Freund, Patrick, Prof. Dr. Dr.

Main Goals, Keywords

• Non-invasive neuroimaging of structural and functional changes in neurological disorders
• Methodological development of high-resolution MRI sequences for spinal cord and brain

Previous and Current Research

The focus of previous and current research projects is to better understand how the anatomy and the function of the spinal cord and the brain change in neurological disorders involving the spinal cord. The main goal is to develop neuroimaging biomarkers that are sensitive and accurate in predicting functional outcome in order to register more quickly the impact of therapeutic treatments and rehabilitative interventions. The development and application of high-resolution MR sequences and post-processing imaging pipelines are therefore a major area of our research. Other areas of interest are to explore the mechanisms underlying cortical and spinal plasticity during learning.

Future Projects

Experimental findings from basic research often fail to translate into patients benefit although the principal underlying mechanisms of spinal cord damage and regeneration/repair are rather similar between animal models and humans. We aim to facilitate the translation from animal models to humans by conjointly applying the same neuroimaging protocols in animals and post-mortem human spinal and brain tissue and correlating the latter findings with histological markers of repair and degeneration.

Selected Publications

P. Freund, M. Seif, N. Weiskopf, K. Friston, M. G. Fehlings, A. Thompson, and A. Curt;
MRI in traumatic spinal cord injury: progress from a clinical assessment tool to a neuroimaging biomarker, The Lancet Neurology; 019 Dec;18(12):1123-1135.

G. David, S. Mohammadi, A. Martin, J. Cohen-Adad, N. Weiskopf, A. Thompson, P. Freund;
Spinal cord pathology in traumatic and non-traumatic spinal cord injury; Nature Reviews Neurology 2019 Dec;15(12):718-731.

P. Freund, N. Weiskopf, J. Ashburner, K. Wolf, R. Sutter, D. Altmann, K. Friston, A. Thompson, and A. Curt;
MRI investigation of the sensorimotor cortex and the corticospinal tract after acute spinal cord injury: a prospective longitudinal study; The Lancet Neurology, 2013 Sep;12(9):873-81.

P. Freund, N. Weiskopf, N. Ward, C. Hutton, M.Craggs, O. Ciccarelli, A. Gall, K. Friston, and A. Thompson;
Disability, cortical reorganization and atrophy following spinal cord injury. Brain, 2011, Jun; 134(Pt 6): 1610-22.

P. Freund, E. Schmidlin, T. Wannier, J. Bloch, A. Mir, M. Schwab, and E.M. Rouiller;
Anti-Nogo A enhances sprouting and functional recovery after cervical lesion in adult primates. Nature Medicine, 2006, Jul; 12(7):790-2

All publications

Selected Lectures, Seminars or Colloquia

Neurorehabilitation in patients with spinal cord injury (UZH lecture numbers: 1268, 0067, 0863, 0809)

Collaborators

Nikolaus Weiskopf (MPI Leipzig), Armin Curt (UZH, Zürich), Alan Thompson (UCL London), John Ashburner (UCL London), Gabriel Ziegler (DZNE, Magdeburg), Karl Friston (UCL London), Siawoosh Mohammadi (UKE, Hamburg), Martina Callaghan (UCL London), Bogdan Draganski (CHUV, Lausanne)

Funding

Support by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) in the framework of ERA-NET NEURON, the Swiss National Science foundation, the Wings for life charity and International Research on Paraplegia.

Curriculum Vitae

Education

04.2023   FMH Specialty in Neurology
09.2021   Electroencephalography certificate, Swiss Society of Clinical Neurophysiology
11.2016   Electromyoneurography certificate, Swiss Society of Clinical Neurophysiology
01.2015   MD (Dr. med.), University of Zürich, Switzerland (09.01.2015)
10.2014   Master of Medicine, University of Zürich, Switzerland (13.10.2014)
01.2008   PhD (Dr. rer. nat.), Bilingual University of Fribourg, Switzerland
02.2005   Master of Biology (Dipl.-Biol.), Bilingual University of Fribourg, Switzerland

Current positions
08.2024 - Professor and Head of Spinal Cord Injury Center, Balgrist University Hospital, University of Zürich, Switzerland
01.2015- Honorary Senior Research Associate, Department of Neurophysics, MPI for Human
Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany

Previous positions
01.2023-07.2024   Ad personam Professor of experimental imaging of the injured spinal cord, University of Zürich, Switzerland
01.2019-01.2023   SNF Eccellenza Professor at Balgrist University Hospital, University of Zürich
07.2018-03.2023   Clinical Residency in Neurology, University Hospital Zürich
05.2018-06.2018   Clinical Residency in Neurology, Balgrist University Hospital, University of Zurich
01.2017-04.2018   Clinical Residency in Psychiatry, Clienia Schlössli, Oetwil am See, Switzerland
01.2017-04.2018   Senior Physician, Balgrist University Hospital, Zürich
11.2014-12.2016   Clinical Residency in Neurology, Balgrist University Hospital, University of Zurich
06.2011-10.2014   Senior Research Assistant Balgrist University Hospital, Zürich, Switzerland
05.2008-05.2011   PostDoc at Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, UCL Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, London, UK

Awards
2020   IRP Schellenberg Price
2020   Best review paper in “Spinal Cord”
2014   Best Master Thesis of the Medical Faculty, University of Zürich