Nina Uhle (she/her)

LIFE Fellow since 2026, MPI for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences

I am a LIFE fellow supervised by Arno Villringer at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences (MPI CBS) in Leipzig. My research examines stress, resilience, and cognitive appraisal; specifically how psychological resources such as self-efficacy shape the neurobiological pathways of chronic stress.
I received my Bachelor's degree in Psychology from the Technical University of Dresden, where I worked as a student assistant in lifespan developmental neuroscience using fNIRS and neuropsychological testing with older adults. My Bachelor's thesis, conducted at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), examined midlife socioeconomic status as a proxy for cognitive reserve using the multicenter DELCODE dataset. I completed my Master's degree in Psychology with a focus on Brain and Behavior at the University of Leipzig, with a thesis investigating auditory confounds and oscillatory effects induced by transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS), supervised by Arno Villringer. During my Master's, I also completed a German Academic Exchange (DAAD)-funded research internship at Taipei Medical University, analyzing polysomnographic and EEG sleep data using Python.
My interest in stress and brain-body interactions took shape while working on TUS and stroke-intervention projects under Arno Villringer at MPI CBS, where I became especially drawn to understanding how chronic stress affects long-term brain and cardiovascular health; and how factors like self-efficacy might protect against it.