Melanie Wilke

Personal

    Date of birth: May 31, 1976
    Place of birth: Eilenburg, Germany
 

Education

• 2001- 2005   PhD (Dr. rer. nat) in Neural and Behavioral Sciences (summa cum laude), Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics (Dept. Cognitive Neurophysiology); Advisors: Prof. Dr. N.K. Logothetis and Dr. D.A. Leopold 

     Topic: Neuronal underpinnings of perceptual suppression

• 1997-2001    M.A. in Psycholinguistics, Neuropsychology and Neurobiology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany 

    Master Thesis at Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig; Advisor: Dr. E. Ferstl

    Topic: Effects of encoding perspective on recognition of textual information following damage of the frontal lobe

• 1995-1997    Study of Political Sciences and Literature at the University of Leipzig and at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet, Munich (LMU)

Working experience

• 2008 – present Postdoctoral Fellow at the Laboratory of Prof. R. Andersen. Caltech. Division of Biology. Pasadena, USA      

    Neural mechanisms of spatial neglect: Neurotransmitter microinjections during awake monkey fMRI performing spatial decision tasks

• 2004-2008 Postdoctoral Fellow at the Laboratory of Dr. D.A. Leopold., NIMH, Bethesda, USA

    Simultaneous recordings in LGN/Pulvinar and visual cortex in awake monkeys reporting subjective visibility

    Functional imaging in awake monkeys to investigate the discrepancy between BOLD and single cell studies in respect to perceptual modulation in            early visual cortex

    Development of a monkey model of spatial neglect

• 2001-2004 PhD student at Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tuebingen; Advisors: Prof. N.K. Logothetis, N.K. & Dr. D.A. Leopold 

    Human psychophysics to develop a paradigm to investigate  perceptual visibility in monkeys

    Single unit and Local field potential recordings in striate and extrastriate visual areas in monkeys reporting stimulus visibility

Publications

Journal Articles:

1. Wilke, M, Mueller, K-M., Leopold, D.A. Visibility related modulation of neural responses in visual thalamic nuclei. PNAS. 2009 Jun 9;106(23):9465-70.
2. Mueller, K-M., Wilke, M., Leopold, D.A. Neural responses in monkey area V4 and pulvinar following visual shape adaptation. Neuroscience. 2009 Jun 30;161(2):655-62.
3. Cui J, Wilke M., Logothetis NK, Leopold DA, Liang H. Visibility states modulate microsaccade rate and direction. Vision Res. 2009. Jan;49(2):228-36.
4. Maier, A., Wilke, M., Aura, C., Zhu, C., Ye, F.Q. & Leopold, D.A. Divergence of electrical and fMRI signals in primary visual cortex during perceptual suppression. Nat. Neurosci. 2008. Oct;11(10):1193-200.
5. Wilke, M., Logothetis, NK., Leopold DA. Local field potentials reflect perceptual suppression in monkey visual cortex. PNAS. 2006. Nov 12; 103(46):17507-12.
6. Wilke M, Logothetis NK, Leopold DA. Generalized flash suppression of salient visual targets. Neuron. 2003 Sep 11;39(6):1043-52.
7. Maier A, Wilke M, Logothetis NK, Leopold DA. Perception of temporally interleaved ambiguous patterns. Curr Biol. 2003 Jul 1;13(13):1076-85.
8. Leopold DA, Wilke M, Maier A, Logothetis NK. Stable perception of visually ambiguous patterns. Nat Neurosci. 2002 Jun;5(6):605-9.

Reviews/Book chapters:

1. Leopold, DA & Wilke, M. Neuroimaging: seeing the trees for the forest. Curr Biol. 2005 Sep 20; 15(18):766-8.
2. Leopold, D.A., A. Maier, M. Wilke and N.K. Logothetis: Binocular rivalry and the illusion of monocular vision. Binocular rivalry and perceptual ambiguity. 2005. (Eds.) David Alais and Randoph Blake, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

In preparation:

• Wilke, M, Turchi, J., Smith, Leopold, D.A. The contribution of the primate pulvinar to the selection of movement targets: a reversible inactivation study. In preparation.

Selected Conference Abstracts

• Wilke, M., Kagan, I., Andersen, R.A. BOLD responses during pharmacologically induced hemi-neglect in the parietal cortex. Soc.Neurosci.Abstr.Program (2009).
• Kagan, I., Wilke, M., Andersen, R.A. fMRI dynamics in monkeys reflect spatial decisions and preferences in free-choice and reward context tasks. Soc.Neurosci.Abstr.Program (2009).
• Schmid, C., Mrowka, S., Turchi, J., Wilke, M., Ye, F., Saunders, D.A., Leopold, D.A. Contribution of direct geniculate input to V1-independent fMRI activation of macaque extrastriate cortex. Soc.Neurosci.Abstr.Program (2009).
• Wilke, M., Kagan, I., Andersen, R.A. BOLD signal changes associated with reversible visual neglect in monkeys. Annual Meeting of the Japanese Neuroscience Society. (2009).

• Wilke, M, Turchi, J., Smith, Leopold, D.A. Disruption of visual target selection following inactivation of the Pulvinar. Cosyne. (2008).
• Schmid, M , Wilke, M. Turchi, J., Smith, K., Mrowka, S, Zhu, C., Ye. F, Leopold, D.A. Inactivation of LGN strongly suppresses fMRI activity in macaque areas V1, V2, V3, but not in areas V4 and V5/MT. Soc.Neurosci.Abstr.Program (2008).
• Wilke, M, Turchi J, Zhu C, Müller KM, Ye F, Leopold DA (2007) Effects of Reversible Inactivation of Pulvinar on Neural and BOLD Responses in Visual Cortex. Society for Neuroscience Abstr. 2007.
• Wilke, M, Mueller, K-M., Leopold, D.A. Visibility related modulation of neural responses in visual thalamic nuclei. Soc.Neurosci.Abstr.Program (2006).
• Maier, A., Wilke, M., Aura, C., Zhu, C., Ye, F.Q., Leopold, D.A. Stimulus invisibility uncouples BOLD from neuronal responses in monkey primary visual cortex. Soc.Neurosci.Abstr.Program (2006).
• Mueller, K-M., Wilke, M., Leopold, D.A. Neural responses in monkey area V4 and pulvinar following visual shape adaptation. Soc.Neurosci.Abstr.Program (2006).
• Wilke M., Logothetis N.K., and Leopold D. A. Local field potential modulation  during generalized flash suppression in the monkey. Soc.Neurosci.Abstr.Program (2005).