Valentin Riedl - Brain Scientist and Filmmaker

<p>Valentin Riedl  <span style="font-weight: normal;">Principal Investigator</span></p>

Valentin Riedl Principal Investigator

The human brain consumes around 20% of the energy produced by the body. While neuroscience research has immensely progressed in understanding the micro- and macroscopic architecture of the brain, the reason for its high energy demands is still a mystery. In my research on the Neuroenergetics of the human brain, I study how energy metabolism drives neural signaling and whether it is altered in neuropsychiatric disorders.

I hold a Full Professorship for Neuroimaging at FAU where we study metabolic and immunological processes in the brain using high-field (7T) Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). Furthermore, we quantify the brain's energy metabolism at TUM on an integrated PET/MRI-scanner. I received my MD (Dr.med.) from TUM and my PhD (Systemic Neurosciences) from LMU after working as a Research Fellow at the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva. As a director of two award-winning documentaries, I have discovered film as a powerful medium for science communication.

<p>Roman Belenya<span style="font-weight: normal;"> PhD-student</span></p>

Roman Belenya PhD-student

Roman is integrating brain energy metabolism with dynamic connectivity measures to uncover directional signaling in the brain connectome. Roman holds a BSc in Psychology and did his MSc in Neuro-Cognitive Psychology in our group. We are very happy having him as our database wizard as he has been working as a programmer and data scientist for several companies before. If you want to discuss most bizarre chess moves, get in touch with Roman!

<p>Gabriel Castrillon<span style="font-weight: normal;"> Senior Scientist</span></p>

Gabriel Castrillon Senior Scientist

Gabriel is a data whisperer handling graph metric analysis and machine learning. In his PhD thesis, he investigated the effect of non-invasive brain stimulation (using TMS) on functional brain integration. Gabriel has a background in biomedical engineering and computing. He won a scholarship of the MLST Graduate School, was supported by a State scholarship of his home country, Colombia, and received the OHBM abstract merrit award. If you intend to visit the Colombian jungle, he is your guide.

<p>Samira Epp <span style="font-weight: normal;">Postdoc</span></p>

Samira Epp Postdoc

Samira studies the changes in energy consumption of human brain networks when subjects perform cognitive tasks. During her PhD, she became an expert in quantitative BOLD imaging, which she currently applies at 7T and to patient cohorts. Samira received a BSc and MSc in Psychology before joining our group. If you want to know when the next big climate demonstration takes place, ask Samira.

<p>Laura Fraticelli<span style="font-weight: normal;"> PhD-student</span></p>

Laura Fraticelli PhD-student

Laura studies patterns of gene expression relate to energy consumption. Her BSc and MSc in Biology make her predestined to answer these complex questions. After doing her MSc-project in the lab, she briefly left for an exchange program with Korea but will rejoin our group afterwards. Once back, you'll find her at the Isar teaching her dog Molly how to find missing people.

<p>Katarzyna Kurcyus<span style="font-weight: normal;"> Postdoc</span></p>

Katarzyna Kurcyus Postdoc

Katarzyna is an expert in measuring metabolites in the human brain using MRS. In her PhD thesis she studied the dynamics of inhibitory and excitatory neurotransmitter in the visual system. Kasia is experienced in fMRI, edited MRS, and quantitative PET imaging. She has a background in psychology. For her PhD, she won a scholarship of the MLST Graduate School as one of the top 5 applicants. If you look for the best Pierogi place in Germany, Kasia will find it.

<p>Jingxian Shen<span style="font-weight: normal;"> PhD-student</span></p>

Jingxian Shen PhD-student

Jingxian studies directional signaling across the cortex during sensory processing and anticipation. She has profound knowledge in mathematical modeling of electrophysiological signals from human brain recordings. Jingxian received her BSc in Imaging Engineering and her MSc in Neurobiology from South China Normal University. Happy 兔 year for your start into your PhD!

Mahnaz first joined our lab for a summer term on a scholarship from the University of Tehran, and went on to complete her PhD in Biomedical Engineering. She later returned as a postdoc, developing a cascaded framework for a metabolism-weighted brain connectome (PNAS 2026). She has recently moved on to a postdoctoral position in Sophia Stöcklein's group at LMU München.

Mahnaz Ashrafi

Antonia completed her PhD in 2025 (GSN, LMU). In her doctoral project, she established an elaborate setup that brings together cerebral and peripheral energy metabolism by performing glucose-clamp procedures inside the MRI scanner. She has since taken on a role as Medical Education Manager at coliquio.

Antonia Bose

André completed his PhD in 2024 (GSN, LMU). In his doctoral work, he used quantitative metabolic imaging to put the predictive coding framework's assumptions about energy efficiency to the test. He now works as a Senior Data Scientist at Max Planck Information and Technology (MaxIT).

André Hechler

It was a pleasure to have Berfin with us as Erasmus student coming from Ankara Beyazit University in Turkey. She tremendously contributed to Antonia's study about the effects of hypoglycemia and insulin on brain energy metabolism.

Berfin Nur Kara

Beth joined our lab for a summer stay in Munich with TUM PREP. She implemented a full model of quantitative oxygen metabolism based on multiparametric MR imaging. Thanks Beth and all the best for your graduation at UCSD!

Bethany Yuan

In his MSc-project, Eric applied topological mapper techniques to uncover energy demanding network nodes in the human brain. He moved to Bratislav Misic's lab at McGill University for his PhD, congrats!

Eric Ceballos

Tom successfully finished his MSc-thesis in our lab about EEG-signatures of predictive coding in the human brain. He would definitely be a great researcher, but we now wish him all the best in becoming a caring clinical neuropsychologist.

Tom Strohbach

Mario joined us for a PostDoc period and established an elaborate concept to combine information theory, neuronal signaling and energy consumption. He'll now become a famous neurosurgeon, i am sure!

Mario Archila

Tunde was the first student who had to perform his MSc-project online only due to COVID, but at least he could join hiking the Bavarian alps! It was a great collaboration with Universität Tübingen and we wish Tunde all the best for his next steps in bionengineering.

Tunde Junaid

"EBRAINS 2.0: A Research Infrastructure to Advance Neuroscience and Brain Health", Infrastructure funding by the EU (HORIZON-INFRA-2022-SERV-B-01-01) - Multimodal brain imaging in WP2 (405.000 EUR).

E-BRAINS 2.0

2024-2026

The neuroenergetics of memory consolidation - hybrid PET/MR imaging of the default mode network (ID: 759659, 1.5 Mio EUR)

ERC Starting Grant SUGARCODING

2018 - 2024

Modeling neuroenergetics design ('Change of course' planning grant, ID: 96626, € 112.000)

VolkswagenStiftung

2020 - 2021

Energy metabolism reveals hidden properties of brain functional connectivity (ID: 273427765, € 325.000)

DFG Research Grant

2015 - 2019

Investigate the potential of resting brain networks for early Alzheimer diagnosis.

Alzheimer Forschung Initiative

2009 - 2010

Brain regions most essential for cognition bear the greatest metabolic burden, and this cost may underlie their susceptibility to neurodegeneration

Metabolism-weighted brain connectome reveals synaptic integration and vulnerability to neurodegeneration

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2026

Opposing BOLD-signal and metabolic activity across the human brain questioning the canonical interpretation of fMRI in terms of neuronal activity

BOLD signal changes can oppose oxygen metabolism across the human cortex

Nature Neuroscience, 2025

Human brain’s high energy demands associated with dense chemical signaling, not just bigger size

An energy costly architecture of neuromodulators for human brain evolution and cognition

Science Advances, 2023

Identical brain stimulation using TMS elicits opposite effects on neuronal signaling in early sensory or higher cognitive areas.

The physiological effects of noninvasive brain stimulation fundamentally differ across the human cortex

Science Advances, 2020

We studied the dynamics of the two most important neurotransmitters, GABA and glutamate, in the visual cortex of humans.

Opposite dynamics of GABA and glutamate levels in the occipital cortex during visual processing

J Neurosci, 2018

Brain Scientist, and making films about science

Alumni

• Social media: Bluesky / X / LinkedIn • CV & research profile: ORCID • Publication list: Google Scholar • Data sharing: OpenNeuro • Code sharing: GitHub

Riedl Lab @ FAU

Riedl Lab @ TUM