Liechti, Martina, Dr.

Martina Liechti did her Bachelor’s and Master’s in Biological Sciences at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zürich, Switzerland. During her Master’s thesis in neurophysiology she applied galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS) to investigate the integrity of vestibulospinal pathways and related changes in postural electromyographic  and centre of pressure responses in adults with incomplete spinal cord injury (SCI). For her PhD at the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Zürich, she extended her experience on spinal pathways to examine brain function during normal development and in psychiatric disorders of childhood by using electroencephalography (EEG). She analysed the EEG during rest and also during cognitive tasks in order to identify novel neuronal markers as diagnostic tools and also to verify the use of previously reported ones to improve treatment for children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Using frequency band power and event-related potentials together with advanced topographical and tomographical EEG-based methods and driven by her interest in neuronal plasticity, Martina examined different types of neurofeedback applications. Tailored to her overall goal to translate scientific findings into medical treatments and to improve patients’ quality of life, Martina joined the Spinal Cord Injury Research lab at Balgrist University Hospital in August 2012, where her focus is on the neurophysiological investigation of lower urinary tract control and dysfunction.

• Liechti MD, Valko L, Müller U, Döhnert M, Drechsler R, Steinhausen H.-C, Brandeis D. Diagnostic Value of Resting Electroencephalogram in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder across the Lifespan. Brain Topogr 2012. (in press)
• Liechti MD, Maurizio S, Heinrich H, Jäncke L, Meier L, Steinhausen H.-C, Walitza S, Drechsler R, Brandeis D. First Clinical Trial of Tomographic Neurofeedback in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Evaluation of Voluntary Control over Brain Activity. Clin Neurophysiol 2012.
• Michels L, Bucher K, Brem S, Halder P, Lüchinger R, Liechti M, Martin E, Jeanmonod D, Kroll J, Brandeis D. Does greater low frequency EEG activity in normal immaturity and in children with epilepsy arise in the same neuronal network? Brain Topogr 2010; 24: 78-89.
• Liechti M, Müller R, Lam T, Curt A. Vestibulospinal responses in motor incomplete spinal cord injury. Clin Neurophysiol 2008; 119: 2804-2812.
• Wydenkeller S, Liechti M, Müller R, Curt A. Impaired scaling of responses to vestibular stimulation in incomplete SCI. Exp Brain Res 2006; 175: 191-195.