Academic profile

• 2025-2027 Senator of the Hannover Medical School
• 2024 Spokesperson of the "Brain Plasticity" section of the Center for Systems Neuroscience
• 2023 Director (W3 university professorship) of the Institute of Neuroanatomy and Cell Biology at Hannover Medical School
• 2022 Habilitation and Venia Legendi for Anatomy; Albert-Ludwigs-University, Freiburg i. Br.
• 2017 Doctorate in medicine; Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt/M.
• 2015 License to practice as a physician
• 2014 Research stay at the Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Tel HaShomer, Israel (Prof. Nicola Maggio MD/PhD)
• 2008 - 2015 Study of medicine at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt/M.

Scientific career

• 11/2022-01/2023Visiting Instructor at the Clinical Department of Neurosurgery at Stanford University, USA
• since 2017 Research associate at the Institute of Neuroanatomy and Cell Biology, Department of Neuroanatomy, Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg, Germany
• 2016-2017 Research associate at the Institute of Anatomy II, University Hospital of the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

Additional qualifications

• 2021 Specialist anatomist of the Anatomical Society
• 2020 Baden-Württemberg certificate for university didactics

Prizes and awards

• 2018 Doctoral prize from the Dr. Walter and Luise Freundlich Foundation
• 2016 Young Scientist Award of the Anatomical Society
• 2016 FENS-IBRO/PERC Travel Grant (FENS Forum 2016, Copenhagen)
• 2014 Young Investigator Award (1st place) of the Anatomical Society
• 2010-2015 Scholarship holder of the German National Academic Foundation

Scientific focus

1. Investigation of the mechanisms of synaptic plasticity and structure/function relationships under physiological and pathological conditions in translational research approaches
2. Electrophysiological and microscopic examination of individual nerve cells in neocortical section preparations of neurosurgical resections of the human brain
3. Inflammation-dependent modulation of synaptic transmission and plasticity in viral CNS diseases
4. Identification of mechanisms of inter-organ communication ("brain-body interaction")
5. Development of cell culture models for translational and personalized research

Online profiles and social media presence

ORCID:0000-0003-3147-4949

Twitter:@NeuroLenz

Key Publications

Synaptopodin Regulates Denervation-Induced Plasticity at Hippocampal Mossy Fiber Synapses. Kruse P, Brandes G, Hemeling H, Huang Z, Wrede C, Hegermann J, Vlachos A, Lenz M. Cells. 2024 Jan 6;13(2):114. doi: 10.3390/cells13020114.

The Amyloid Precursor Protein Regulates Synaptic Transmission at Medial Perforant Path Synapses. Lenz M, Eichler A, Kruse P, Galanis C, Kleidonas D, Andrieux G, Boerries M, Jedlicka P, Müller U, Deller T, Vlachos A. J Neurosci. 2023 Jul 19;43(29):5290-5304. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1824-22.2023. Epub 2023 Jun 27.

Microglial Cytokines Mediate Plasticity Induced by 10 Hz Repetitive Magnetic Stimulation. Eichler A, Kleidonas D, Turi Z, Fliegauf M, Kirsch M, Pfeifer D, Masuda T, Prinz M, Lenz M, Vlachos A. J Neurosci. 2023 Apr 26;43(17):3042-3060. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2226-22.2023. Epub 2023 Mar 28.

All-trans retinoic acid induces synaptic plasticity in human cortical neurons. Lenz M, Kruse P, Eichler A, Straehle J, Beck J, Deller T, Vlachos A. Elife. 2021 Mar 30;10:e63026. doi: 10.7554/eLife.63026.

All-trans retinoic acid induces synaptopodin-dependent metaplasticity in mouse dentate granule cells. Lenz M, Eichler A, Kruse P, Muellerleile J, Deller T, Jedlicka P, Vlachos A. Elife. 2021 Nov 1;10:e71983. doi: 10.7554/eLife.71983.

Interleukin 10 Restores Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Alterations in Synaptic Plasticity Probed by Repetitive Magnetic Stimulation. Lenz M, Eichler A, Kruse P, Strehl A, Rodriguez-Rozada S, Goren I, Yogev N, Frank S, Waisman A, Deller T, Jung S, Maggio N, Vlachos A. Front Immunol. 2020 Dec 16;11:614509. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2020.614509. eCollection 2020.

Novel Hexb-based tools for studying microglia in the CNS. Masuda T, Amann L, Sankowski R, Staszewski O, Lenz M, D Errico P, Snaidero N, Costa Jordão MJ, Böttcher C, Kierdorf K, Jung S, Priller J, Misgeld T, Vlachos A, Meyer-Luehmann M, Knobeloch KP, Prinz M. Nat Immunol. 2020 Jul;21(7):802-815. doi: 10.1038/s41590-020-0707-4. Epub 2020 Jun 15.

Repetitive magnetic stimulation induces plasticity of inhibitory synapses. Lenz M, Galanis C, Müller-Dahlhaus F, Opitz A, Wierenga CJ, Szabó G, Ziemann U, Deller T, Funke K, Vlachos A. Nat Commun. 2016 Jan 8;7:10020. doi: 10.1038/ncomms10020.