Pain related learning alterations are a hallmark of chronic pain conditions. Balint, together with others, developed and externally validated a resting state connectivity signature of pain-related learning (RCPL). Connections of amygdala, posterior insula, sensorimotor, frontoparietal regions played the most important role. The model is robust and highly accessible for clinical and translational pain research. Read the preprint here. A joint effort of the collaborative research centers SFB/TRR 289 and 1280!

Our lab members Lea Busch and Elif Buse Caliskan had fun at the SFB 1280‘s “Brain Talks” event in Bochum last weekend. They determined visitors’ pain thresholds using electrical pain.

There are a few ways if you’re interested to come and work with us:

The countdown of this year‘s Max Planck School of Cognition application cycle has started. The application portal is now open for both, the Cognition Track and the Clinician Scientist Track. More information can be found here!

We also have another open PhD position here!

We’re excited to host a lab visit attached to the @bioDGPs_DGPA Young Scientist Retreat and can’t wait to show you all the various ways we induce and measure pain!

Today we can share with you our upcoming program for our virtual CRC/TRR 289 “Treatment Expectation” webinar series in the 2nd half of 2023. After wonderful speakers from the first half of the year like Andrea Evers, Keith Petrie, Irving Kirsch or Fabrizio Benedetti, we are now expecting equally wonderful talks and discussion starting in September with Marta Pecina, Karin Meißner, David Hohenschurz-Schmidt and Markus Ploner. Please note that all talks will take place at 4:00 pm CET. You can register by emailing and join the meeting here. Don’t worry: If you missed previous talks you can have a look at our Youtube channel, here you will find webinar talks, videos on our scientific topic and much more https://www.youtube.com/@SFB-TRR_289.

PhysioBib, together with Helena Hartmann, accompanied the SIPS conference in May 2023 with the camera and interviewed various researchers about their impressions and current work. For the conference, scientists from all over the world came to Duisburg to exchange the latest findings on the placebo effect for four days. You can watch the whole video on PhysioBib’s YouTube channel. Also check out this exciting video on placebo effects in physiotherapy. Pictured above from left to right: Helena Hartmann, Nils Reiter, Loïc Luttmann, and Noak Liem.

We welcome a new student assistant, Aoibhne Braunewell (right in the picture) who studies medicine in the 7th semester. Furthermore, two medical students, Franziska Frysch and Johanna Gronen (left in the picture) , will join the lab in October 2023 to start working on their medical doctoral theses. We hope you enjoy your stay at the Bingellab!

The Bingellab and Prof. Ulrike Bingel are now officially fellows of the Max Planck School of Cognition! We are looking forward to supervising and supporting future PhD projects all around the interaction of pain and cognition. And after completing her lab rotations, we are excited to officially have Jialin Li join the Bingellab as a PhD student for the next few years.

Helena wrote an article about the nocebo effect for the German science communication magazine “Gehirn & Geist” (Spektrum Verlag). Subscribers of the magazine can read the article “Wenn der Beipackzettel krank macht” in edition 7/2023 here.