Dr. Christa Müller-Axt

I studied Psychology (B.Sc.) and Cognitive Neuroscience (M.Sc.) at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. During my master's studies, I worked on several research projects investigating the role of subcortical brain structures in human perceptual decision-making. Furthermore, I was involved in creating probabilistic atlases of small subcortical brain nuclei based on various high-resolution 7T MRI contrasts of in- and ex-vivo human brain specimens. In early 2015, I started my PhD under the supervision of Prof. Katharina von Kriegstein at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, Germany. In my doctoral dissertation, I investigated the role of the visual sensory thalamus (i.e., lateral geniculate nucleus) in developmental dyslexia using multi-modal neuroimaging techniques including high-resolution 7T structural and functional MRI and 3T diffusion-weighted MRI. In 2019, I joined the Chair of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience at the TU Dresden under Prof. von Kriegstein, where I completed my PhD in 2023. As a postdoctoral fellow at the chair, I continue to investigate the role of subcortical sensory brain structures in neurodevelopmental disorders with a focus on high-resolution quantitative and diffusion-weighted MR imaging.

• High-resolution 7T functional MRI (fMRI) and structural MRI (sMRI)
• High-resolution diffusion-weighted imaging (dMRI)
• In-vivo mapping of subcortical brain structures by means of fMRI & sMRI at high field
• Inferring brain tissue microstructure from quantitative sMRI
• Assessing cortico-thalamic connectivity and its role in human cognition
• Exploring the role of subcortical sensory brain structures in human communication

Somma, F., Lazzaro, G., Rima, S., Rainich, K., Müller-Axt, C., Schmid, M.C., Vicari, S., von Kriegstein, K., Menghini, D. (2025) Detecting the contribution of V5/MT in reading, reading-related tasks, eye-movements and EEG- oscillations in children and adolescents with Developmental Dyslexia via high-definition tDCS: a protocol study. BMC Psychology, in press

Schelinski, S., Kauffmann, L., Tabas, A., Müller-Axt, C., & von Kriegstein, K. (2024). Functional alterations of the magnocellular subdivision of the visual sensory thalamus in autism. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 121(47), e2413409121. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2413409121 
Press release

Müller-Axt, C., Kauffmann, L., Eichner, C., & von Kriegstein, K. (2024). Dysfunction of the magnocellular subdivision of the visual thalamus in developmental dyslexia. Brain, 148 (1), 252-261. https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awae235
Press release

Eichner, C., Paquette, M., Müller-Axt, C., et al. (2024). Detailed mapping of the complex fiber structure and white matter pathways of the chimpanzee brain. Nature Methods, 21, 1122-1130. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-024-02270-1 
Press release

Hüser, L., von Kriegstein, K., & Müller-Axt, C. (2023). Pragmatic competence in native German adults with and without developmental dyslexia. International Review of Pragmatics, 15(1), 32-62. https://doi.org/doi:10.1163/18773109-01501002

Müller-Axt, C., Eichner, C., Rusch, H., Kauffmann, L., Bazin, P. L., Anwander, A., Morawski, M., & von Kriegstein, K. (2021). Mapping the human lateral geniculate nucleus and its cytoarchitectonic subdivisions using quantitative MRI. NeuroImage, 244, 118559.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118559 
Press release

Müller-Axt, C., Anwander, A., & von Kriegstein, K. (2017). Altered structural connectivity of the left visual thalamus in developmental dyslexia. Current Biology, 27(23), 3692-3698. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2017.10.034

Weiss, M., Alkemade, A., Keuken, M. C., Müller-Axt, C., Geyer, S., Turner, R., & Forstmann, B. U. (2015). Spatial normalization of ultrahigh resolution 7 T magnetic resonance imaging data of the postmortem human subthalamic nucleus: a multistage approach. Brain Structure and Function, 220(3), 1695-1703. https://dx.doi.org/10.1007%2Fs00429-014-0754-4

Keuken, M.C., Bazin, P.-L., Crown, L., Hootsmans, J., Laufer, A., Müller-Axt, C., Sier, R., van der Putten, E.J., Schäfer, A., Turner, R., & Forstmann, B.U. (2014). Quantifying inter-individual anatomical variability in the subcortex using 7T structural MRI. NeuroImage, 94, 40-46. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.03.032

Keuken, M. C., Müller-Axt, C., Langner, R., Eickhoff, S. B., Forstmann, B. U., & Neumann, J. (2014). Brain networks of perceptual decision-making: an fMRI ALE meta-analysis. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 8, 1-14. https://dx.doi.org/10.3389%2Ffnhum.2014.00445