disorders and other neurodevelopmental conditions, utilizing advanced neuroimaging techniques.

Christine Margarete Freitag

C04: The sex-specific role of genes, early adversity, peers, community violence, and puberty related endocrinological changes in adolescent pathological aggression Q01: Recruitment and biotyping transdiagnostic risk mechanisms for aggressive behaviors in mental disorders across the life span Principal investigator Goethe University Frankfurt
Professor Christine M Freitag focuses on Translational research in Neurodevelopmental, Anxiety and Disruptive Behavior Disorders in children and youth. Her methods comprise biostatistics, diagnostic and biomarker studies, randomized-controlled trials (phase-IIa, phase-III), brain stimulation and behavioural/psychotherapeutic interventions.

Andreas Reif

A07: The intestinal microbiota as a regulator of aggressive and impulsive behavior B01: Neurobehavioral effects of repetitive prefrontal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on pathological aggression Q01: Recruitment and biotyping transdiagnostic risk mechanisms for aggressive behaviors in mental disorders across the life span Principal investigator Deputy Spokesperson Steering committee member Management board member Citizen Advisory Boad Goethe University Frankfurt
Andreas Reif is a German Psychiatrist, who received his training at the University Hospital Würzburg, where he also did his residency and later on became Vice Chair. In 2014, he took over the position of Chair of the Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy at the University Medical Center Frankfurt, where he is also full professor.

David Slattery

A07: The intestinal microbiota as a regulator of aggressive and impulsive behavior A08: The metabolic lung-brain axis in aggressive behavior in patients with AMD C01: Gene-environment interactions and the role of impulsivity in responding to acute threats: early life stress and escalated aggression in recombinant inbred mouse strains Q03: Integrated Research Training Group (RTG) Principal investigator Research training group (RTG) committee member Public relations team member Citizen Advisory Boad Goethe University Frankfurt
Professor David Slattery is interested in understanding of the neurobiology and treatment of stress-related disorders; with an emphasis on mood and anxiety disorders. A particular focus is the study postpartum mood and anxiety disorders using stress- and diet-based models in rodents, as well as:

Projects

A08: The metabolic lung-brain axis in aggressive behavior in patients with AMD

Thomas Frodl David Slattery Gabriele Ende RWTH Aachen Goethe University Frankfurt Central Institute of Mental Health Negative valence system Biological Psychiatry Clinical Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Beta-hydroxy-butyrate (BHB), a ketone body, is negatively associated with aggressive behavior. BHB is a metabolite and an active signaling substrate involved in epigenetic regulation of e.g., neurotrophic factor genes in the brain.

B01: Neurobehavioral effects of repetitive prefrontal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on pathological aggression

Carmen Weidler Andreas Reif RWTH Aachen Goethe University Frankfurt Cognitive system Biological Psychiatry Clinical Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
TDCS will be used as an interventional tool to decrease aggression. Using a simultaneous tDCS – fMRI approach, the project aims to enhance cognitive control by repeated prefrontal brain stimulation, investigating its effect on aggression.

C01: Gene-environment interactions and the role of impulsivity in responding to acute threats: early life stress and escalated aggression in recombinant inbred mouse strains

Aet O'Leary David Slattery Goethe University Frankfurt Interaction of negative valence system and cognitive system Biological Psychiatry
Sex-dependent effects and gene-environment interactions will be investigated by applying escalating aggression paradigms. Specifically, the project will investigate the effects of early life stress on aggression in response to threat and hyperactivity as well as social decision-making in 32 BXD mouse strains, the progenitor strains (C057Bl/6J and DBA/2J), and the F1 BXD cross.

C04: The sex-specific role of genes, early adversity, peers, community violence, and puberty related endocrinological changes in adolescent pathological aggression

Christine Margarete Freitag Andreas G Chiocchetti Goethe University Frankfurt Interaction of negative valence system and cognitive system Biological Psychiatry Clinical Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Address sex-specific NVS (reactive aggression) and CS (different dimensions of psychopathy, proactive aggression) associated risk factors, and risk factor-based biosignatures in young people. Considering the interacting genetic, environmental, and hormonal factors related to these specific aggressive behavior dimensions, C04 will identify specific and shared factors and mechanisms related to NVS and CS in female and male youth with and without pathological aggression.

C05: The neuroanatomical underpinnings of clinical aggression and their relationship with the negative valence and cognitive control systems

Christine Ecker Goethe University Frankfurt Interaction of negative valence system and cognitive system Biological Psychiatry
Link questionnaire measures of aggression to specific neural substrates using structural MRI. The resulting patterns of aggression-related neuroanatomical variability will be co- registered with the Allen Human Brain Atlas providing gene-expression data, to highlight genes with a spatial pattern of expression that matches the neuroimaging findings.

C07: Identifying mediators of threat-aggression and experimental manipulation by tDCS

Michael Plichta Wolfgang Retz Goethe University Frankfurt Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz Interaction of negative valence system and cognitive system Biological Psychiatry
Test the interaction of the CS and frustrative non-reward as part of the NVS. It will investigate the electrophysiological correlates of frustrative feedback in aggression-prone patients. In the aftermath of induced stress, an EEG task-battery including frustrative feedback will be applied for extraction of error-related negativity (ERN) and contingent negative variation to monitor electro-physiologic signaling of the relevant learning and frustration processes.

Q02: Data management for computational modelling

Michael Hanke Gabriele Ende Richard Nkrumah Christine Ecker Klaus Mathiak Wiebke Hennig Arezoo Taebi Service project Research Center Jülich (FZJ) Central Institute of Mental Health Goethe University Frankfurt RWTH Aachen
Data management and training platform. A decentralized data management infrastructure will help focus on developmental and therapeutic longitudinal data, training all participating researchers in the necessary skills for future use.