Mona Zimmermann

I joined the MULTINET Lab in January 2021 as a student of the Brain and Cognitive sciences Master (UvA). Both my Bachelor’s and Master’s programs were focused on training their students to become interdisciplinary researchers in the (huge) field of Neuroscience. While studying I tried hard to understand what that actually means and to find a way to truly do interdisciplinary research myself – but the concept largely remained a buzzword. Only after joining the MULTINET Lab, did I realize what interdisciplinary research can be like and why it is so valuable.

During my master thesis in the lab, I studied the relationship between brain activity (measured with MEG) and the functional brain network in glioma patients. I learned a lot about how to work with MEG data and how to use the mathematical approach of graph theory to model brain networks. It was very exciting to work with methods and concepts from different fields and to work together with a team that has varying interests and backgrounds. This really helps to generate new ideas and evaluate research from different angles! I recently started as a PhD student in the lab and am excited to keep working with the team! In this project we will investigate brain activity as a prognostic biomarker for tumor progression in glioblastoma patients. We try to measure brain activity using MEG, EEG and fMRI. Ultimately, we hope to be able to use such measures in the future to distinguish real tumor progression from pseudo progression more easily than it is currently possible. I am looking forward to working on this project in the MULTINET Lab and learning more about primary brain tumors, brain activity and brain networks on different scales!