Dr Renate Thienel

Biography

Dr Renate Thienel graduated in Germany (B.A. [Hons.] M.Psych. [Research], Ph.D. [Dr. rer. nat.]). She is affiliated with the Hunter Medical Research Institute and the Schizophrenia Research Institute. She is an active member of the Australasian Society of Psychiatric Research. Renate currently holds a University of Newcastle Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (2009-2013) and is based at the Priority Centre for Translational Neuroscience & Mental Health Research. Her research focuses on the aetiologies of neuro-cognitive disorders by studying event related potentials, functional magnetic resonance imaging, magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and diffusion tensor imaging. Renate collaborates with national and international colleagues on various neuroimaging research projects into schizophrenia, the prediction of transition to psychosis, the shared biological basis of schizophrenia and a genetically high risk population (22q11DS), and a novel neuro-feedback procedure to modify brain perfusion using functional magnetic resonance imaging with applications for cerebral stroke and neurocognitive rehabilitation in schizophrenia and dementia. Her strong translational approach also includes the creation of a normative database of electroencephalographically recorded sensory auditory memory function in children and adolescents with great potential as a diagnostic tool for the detection of “at-risk mental state”. She currently supervises several Research Higher Degree Students, including a PhD candidate and international students from the University of Bremen in Germany and the Karolinska Institute in Sweden. Renate is frequently invited to peer-review manuscript submissions and project grant applications to the NHMRC and the Hunter Medical Research Institute.Dr Renate Thienel’s expertise in cognitive neuroscience and her collaborative spirit is highly regarded by her colleagues in Newcastle as well as nationally and internationally due to her successful participation in several multi-site/multi-disciplinary research projects. With a track record in advanced brain imaging and neuropsychology, Renate more recently developed translational applications of her research, aiming to intervene into cerebral reorganisation and thereby remediating impaired brain functions as they occur in neurodevelopmental disorders, cerebral stroke and dementias. She has developed strong collaborative links with the Forschungszentrum Jülich in Germany, which is a prestigious magnetic resonance imaging research centre in Europe. including the world’s first 9.4 Tesla-magnet licensed for human research.

Qualifications

• PhD, University of Bochum - Germany, 2007
• Diploma in Psychology, University of Dusseldorf - Germany, 1998

Research

Research keywords

• EEG
• Neuroimaging
• Neuropsychology
• Schizophrenia
• fMRI

Research expertise

Dr Renate Thienel graduated in Germany (B.A. [Hons.] M.Psych. [Research], Ph.D. [Dr. rer. nat.]). She is affiliated with the Hunter Medical Research Institute and the Schizophrenia Research Institute. She is an active member of the Australasian Society of Psychiatric Research. Renate currently holds a University of Newcastle Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (2009-2013) and is based at the Priority Centre for Translational Neuroscience & Mental Health Research. Her research focuses on the aetiologies of neuro-cognitive disorders by studying event related potentials, functional magnetic resonance imaging (including realtime fMRI and pharmacological fMRI), magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and diffusion tensor imaging.

Languages

• English
• German

Fields of Research

Centres and Groups

Centre

• Hunter Medical Research Institute
• PRC - Priority Research Centre for Translational Neuroscience and Mental Health (CTNMH)

Group

• Hunter Medical Research Institute - Brain and Mental Health

Administrative

Administrative expertise

N/A

Teaching

Teaching expertise

Research only Academic